The workhouse

[mrtiddlebottom]

Could someone please enlighten me to Dickens' infactuation with the workhouse,as they are mentioned in nearly all his works.Also I have searched on the net for information on workhouses in 19th century Britain but yet have not found a really in depth site,could anyone help?

Kindest regards

Mark

[Scheherazade]

Although he came from a considerably well-off family, Dickens himself had to work at workhouses as a child when his father went to prison because of his debts. Having a first hand experience, Dickens mainly wrote about the poor and the hardships they faced. The 19th century, with the industrialisation, was a period of transition and social injustice was felt very severely. The poor was really poor and what's more, people were condemned for being poor. Dickens felt these injustices acutely and dedicated most of his novels to depict these.