full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Why should you read Charles Dickens?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


These stories frequently portray Victorian life as grimy, cruport, and cruel. But dinkces also saw his time as one in which old traditions were fading away. London was becoming the incubator of the modern world through new patterns in industry, trade, and social mobility. Dickens's loodnn is therefore a dualistic space: a harsh world that is simultaneously filled with wonder and possibility.

For instance, the enigma of Great Expectations ctnrees around the potential of Pip, an orahpn plucked from obscurity by an anonymous benefactor and propelled into high society. In his search for purpose, Pip becomes the victim of other people’s ambitions for him and must negotiate with a shadowy cast of characters. Like many of Dickens’s prgnsottioas, poor Pip's position is constantly dleaiibtzesd, just one of the reasons why reading Dickens is the best of tmies for the reader, while being the wrsot of times for his caarhcters.

Open Cloze


These stories frequently portray Victorian life as grimy, _______, and cruel. But _______ also saw his time as one in which old traditions were fading away. London was becoming the incubator of the modern world through new patterns in industry, trade, and social mobility. Dickens's ______ is therefore a dualistic space: a harsh world that is simultaneously filled with wonder and possibility.

For instance, the enigma of Great Expectations _______ around the potential of Pip, an ______ plucked from obscurity by an anonymous benefactor and propelled into high society. In his search for purpose, Pip becomes the victim of other people’s ambitions for him and must negotiate with a shadowy cast of characters. Like many of Dickens’s ____________, poor Pip's position is constantly ____________, just one of the reasons why reading Dickens is the best of _____ for the reader, while being the _____ of times for his __________.

Solution


  1. characters
  2. corrupt
  3. times
  4. dickens
  5. destabilized
  6. orphan
  7. london
  8. worst
  9. centers
  10. protagonists

Original Text


These stories frequently portray Victorian life as grimy, corrupt, and cruel. But Dickens also saw his time as one in which old traditions were fading away. London was becoming the incubator of the modern world through new patterns in industry, trade, and social mobility. Dickens's London is therefore a dualistic space: a harsh world that is simultaneously filled with wonder and possibility.

For instance, the enigma of Great Expectations centers around the potential of Pip, an orphan plucked from obscurity by an anonymous benefactor and propelled into high society. In his search for purpose, Pip becomes the victim of other people’s ambitions for him and must negotiate with a shadowy cast of characters. Like many of Dickens’s protagonists, poor Pip's position is constantly destabilized, just one of the reasons why reading Dickens is the best of times for the reader, while being the worst of times for his characters.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
living conditions 2
edwin drood 2


Important Words


  1. ambitions
  2. anonymous
  3. benefactor
  4. cast
  5. centers
  6. characters
  7. constantly
  8. corrupt
  9. cruel
  10. destabilized
  11. dickens
  12. dualistic
  13. enigma
  14. expectations
  15. fading
  16. filled
  17. frequently
  18. great
  19. grimy
  20. harsh
  21. high
  22. incubator
  23. industry
  24. instance
  25. life
  26. london
  27. mobility
  28. modern
  29. negotiate
  30. obscurity
  31. orphan
  32. patterns
  33. pip
  34. plucked
  35. poor
  36. portray
  37. position
  38. possibility
  39. potential
  40. propelled
  41. protagonists
  42. purpose
  43. reader
  44. reading
  45. reasons
  46. search
  47. shadowy
  48. simultaneously
  49. social
  50. society
  51. stories
  52. time
  53. times
  54. trade
  55. traditions
  56. victim
  57. victorian
  58. world
  59. worst