Charles Dickens - Animated Story of His Life

How did Charles Dickens become such a famous writer?  What were the life circumstances which influenced him?

Dickens knew something about the hard times of life. When he was only twelve years old, he had to work long hours in a factory to help his family pay their bills. Because of so many debts, his father ended-up in a debtor’s prison for a time (and Dickens’ family experienced financial insecurity).

Thinking about his family’s hard times—and what had caused them—Dickens wrote a book called Hard Times. He first published it as a series—akin to a television series in today’s world—in his Household Words magazine. That happened on April 1, 1854.

In that story about the hard times which workers (and their children) experienced, during the Industrial Revolution, we meet people with interesting names (like Thomas Gradgrind and Josiah Bounderby) who live in a made-up city called “Coketown” (located in the northern part of England). Dickens uses some biting satire to make his points in this novel.

Despite his difficult upbringing, Dickens became an immensely popular writer. He had such a huge following that one in every ten people who lived in Victorian England—according to historians' estimates—read his stories.

This BBC clip provides a brief look at the life of Charles Dickens in animated format.