A Comparison Between Poverty in Dickens Time and Our Time -

A Comparison between
Poverty in Dickens’ Time and Our Time




A Project presented to
the Novel Course Professor:

Dr. Abdullatif Al-Khayat




Prepared By:

Hussein Sami Ghunaim

200320208
Spring 2005-2006

A Comparison between
Poverty in Dickens’ Time and Our Time
Hussein Ghunaim
200320208

When we are talking about such a serious problem, that Dickens have discussed in his novel ‘Oliver Twist’, the poverty and its relation to our present time, we will face many similarities between that problem in Dickens’ time and our time.
Charles Dickens, in his novel, tried to show us how big is the gap between the poor and the rich, in many sides.
Clearly, he gave us a very important example from the poor class, which presented by the little parentless child ‘Oliver Twist’, who is in a miserable case, suffering from hunger, money lack, and family nonexistence and of being homeless in a part of the novel.
All of the cases that ‘Oliver Twist’ had suffered seem to be a clear indication from Dickens to the miserable case that the society in his time was suffering.
He gave us some examples, but no solutions, because that if there was a solution suggested in Dickens’ time, the poverty issue was to be ended by our time, despite the long period between his time and ours.
The poverty still as a serious and unsolved problems until today, and as I think it will never be solved in such a world that contains societies like the societies that we are living in, because it is too hard for the governments to take such a serious movements to solve that existed and lasting problem.
I am not living in Britain to compare the poverty in Dickens’ time in Britain and in Britain now, so I will compare it to my society in the present time.
Dickens’ showed us that there were many scenes of poverty in Britain and London especially. The workhouse is an example for a place that contains the parentless poor children, but there are many children whom not belong to a workhouse or an orphanage. We can compare this with our society: we have orphanages that include some of the parentless and orphans children and there are many other that left to be in the streets with no body to take care of them.
The poor children whom left to live without a care, they became thieves, pickpockets or beggars in general. That situation is the same in both Dickens and our societies.
Dickens’ novel (Oliver Twist) consists of two types of people: rich and respective people and the poor and bad people. This structure of society components is the same of our society structure components. We have poor, rich, bad and respective people.
The poor was characterized by Oliver, the rich was characterized by Mr. Bwonlow, the bad was characterized by Bill Sikes, the respective and good people was characterized by Rose Maylie.
In my society, I cannot choose a person to characterize those roles, so anyone can be the person who is playing the role of the poor, the rich, the bad or the good.
I am not going to expand my essay, so I will stop here and maybe I will complete this subject one day when I am fully aware of the western societies and the Arab societies. However, let me say this at the end: the poverty in any society in the past or the present or the future is similar to the case of any other society too.
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