Final answer:
Charles Dickens's hallmark in storytelling is his distinctive first-person narrative style combined with rich, detailed pictorial descriptions, creating an immersive sensory experience which he pioneered in 'The Pickwick Papers' and maintained in 'Great Expectations'. His contribution to the Victorian realism genre helped to vividly capture society's nuances and advocate for social reform.
Step-by-step explanation:
Charles Dickens, renowned for his vivid storytelling and character creation, contributed a unique quality to the novel form that he began in The Pickwick Papers and continued through to Great Expectations. This distinguishing quality is his use of first-person narration, giving readers a deeply personal and immersive story from the narrator's point of view. In Pickwick Papers, he experimented with narrative voice and set the stage for the engaging first-person perspective found in Great Expectations.
Dickens's style encapsulates Victorian realism, painting an accurate reflection of society with meticulous attention to the environment and the lives of the characters. He skillfully integrated main plots with subplots, creating a narrative experience reminiscent of 'slow speed skating'—moving steadily forward while weaving from side to side. This approach offered a multifaceted look at the time period he described.
The dual narrative perspective in Great Expectations, which combines the adult narrator's reflections with the child Pip’s immediate experiences, furthers the depth and engagement of the story. The reader is presented with a layered view that reflects both the innocence of childhood and the contemplation of adulthood. Within the Victorian Age, Dickens's commitment to portraying social realities through his literature was rooted in his heartfelt depictions and his own activism for change.