Final answer:
Charles Dickens showcases social inequality through vivid settings and character relations, illustrating class disparities, classism, and institutional issues. His detailed narratives provide a window into socioeconomic challenges of the 19th century, corresponding to real-world inequalities like racism and sexism.
Step-by-step explanation:
Charles Dickens often explores themes of social inequality through vivid and detailed narrative in his novels, including settings and characterizations that reflect the societal disparities of his time. In discussing social inequality in the works of Dickens, it's important to consider his portrayal of the stark differences between social classes and the critique embedded in his detailed descriptions. Dickens employs miserly or privileged characters, struggling protagonists, and the grim settings of industrialized cities to highlight the prevailing classism, economic disparities, and the hardships faced by the lower classes.
In the wider context of the novel, Dickens often depicts the systemic nature of inequality, not just through direct character interactions but also in the institutions that perpetuate these inequalities, such as the workhouse in 'Oliver Twist' or the legal system in 'Bleak House.' These narratives delve into the intricate weave of personal stories and larger societal issues to bring forth a nuanced discussion on racism, classism, and sexism, showing how they are interrelated and affect individuals and groups differently.
By contemplating the relationship between characters of varied wealth in readers' personal lives, it allows a real-world application and reflection on the factors that contribute to and sustain social inequality, mirroring the complexities that Dickens encapsulates in his writing.