Dickens often uses anaphora, he repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of word groups. Check this out:
.....A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars. (Chapter 1)
Note the repetition of the words "a man". This adds emphasis and emotional clarity directly to the character. There is a sense of purpose to this description that the reader picks up on.
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