Worshipping the household gods : Dickens and domesticity

Abstract

In his novels Charles Dickens shows an abiding interest in the family, the child, and educational practices. Families and children are at the centre of almost all his novels, from Oliver Twist to Great Expectations. This thesis argues that Dickens's focus on the family represents a complicated engagement with the Victorian middle-class ideology of domesticity, an engagement which encompasses both endorsement and critique, and moves from promoting the ideology's practices as a social and moral foundation to gesturing towards its limits. It further argues that Dickens explores this ideology because at the heart of his writing practice is an understanding of literature as fundamentally participatory, as able and duty-bound to teach its readers and better the society of which it is a part. This thesis begins with a discussion of domesticity and turns to nineteenth-century conduct manuals on parenting, which by attempting to codify and teach domesticity, also expose it. It then examines Dickens's speeches and journalism in order to formulate a Dickensian literary theory and construct an account of Dickens's writing practice. This practice is seen to understand literature as having a strong pedagogical and social function, which connects it clearly to nineteenth-century debates about the author as professional and to the sentimental mode in literature. Finally, the thesis interrogates three of Dickens's novels - Dombey and Son, Bleak House, and Hard Times - in order to explore Dickens's complex engagement with domesticity. The thesis thus traces the lines of intersection between Dickens's novels, the family, domestic ideology, and nineteenth-century conceptions of the relationship between literature and society, to argue for a reading of Dickens's work as profoundly participatory and socially engaged.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English