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Popular British author, Charles Dickens' (1812～1870) family could hardly make ends meet. They could only afford to send one of their six children to school. Dickens was not that child. His parents chose to send a daughter, who had a talent for music, to an academy, Then at the age of 12, Dickens' life took another turn for the worse.

His father, a clerk, was placed in prison for unpaid debts. And, being the oldest male left at home, Dickens took up work at a factory. His horrible experience there became the fuel for his future writing. His father was freed three months later and inherited a small amount of money. Dickens was then sent to school.

From 1836 to 1837, he wrote a monthly series of stories. Thus The Pickwick Papers, came into being, which brought fame to him.

Throughout his career, Dickens covers various situations in his novels. He wrote about the miserable lives of the poor in Oliver Twist, the French Revolution in Tale of Two Cities, and social reform in Hard Times. He also wrote David Copperfield, a book thought to be modeled on his own life.

"I do not write bitterly or angrily, for I know all these things have worked together to make me what I am," he once said. His difficult childhood did indeed shape the person he became, as well as his writing career. There are shades of young Dickens in many of his most beloved characters, including David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.

Like the author. all these characters come from poor beginnings and are able to rise above their setbacks and achieve success. "Minds, like bodies, will often fall into an ill-conditioned state from too much comfort," he once wrote. On June 9th, 1870, aged 58, Dickens died, leaving one unfinished work. The words on his tombstone read: "He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering and the oppressed, and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world."

How did Dickens see his childhood?