A Discourse Study of Dickens’s Nobody’s Story

Abstract

The framework that the researcher operates with in this study synergises narratology, critical discourse analysis, a naming-in-discourse-historical approach, and Stylistics to critique Nobody's Story (1854) by Charles Dickens. An analytical study specifically concerning Dickens' use of narrative voice and name-words, thematic words, and rhetorical figures to produce a fierce condemnation of the Victorian upper and lower classes. Based on a mixed model drawing from the works of Genette (1980), Fairclough (1995), Wodak (2001), and Leech & Short (2007), this paper examines the discursive resources that marginalize social groups with these modalities. Specifically, the protagonist is called nobody in such a way that this action removes an individual name and transforms social removal into a shared experience. It shows how Dickens employs narrative voice as a moral and ideologically determined structure to guide the reader towards an intractable recognition of class exploitation. It also emphasizes the role of rhetorical devices such as irony, hyperbole or overstatement, personification, and other forms of repetition and contrast in the fine arts of persuasive writing. The findings imply that Nobody's Story surpasses this definition, standing not just as a narrative tale but also as an enormous intervention in Victorian discussions of social justice, labour, poverty, along with political representation. This text synthesizes those stylistic, ideological, and narratological connections under Dickens's larger interest in humanitarian relief and social change.