Charles Dickens: The Darkness in the Victorian Era

Victorian Era
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The Darkness in the Victorian Era
The Victorian age was a dark time for the children and persons that were in the lower classes. Charles Dickens, one of the renowned writers in his time, brought out some of the basic struggles within the society that were more than social ills. Some of the practices such as the abuse of children had been turned into social norms, where children were not only taken to be property, but they were also abused. Abuses ranged from sexual to labor camps. Elements of social discrimination based on class and women discrimination were also rife (Zeltser, 2015).
The Victorian era is thus marked in the British history dark periods, despite the fact that on the outside much of the world only recognized the peace, prosperity and growth among other positive elements. Although accounts of the successes that Dickens had in his quest for liberation and recognition of the children rights are drawn with mixed reactions, his revelations were not less true (Hrc.act.gov.au, 2015). The Victorian era was marred with children sexual abuses. When the children were not being subjected to rape, they would be involved in incest and violations associated with the age of consent. One other form of abuse that the Victorian era subjected to the children was forced child labor. At the age of 12 Dickens was himself forced to go and work Warren Blacking Factory (Hrc.act.gov.au, 2015). In the rats-infested factory, Dickens was tasked with painting labels on boot polish jars, where he would work from eight in the morning to eight in the evening, six days of the week and paid only six shillings. Where the children were not working in the factories in the rise of industrialization, they would be taken to coal mines where they would be subjected to hard labor under poor health and safety conditions (Barrow, 2015).
The Victorian era also brought with it the element of classism in the society, where some of the people were relegated to the lower social classes while others enjoyed the cream of their social superiority at the expense of other people. The social classes were defined r...