I’m going to be choosing a very interesting topic for my article – Fiction books that you never thought were based on reality. I’ve discussed 5 of the most popular books in today’s world that were thought to be fictious at first–hand, only later to be discovered that they were based on real happenings that were portrayed fictionally. I’m pretty sure most of us have read all of these books and have known the inspiration and history behind them but it’s surprising to know that most of the books that looked like pure fiction at first glance turned out to be grounded on real events (like ‘Alice in Wonderland’!). It’s always good to know a bit about the book and it’s author before reading it. I hope this article will help you in that.

OLIVER TWIST – BY CHARLES DICKENS

If you’ve read the novel ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens, you will be probably aware that the book was based on something that was real, although it is portrayed fictionally. Oliver was an orphan born in a work-house in busy London and, as the book proceeds, he grows up into a 10-year-old boy who is treated cruelly in the hands of gruesome men. This book was written based on the condition of many, many orphans on the streets of an over-flowing and crowded London, with nobody to attend to the needs and matters concerning them. They were usually sent to a workhouse where they either died of starvation or ill-treatment. Charles Dickens and many others like him who wanted to do something to London’s countless orphans took various schemes to bring an awareness to the public about their troubles. Charles Dickens wrote books to do so. George Mueller of Germany established great and big orphanages for orphans who would have been otherwise sent to a very unwelcoming work-house. Or, even worse, the boys might have been sold as ‘chimney-sweepers’ who became victims to skin cancer, starvation or suffocation. Thus, Oliver Twist was one of the first measures taken to save orphans.

ALICE IN WONDER-LAND – BY LEWIS CARROLL

We think of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonder-land’ as a fiction story that practically seems a bit uninteresting but it was never written with an intent of amusing children. It was rather written with the concept of dream-formation and advanced phycology. What Carroll was trying to portray in his ‘Alice in Wonder-land’ was Alice’s dream actually sequenced based on the latest science discoveries of lunacy, psychology and dreaming. Never as a fairy-tale for children!

One of the most enduring themes of Alice in Wonder-land is madness and lunacy. In the 19th century, dreaming was actually considered as a form of madness, which is why madness is such a chief topic in Alice’s dream. The tea-party is, no doubt, a perfect portrayal of madness. The Mad-Hatter and the March-Hare were used as idioms in the 19th century – Mad as a Hatter and Mad as a March-Hare. Carroll was not only interested in phycology, but he was also very amused in psychiatry because of his uncle, a lunacy commissioner. There were many reforms held by great people in the 19th century (like Charles Dickens) to stop the grim imaginations of people on lunacy like people screaming and behaving outrageously. Although some were like that, 80% percent of them were not and it was important for the public to know that they were harmless and could do with some help and compassion. Some schemes taken to achieve this was a dance ball (Charles Dickens penned an article titled ‘A Curious Dance Around A Curious Tree’ where he describes his experience of attending this peculiar dance-ball in a lunatic asylum which the public can watch and even attend). Besides dance-balls, they also hosted tea-parties. Things are piecing together, aren’t they? Lewis Carroll uses his literary talent to describe a tea-party which he actually experienced in a fictious way, portraying that madness was not always harmful to others or exceedingly dangerous to them either.

ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN – BY MARK TWAIN

This book too is purely fictious, although it has some traces of truth in it. For example, Jim, the African slave, is treated inhumanely because of color-discrimination which was prevalent in those times. The author of the book portrays Jim as a brave and loyal servant who does good even if no one notices that. Although his skin tone was ‘black’, his heart was ‘white’ and Mark Twain made that easily noticeable to encourage his readers to never follow color-discrimination.

ADVENTURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES – BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Again, detective Sherlock Holmes is fictious, but his character is based on a person who was in existence. Conan Doyle modelled Holmes's methods on those of Dr. Benjamin Bell, a forensic surgeon for whom Conan Doyle worked as a clerk at the Edinburgh Royal infirmary. Sherlock Holmes’ problem-solving ability and powers of observation are based on what this surgeon possessed in reality. His literary talent made Sherlock sound so real that one of the world’s most famous addresses: 221b Baker Street, London – is visited almost by tens and thousands of people who thought that they may have a chance to visit the place where a very famous Sherlock Holmes once resided! I’m sure they were very disappointed to find out he was just a fictious character.

SOME OF ENID BLYTON’S MOST POPULAR CHARACTERS

In the immensely famous book series of ‘Famous Five’ by Enid Blyton – there comes a sulky, hot-tempered character – George, short for Georgina. She hates being a girl, acts like a boy and loves to do the things boys do. Throughout the book, she is portrayed as a perfect tomboy who is affectionate and absolutely honest. This character was actually inspired by a girl whom Enid Blyton met herself:

"The real George was short-haired, freckled, sturdy, and snub-nosed. She was bold and daring, hot-tempered and loyal. She was sulky, as George is, too, but she isn't now. We grow out of those failings — or we should! Do you like George? I do." That was Enid Blyton’s inspiration

Besides this, Enid Blyton has based many more characters that we all know and love on real people too! For example: Bill Smugs (‘in the ‘Adventure Series’), Fatty (‘in the Find-Outers Mystery’), Kiki the parrot (‘in the ‘Adventure Series’) – Kiki was a real parrot belonging to Enid Blyton’s aunt and Loony the dog (in the Barney Mysteries) – Loony was Enid Blyton’s spaniel pet who was said to be ‘extraordinarily silly’.

The physical appearances of these characters described in the books are exactly the same compared with the real people behind them.

So, there it is. I was aware that books like Oliver Twist and most of Charles Dicken’s all time famous novels were based on reality much before I read them because I’ve read many short biographies of this great novelist and was quite impressed at his endeavors to change horrid practices through his writing. Others like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ which I thought were just plain fiction, turned out to be based on rather mind-blowing reality. I haven’t read Alice in Wonderland but have watched a Disney movie of the same. It seemed like just a lot of bosh. I was amazed to find that the book was almost entirely based on real happenings. Quite startling, isn’t it? The same goes with Enid Blyton’s characters and my favorite book series - Sherlock Holmes.