The Images of Children in The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

Abstract

The article examines Charles Dickens' third novel The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1841). The paper deals with the children's images of the literary work and their functions in a critical analysis of the author's contemporary social reality. The research reveals a mixture of realistic and romantic artistic techniques in creating images of children. The importance of the theme of childhood in Dickens' novel is noted in the context of the writer's ideas about the ways of transforming society, and the author's attention to the topic of family and upbringing is emphasized. The paper also shows the motives of the mystery of the birth of a child and the illegitimacy of a child that are used in the the author's early works.