The Literature and Journalism of Nineteenth-Century Poverty: Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew

Abstract

The representation of the urban poor in Victorian literature and journalism was shaped by the rise of realism as a literary form. Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew, though working in different genres — novels and nonfiction — both employed realist techniques to depict the struggles of the underclass in nineteenth-century London. Oliver Twist (1837–39) and London Labour and the London Poor (1851) are key examples of how realism functioned as both a formal strategy and a vehicle for social critique. The works of both authors influenced contemporary and historical perceptions of poverty in England. Dickens’s stylistic realism in Oliver Twist combines vivid social detail, sharply drawn characters, and the techniques of melodrama to make poverty visceral and morally urgent for his readers. His depiction of workhouses, child labour, and the criminal underworld draws on real conditions, but includes his own narrative interventions for emotional effect. Scholars such as Susan Zlotnick (2006) highlight how Oliver Twist documents the social consequences of the 1834 Poor Law, exposing its dehumanising impact on orphans. More pointedly, Michal Peled Ginsburg (1987) argues that Dickens’s realism is not neutral. Rather, Dickens presents details and characters in ways that invite and mould readerly sympathy. Dickens’s novels thus construct a moralised realism that reinforces Victorian ideas of poverty as both a systemic failure and an individual test of character. In contrast, Mayhew’s documentary realism in London Labour is grounded in journalistic reportage and ethnographic observation. His firsthand interviews, statistical data, and direct testimonies provide one of the earliest systematic studies of the urban underclass. Here, Mayhew documents the lives of costermongers, street-sellers, beggars, and prostitutes with whom he directly interacts. Scholars such as Richard Maxwell (1978) and Barbara Leckie (2020) argue that Mayhew’s realism is immersive, capturing not just material struggles but also the occupational structures and survival strategies of the poor. Unlike Dickens, who fictionalised characters for dramatic effect, Mayhew sought to preserve the authenticity of individual voices, an approach Bryan S. Green (2002) describes as an early attempt at ethnographic neutrality. However, Mayhew does not merely document poverty through statistics; rather, he humanises data by embedding numerical findings within detailed personal testimonies. By combining empirical research with rich narrative storytelling, he presents social data in terms of lived experiences, making the plight of the poor immediate, emotionally resonant, and deeply individualised for his readers. Despite their differing ways of deploying the hallmarks of literary realism, Dickens and Mayhew together redefined Victorian perceptions of poverty by bringing the urban underclass into mainstream discourse. This study challenges the assumption that fiction and journalism exist in separate spheres, showing instead that their works are mutually reinforcing. Mayhew’s investigative findings informed Dickens’s fictional depictions of street life, while Mayhew’s documentary style borrowed narrative structuring and literary characterisation to heighten emotional impact. This research contributes to Victorian studies by illustrating the interplay and mutual influence of literature and reportage. Oliver Twist and London Labour did not merely reflect urban realities, but consciously leveraged literary realism to stir emotions, support specific social ideologies, and advocate for change. Dickens’s melodramatic realism shaped middle-class perceptions of workhouses and juvenile criminality, while Mayhew’s ethnographic realism provided unprecedented documentary insights into the daily ordeals of the London poor. Both authors show that realism is neither purely descriptive nor politically neutral; it is intertwined with broader ideological and narrative goals. Comparing Dickens’s literary realism to Mayhew’s documentary realism further complicates the line between imaginative storytelling and empirical observation. Each employs a hybrid of methods – Dickens weaving social facts into emotive fiction, Mayhew interspersing data collection with narrative flair. Ultimately, no single genre fully captures the complexity of Victorian poverty; rather, a synthesis of their approaches reveals how sentimentality and statistics, pathos and reportage, intersect to create a fuller picture of how the poor were imagined, recorded, and remembered, in the Victorian era and beyond. This analysis reinforces the idea that realism operated as both a literary device and a cultural force, shaping our contemporary views on social inequality, historical narrative, and the shared ground of literary and journalistic authority.