Senior English students, in spite of themselves, respond to Dickens both critically and emotionally. Impressed by Dickens'"artistry of style," they nonetheless disagree with each other over whether his characters are believable and whether the exaggeration of character traits is an effective device. The deepest level of understanding occurs after the students have finished the novel and can see the relationships among the characters and their correlation with the structure of the novel. Students respond emotionally to Dickens on a subconscious level because he reflects their deepest needs and attitudes. They support Dickens' attacks on institutions and his ridicule, through repulsive physical descriptions, of socially important individuals. The students also identify with Dickens through his attitude toward life, which is dominated by a vast sympathy toward mankind, almost religious in its expression but lacking in specifically religious ideas; and through his tendency to criticize society rather than support specific causes designed to improve it. (LH)