E X T E N S I O N CHILDREN S EXPLOITATION1 FROM DICKENS TO TODAY A child working in a mine (c. 1840). Dickens was particularly sensitive to the problems of children. In many of his novels the protagonist is a child who is growing up2. The child is Dickens himself but also one of the many exploited children that lived in Victorian society: an orphan with nobody to look after him, a working-class child who goes to work in a factory3 or a mine4, a child who is abused at school. However, Dickens s children are often better than adults because they are good and innocent while adults are greedy5, violent or insensitive. The few bad children are those who become criminals because they are poor: in Oliver Twist, the Dodger, the other boys and Nancy. Oliver is forced to burgle6 but he is luckier than the other children because he comes out of the underworld7. Dickens described a world that really existed. He did not invent the situations in his novels, but took them from real life. Today in many countries, particularly in the Third World, the situation for children has not changed. They are exploited in different ways. 1. exploitation: when someone uses someone else in an unfair way, to make money from their work. 2. growing up: becoming an adult. 3. factory: building or group of buildings where goods are made using machines. 4. mine: a deep hole under the ground where minerals such as coal, gold, etc. are dug. 5. greedy: wanting more money, power, food, etc. than you really need. 6. burgle: enter a building and steal things. 7. underworld: the part of society consisting of criminal organizations and activities. 43