Charles Dickens, like many of the great authors who lived in his generation, wrote rather dark novels, evoking the image of - as stated by the second resource - "plum pudding and Christmas punch, quaint inns for the stopping of carriages and welcoming hearths, but also of orphaned and hungry children, misers, murderers and violent schoolmasters.' A nice transition between the two, so let's go on a mystical quest to write an article, to figure out what exactly made it so messed up, although, given, that's the best frame of mind to have when writing Other than that , for starters. Charles Dickens was born to a Navy payroll clerk and a woman named Elizabeth on February 7, 1812, over two hundred years ago. His father was taken and imprisoned for debt in a penitentiary near the River Thames known as Marshalsea (which no longer exists). Little Charles, aged twelve, was taken away from school to earn six shillings a week by fixing the labels on a bottle of black in a boot black factory to help support the Dickens family. This experience of being abandoned at such a young age really left him scarred for life, from the intelligent, sensitive boy he was just a few years earlier to a rather...gothic preteen Even before goth became goth. He dreamed of becoming a real gentleman when he got older, then he was humiliated by working with much rougher, much older men and the younger boys on the farm. However, when his father was released as the family's finances were slowly getting back on track, twelve-year-old Charles was further trampled upon (figuratively speaking) by his mother with her insistence that he continue working in the factory. Fortunately, his father prevented this and sent his son to a school in London as a day pupil. At fifteen he found work as a messenger for a lawyer... middle of paper... he would later become his closest and most trusted friend together with his biographer. All his subsequent work, slowly intertwined with death and abandonment, also became a great success. He would continue to write fifteen major novels, numerous short stories, and even more articles until his death on 9 June 1870. He currently resides in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, a tomb that was once overflowing with mourning flowers. "Among the most beautiful bouquets were many simple bouquets of wildflowers, wrapped in rags." it was my favorite part of the biography, but finally. Alas, I close. Charles Dickens, no matter how happy his stories sometimes seem, experienced great difficulties in his life. Even though they left mental scars, they created exceptional creative material that many people today appreciate (even if they sometimes have no idea what it means) his work, over two hundred years later..