The Interpretation of Wine Culture in Dickens’ Works

Zhu Xiaoyan

【Abstract】As an outstanding representative writer of British realistic literature in the 19th century， Dickens often makes use of wine culture to create characters so as to promote the plot. The focus of this paper is to analyze the important role that wine culture plays in Dickensworks.

【Key words】British realism literature； Dickens works； Wine Culture

【作者簡介】朱小燕（1994-），女，漢族，湖北當陽人，中國三峽大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院，研究生在讀，研究方向：英語語言文學(xué)。

1. Dickens and wine

First of all， Dickens himself has a deep connection with wine， which has a lot to do with his father. Dickens is known to have an alcoholic and hospitable father， and he is often brought to a hotel for showing by his father. The French Crown Hotel in Rochester， for example， is one of their resorts. While Dickens worked as a shoe apprentice， beer was a very desirable and rare drink. Lunch for him was usually “a roll of bread or a serving of pudding or bread with cheese， sometimes he cant bear his desire for beer， he went into a small inn on Westminster Council Street， straightened out his chest board， and said to the boss like an adult， ‘how much is your best light beer？”（Wang： 2012.） Dickens is not only famous as a writer， he can also make a mixed drink of Gin， and he can “seriously evaluate the ingredients while he is making them， and talk about the effects in detail of these ingredients for different people.”Dickens loves wine and he is also a hangover， that explain for the reason why he often mentions wine in his works.

2. The wine written in Dickens works

The wine plays an irreplaceable role in many works written by Dickens. In Dickens Bleak House， there is a man called Krook who dies from self-burned because he drank too much Gin. The Gin here belongs to one of the seven most famous distilled beverage around the world. In addition to the Gin in Bleak House， there are details related to Brandy in Great Expectations. When the fugitive asks the child for food， the child steal some Brandy from the cupboard. Wine plays an important role for comforting those poor people. Whats more， in Christmas Carols， a gentlemen who raised money from Scrooge and hoped to buy wine for the poor. Wine is essential for major festivals. Moreover， Scrooge also hears the wine barrel that are stored in the cellar echo differently on that strange Christmas Eve. Storing wine is common for many wealthy families like Scrooge.

3. The wine culture

The wine became a common drink in the the Britishs daily life during the nineteenth century. And it mainly plays two roles. On the one hand， it represents the warm and happy family life. Dickens is yearning for family atmosphere that a whole family sit together to drink and chat. On the other hand， it makes the aristocratic color of the wine culture prominent.

Actually， Dickens did take his life experiences and his beautiful expectations into his creation of novels. David Copperfield is an excellent example. His real life experience is similar to what is written in this semi-autobiographical novel. The protagonist of the novel David lost his father during his childhood and his mother remarried， to make it worse， his stepfather sent him to a poor fisherman—Peck. However， although Peck was poor， the family often gathered to drink， eat snacks and have fireside chats. Even if the wine is very simple and rough， David did enjoy the warmth and love coming from family life. This scene has become the spiritual pillar of Davids life. When he suffered insult and torture during which he was sent out to work as child labourer， he would just think of the family drinking and chatting scene with Peck from time to time. Because it not only let David forget the pain from reality， and became his motivation that pushed him to harvest the final family life he wanted.

British wine culture is a kind of aristocratic life culture with exquisite wine etiquette and expensive wine. It has become a symbol of status and wealth for noble people. Dickens repeatedly referred to “wine” in his work Pickwick Papers. Moreover， he gave a detailed description of drinking scene of the noble British society， but most of the time he wrote about the informal reception of civilian in order to reveal the real living situation of the middle and lower classes. In Oliver Twist， he used the description of drinking scene to express the persons image， social status.

In the nineteenth century in England， the development of political and economic promotes the progress of social civilization thus promoting the evolution of the wine culture. Moreover， the wine culture provides rich materials for Dickens literary creation， provides inspiration for writers conception of the plots， characters， emotional expression.

References：

[1]Dickens，Charles.Bleak House[M].New York：Signet Classics，2011.