Research Paper on a comparison of Charles Dickens and Alexis Essay

Research Paper on a comparison of Charles Dickens and Alexis Tocqueville's views on America - Essay Example Charles Dickens and Alexis Tocqueville each had very high hopes in mind as they made their way across the Atlantic and both were fated to be sorely disappointed. The polish was off the brass for Dickens almost as soon as he arrived as he experienced constant suffocating attention from the uncouth American public, which perhaps colored his criticisms as he was seen to uphold these same practices back home in England. Tocqueville did not lose entirely lose his hopes for this relatively new country, though he did see some of its dangers, until many years later. While both authors were eventually disillusioned by America as expressed in their writings, the reasons why they were disillusioned sheds a great deal of light on how the country was perceived by other nations. Dickens traveled to America already well versed in the available travel literature that had been produced both to help reforms at home as well as in America as each social structure was examined and compared. Prior to his departure, Dickens had high expectations for the new country as a source of information regarding how best to fix the social ills being experienced in England at that time. Evidence suggests that prior to his first visit to America, Dickens was active in the suffrage movement as well as the anti-slavery movement, but that he had changed his mind, at least somewhat, by the time he returned home. In many ways, this change of heart has been linked to the type of treatment Dickens experienced while visiting and touring the prescribed route between historical or picturesque vistas and places of social reform such as schools and jails. Throughout his tour, though, Dickens experienced a suffocating press of public attention as well as numerous shocks to his properly Briti sh sensibilities regarding the manners and behaviors of his American cousins. Part of Dickens’ unhappiness in America arose, in part, from the enthusiastic reception he received from America’s public.