“The Culture of Poverty’’ in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield (1850) and Mouloud Feraoun’s Le fils du pauvre (1950)
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Date
2021
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi –Ouzou
Abstract
This research is a comparative study which deals with the theme of poverty in Charles
Dickens’s David Copperfield (1850) and Mouloud Feraoun’s Le fils du pauvre (1950). It
suggests the existence of an “inherited” poverty in Charles Dickens on Mouloud Feraoun’s
work. To achieve this aim we rely on Oscar Lewis’ theory: The Culture of Poverty (1966). It
argues that people who live in economic deprivation tend to develop the same personal features
and share identical social norms. Our research work has used four dimensions of Oscar Lewis’
theory, which are the individual, the family, the community and its relation to society. Our work
focuses on the relationships of the two protagonists, David Copperfield and Fouroulou Menrad,
with their fathers; David Copperfield Senior and RamdaneMenrad. It has revealed that poverty
and family are interrelated. Our findings highlight the marginalisation of the two main
characters in their respective societies as a consequence of their economic deprivation. It
emphasizes the estrangement of David Copperfield in Victorian England and the Subalternity
of Fouroulou Menrad as a native, Kabyle boy in colonized Algeria. This study illustrates how
similar are the conditions, the experiences and the exploits of the two protagonists against
poverty, even though, they do belong to completely different cultures and geographical settings.
Description
54p. ; 30cm.(+CD-Rom)
Keywords
The Culture of Poverty, Oscar Lewis, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Mouloud Feraoun, Le Fils du Pauvre
Citation
Comparative Literature