The Character and Personality of the

Author

What were

What kind of man was Dickens? some of the traits of his real character? The question often forces itself upon us as we are reading and finally we learn to recognize certain characteristics that are essentially Dickens. The Cricket on the Hearth is not sufficient for us to form a very comprehensive idea of the man but it will certainly throw some side-lights on his character. We are no longer concerned as we have been through the earlier pages of this book with the manner of his presentation nor with the evidence he gives of possessing the literary powers. What we want now is to see the man through his work, the personality that lies back of the written words. We must expect no overt declaration of his faith, opinion, or belief to show us what we wish to know, for our experience in life has taught us that a man may profess much and may act in ways opposed to both profession and belief. In forming our estimate we may safely disregard what he says of himself, nor is it wise for us to rely upon what is said by the characters he draws. Tackleton is selfish, gruff, and brutal in his instincts and his conversation shows it. He would❝Scrunch the Cricket." But we have

no right to infer that Dickens was like him or that he approved of such men even though he never actually criticises Tackleton. But from the outcome of the story, the disappointment of the selfish toy-merchant and his retirement into partial obscurity and disgrace, we may infer that Dickens disapproved of him and if we find that similar characters in all of Dickens's stories meet with a like punishment we may safely decide that Dickens believed in generosity and sympathy.

The Cricket is to Dickens the spirit of Home, the incarnation of love and happiness. In one place he says, "That Genius of his Hearth and Home (for such the Cricket was) came out in fairy shape, into the room, and summoned many forms of Home about him. The Carrier's heart grew light and happy and he thanked his Household Gods with all his might and cared no more for Gruff and Tackleton." The Cricket chirped as John reversed his gun to beat the stock upon the door; through the long night the Cricket stood beside him in fairy shape, and in the morning the "staunch Cricket on the Hearth, the loyal Household Fairies" enabled the Carrier to say, "I sat upon that hearth, last night, all night. On the spot where she has often sat beside me with her sweet face looking into mine.

And upon my soul she is innocent if there is one to judge the innocent and the guilty." When the blind girl had learned all the generous decep

tion her father had practiced and felt so helpless and alone, “she had been but a short time in this passion of regret when the Cricket on the Hearth, unheard by all but her, began to chirp. Not merrily, but in a low, faint, sorrowing way. It was so mournful that her tears began to flow; and when the Presence which had been beside the Carrier all night appeared behind her, pointing to her father they fell down like rain. She heard the Cricket-voice more plainly soon and was conscious through her blindness of the Presence hovering about her father."

After May had deserted him, Tackleton says, "Friends, one and all, my house is very lonely to-night. I have not so much as a Cricket on my Hearth. I have scared them all away." In the rollicking dance that follows the wedding, "Hark! how the Cricket joins the music with its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp!" And finally when the story is done and Dot and all the rest have vanished into air leaving Dickens alone, "A Cricket sings upon the Hearth." Frequently by actual statement and by delicate allusions not noted here Dickens keeps the Cricket in the foreground and makes its helpful influence felt everywhere.

What are we at liberty to infer from this ? That a cricket on the hearth brings peace and loving kindness to a home? That there are household fairies and that they actually appear to

human beings? That a real Presence may stand beside a man and plead for mercy and forgiveness? That a home may be desolate because no Cricket sings upon the hearth? Not at all. The introduction of the Cricket is but a part of Dickens's art, a scheme by which he enlists our sympathies and touches our feelings. What we may see, is that Dickens is a man who believes in domestic happiness, in the purity of woman, and the love of parents for each other and for their children. He is no doubter without faith in humanity, no cynic who thinks the home but a matter of convenience, no pessimist who believes that all is wrong with the world.

What does Franklin show of himself in the Almanac ? What traits of character does Burns exhibit in The Cotter's Saturday Night? What can you believe of Irving from The Widow and Her Son? Before you attempt to answer the three preceding questions, read the selections mentioned, then write your opinions on each and to prove their accuracy, buttress your statements with quotations.

You now perceive how it is that an author manifests his personality, how his character shines through his writings. But you have seen that this is true in varying degrees, some writers concealing their feelings and masking behind their words, and others throwing their sacred souls open to our inspection.