챨스 디킨즈의 사회소설 연구 = A Research on Charles Dickens' Social Novel

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Charles Dickens was a great social novelist in the 19th century England. In the Victorian period, England became a prosperous country, but most of the underprivileged were under the difficult situation. Dickens had a far more advanced view on the oppressed groups than any of his other contemporary writers. Among his novels, Hard Times is of the most importance, because it portrayed Dickens' sharp attitude toward Victorian society.
The main theme of Hard Times is the attack on the inhuman industrial society caused by Utilitarianism. The inhuman characteristics of the Coketown world is represented by the main character, Mr. Bounderby, especially in his relation with his wife and his worker Stephen Blackpool. The gloomy and stifled society described in his social novel is similar to that of the absurd novels, especially that of Kafka's. But Dickens' greatness lies in his difference from them; the real emphasis in his novel is the importance of the human will in solving many social problems. As Raymond Williams notes, these characteristics of Dickens' are powerfully present in Hard Times. Great stress is laid on the way out of the inhuman Coketown world; the way of Sissy who is representative of Sleary's circus group. She takes the role of social criticism and represents the value system of Dickens' model society, Sleary's circus group. One important characteristics of this circus world lies in human-centeredness and rejecting the patriarchal view of the world as a battle ground. Sissy takes the public role positively. In her confrontation with Mr. Harthouse who belongs to the upper class, Sissy, the low-class clown's daughter defeats him which can be explained as a kind of attack on the social class system. The Gradgrindery family are regenerated spiritually and morally through their contact with Sissy.
However, Hard Times reveals the lack of reality, because the author could not overcome the prevailing ideology. That is to say, there are limitations to this novel's 'realism'. For example at first Sissy has a sharp eye on the social structural contradictions and tries to solve them. But in the end, she is satisfied with a happy marriage of her own and never shows any concern about social problems.
Dickens as a great realistic novelist, always penetrated and explored social problems. But in the process, he presents his solutions to problems without completely removing himself from prevailing ideology. His limited view is caused by his ideological uncertainty and in the end forces us to doubt his sense of reality.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 목차
• Ⅰ. 들어가는 말
• Ⅱ. 디킨즈의 사회소설
• Ⅲ. 나가는 말
• ○참고문헌
• ○ABSTRACT