More than 60 years ago, our Patty went out on a first date with young William Sanford. Conversation turned to books, and William said he
was currently reading The Pickwick Papers,
by Charles Dickens. What a match! When Patty was getting ready to nominate for
January, her husband William suggested The
Pickwick Papers. Since they recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, she thought the book was aprapos.
Charles Dickens serialized The Pickwick Papers and became
famous at the age of 25 when it was published in 1837. Previously, the Dickens family,
including his parents and his 9 siblings, had lived in debt and poverty. At one
point, his family was living in a Debtors' Prison. Dickens wrote fiction but
managed to incorporate opinions advocating social reform and criticizing
injustice. He wrote Little Dorrit
specifically against the concept of the Debtors' Prison and eventually was
instrumental in the dissolution of the Debtors' Prison in England.
Dickens was a master of the printed word and was able to
publish many popular works of fiction, packing each one with satirical social criticism;
funny names, e.g., Ebenezer Scrooge of A
Christmas Carol and Job Trotter, Tracy Tupman, and Augustus Snodgrass of The Pickwick Papers; and absurd
situations, such as Pickwick falling into a drunken stupor on a hunting outing
and ending up asleep in a cart and awakening in prison in The Pickwick Papers.
Patty led our meeting by asking us to choose sections of The Pickwick Papers to read aloud and
choosing some herself. The book was good for reading aloud, and it was very
enjoyable to listen to the chosen passages and their backgrounds. Then Patty
asked some questions, encouraging a discussion about the book.
One part of the discussion evolved around the timely topic
of the portrayal of women in The Pickwick Papers. Carla said that women were
portrayed as grasping, and wanting only to catch a man. Cindy T noticed that
the women in the book were either sweet young things or greedy older ones.
Linda H. said that Little Dorrit was a Dickensian heroine but many of Dickens'
women characters had bad intentions.
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