The World of Childhood in the Novels by Charles Dickens: a Boy Reading a Book

Abstract

The article examines the image of the child reading a book (mainly fiction) in David Copperfield and The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The book is analysed as a paradoxical symbol of an unhappy childhood, a symbol of loneliness. At the same time, especially in the novel David Copperfield, literature appears as a source of inspiration, moral support for the main character, as well as a reference to the future career of David Copperfield as a writer.