Abstract:

Charles Dickens is a famous critical realistic writer in the 19th Britain. Most of his works are of great social and historic significance. This study aims to study the social problems as shown in The Pickwick Papers written by Charles Dickens. The body of the paper consists of three parts: the exposure of the political system, the exposure of the judicial system and the reasons for these social problems. By combining the description in the novel and the social background, readers can understand the author’s critical realism, use of humorous satire, and 19th Britain and, in this way, develop the ability to read literary works against social background.

Key words: political system; judicial system, election, prison

摘要：

查尔斯•狄更斯是英国19世纪著名的批判现实主义作家，他的作品往往有深刻的社会历史性。本文旨在从三个方面对狄更斯作品《匹克威客外传》中反映的社会问题进行研究：政治制度、司法制度及产生社会问题的原因分析。通过将小说中内容与小说创作社会现状相结合，使读者了解狄更斯的批判现实主义精神和与幽默的讽刺写作手法，对19世纪的英国有一定的了解，并养成结合社会背景看文学作品的习惯。

关键词：政治制度; 司法制度; 选举; 监狱

1. Introduction
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the famous English writer and important social critic, is considered as the greatest novelist during the Victorian period. With his great talents of writing, he successfully created many world-famous characters that leave deep impression on readers.
The experience of his childhood and youth period had great influence on his writing. The early life of Dickens was dramatic. When he was very young, he spent much of his time in reading books, especially the picaresque novels written by Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding. The vivid memories of reading those books left a very, very deep impression on Dickens and greatly influenced his writing. However, his idyllic life ended in 1824. His father was sent into the Marshalsea debtors’ prison in Southwark London by his creditors. And according to the law, his family had to live in the prison with him. In the prison, Dickens met with many miserable stories of debtors and the life in the prison really influenced his writing. Readers can see many meticulous description of life in prison in Charles Dickens’s works, such as The Pickwick Papers, A Tale of Two Cities, and etc. After his father was sent into the prison, Dickens left school and worked ten hours a day to pay for his board and support his family.