The reason why the narrator is not neutral and is virtually one of the characters of the novel is based upon the life experience of the author. Since his early childhood, the future great writer of England had to get acquainted with the contrasts of the largest city of the then capital world. Dickens had to live in poverty in the eastern part of London, the part where destitute people were living. He was the son of a clerk in the Naval Pay Office, who during all his life was trying to improve the social status of the family. All the family, except Charles and his older sister, were eventually however, imprisoned in the debt prison. In order to support himself, Charles began to work in a blacking factory, a hard experience which did not last long. Once his father was released from prison, he removed Charles from the factory and placed him again in school. Elizabeth, his mother, was against Charles being removed from the factory. She wanted him to work and bring some money to the family.
             His formal education complete at fifteen, Dickens found a position as a clerk at the office of Ellis and Blackmore, solicitors at Holborn Court, Gray's Inn. Realizing that the law was not his field, Dickens studied shorthand with singular application, and was soon employed as a court reporter. In his early 20s, Dickens began to publish occasional, amusing stories and sketches that were first collected as Sketches by Boz and published in 1836. Sketches by Boz had a great success and gave Dickens a sense of confidence in his writing.
             The biography of Charles Dickens gives the reader a better understanding of the writer and his life. His life is strongly correlated to the life of workers in the novel due to his own experience of living in poverty and working in a blacking factory.
             Charles Dickens had published several novels, one of which is Hard Times. The main theme of the novel is England, which is broken into two worlds: the world of the proleta...