To lessen the strain, Charles, then twelve years old, was put to work in a shoe-polish factory at low wages. Two weeks later,, his father was sent to a debtors' prison, where Mrs. Dickens and their four smallest children joined him. During that difficult time, young Charles had only irregular relations with his family.
The next four or five months were a painful ordeal. In addition to degrading labor, Charles endured the indignities of insufficient food, shabby quarters, and the association of rough companions. It was a humiliating trial that left an indelible impression on the proud and sensitive boy. In later years, he never spoke of this episode, except in the pages of David Copperfield. It is likely that this introduction to poverty was instrumental in shaping his life. Dickens became distinguished by furious energy, determination to succeed, and an inflexible will.
After John Dickens had been in prison for about three months, his aged mother died. The inheritance he received was large enough to pay his more pressing debts and allow his release from debtor's prison. An additional result of this inheritance was that Charles was taken out of his job at the shoe-polish factory a few weeks later and sent back to school. He spent the next two and a half years in an academy, completing all of the formal education he was ever going to get.
In the spring of 1827, Charles Dickens, then a youth of fifteen, entered a lawyer's office. While applying himself to the law, he managed in his free time to master shorthand. About a year and a half later, the energetic young man felt ready to try a more promising occupation. He became a freelance court reporter, and for the next three years, the future novelist was brought into close contact with grim realities of life as it was played out in the courts. His work was seasonal and irregular, giving him time to read in the British Museum.
