A Comparison of Thomas Carlyle's Know Thy Work and Charles Dickens' David Copperfield

To our current and past generations, the idea of finding great value in work is not all together new. In Thomas Carlyle’s “Know Thy Work,” the idea of work as a precious necessity is presented in argumentative detail. Carlyle found significant value in labor, because labor offers purpose and regulation to a person. Carlyle’s outlying argument for work’s value to a person was based on the idea that work offers a purpose to one’s life and defines them as an individual. 

He clearly states this by writing, “Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work, a life-purpose…(Longman 1040)” This statement strongly represents his thought of work’s benefit to a person, because it offers a definition and a meaning for an individual’s existence, for which there is no greater value. Also, he believes work is valuable, because it self regulates a person’s life. 

He writes, “…the real desire to get Work done will itself lead one more and more to truth, to Nature’s appointments and regulations, which are truth (1039)…Of an idle unrevolving man the kindest Destiny, like the most assiduous Potter without a wheel, can bake and knead nothing other than a botch (1040)…” Carlyle also feels work is necessary, because it requires action which forces one’s self to be self-regulated and will force that person to seek truth and structure in life. Moreover, Carlyle’s view of work’s value in one’s life is seen in Charles Dickens’ work David Copperfield.