Tracing the voices of Resistance: Representation of tormented Girlhood in select Novels of Dickens

Charles Dickens is famous for his depiction of stereotypical female characters like Dora, Emily, Agnes, Amy, Florence, Nancy, Esther, Estella, Biddy etc. Interestingly, there are a number of girls in a few novels of Dickens who can however not be reduced into any of the above stereotypes as they do not conform to the standards of the Victorian society with ease. They are represented as characters voicing out their repressed state of existence from which they strongly desire to escape. Although these characters are generally seen as minor characters, they are shown to be much in tune with the voices of dissent raised against the patriarchal role of the Victorian society in terms of the restrictions that it imposes on girls from their childhood. This study will try to talk about the oppressed and traumatic childhood of a select set of Dickensian novels. It will focus upon the characters like Caddy Jellyby from Bleak House, Kate Nickleby from Nicholas Nickleby, Tattycoram from Little Dorrit and trace these early voices of resistance raised against their tormented girlhood as depicted in the novels. This study will also deal with the various dimensions of the nineteenth century Victorian idea of the girl child and the discourses associated with the sex and gender issues of the age while trying to locate the position of Dickens in his manner of representation of the above mentioned characters in the relevant novels.