Overview of "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens in British Literature
"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens follows the story of a young orphan, Oliver, as he navigates the harsh realities of 19th century England. From his birth in a workhouse to his encounters with Fagin's gang of thieves, Oliver faces numerous challenges and moral dilemmas. The novel delves into themes of poverty, social injustice, and the struggle for redemption, with a cast of memorable characters shaping Oliver's journey.
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OLIVER TWIST BY CHARLES DICKENS: AN INTRODUCTION BA II (British Literature) ENG DSC203
Characters Mr Sawerberry: The undertaker to whom Oliver is apprenticed to be a criminal. Fagin: Fagin takes homeless children and provides training to them regarding the art of pick pocketing. Mr Brownlow: a gentleman who serves as Oliver s first benefactor. He has a sound common sense and behaves with compassion and proves himself a great leader. Nancy: one of Fagin s former child pick pockets Bill Sykes: A brutal professional burgler brought up in Fagin s gang Rose: A virtuous character having a relationship with Oliver even before they come to know that the two are related.
Characters Noah: Mr Sawerberry s apprentice and a charity boy. Mr Bumble: A minor church official for the workhouse where Oliver is born.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse in England. His mother, whose name no one knows, is found on the street and dies just after Oliver s birth. Oliver spends the first nine years of his life in a badly run home for young orphans and then is transferred to a workhouse for adults. After the other boys bully Oliver into asking for more gruel at the end of a meal, Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, offers five pounds to anyone who will take the boy away from the workhouse.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction Oliver narrowly escapes being apprenticed to a brutish chimney sweep and is eventually apprenticed to a local undertaker, Mr Sawerberry. After Noah s disparaging comment about Oliver s mother, the latter attacks him. He incurs the wrath of Sowerberry. Oliver runs away at dawn and travels toward London where he falls into the hands of a gang of thieves.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction The head is the old Jew Fagin, and other main members are the burglar Bill Sykes, his mistress Nancy, and the Artful Dodger , an imprudent young pickpocket. Every effort is made to convert Oliver into a thief. He is temporarily rescued by the benevolent Mr Brownlow, but kidnapped by the gag, whose interest in his retention has been increased by the offers of a wicked person named Monks, who has a special interest in Oliver s perversion.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction Nancy, who develops some redeeming traits, reveals to Rose that Monks knows Oliver s parentage and wishes all proof of it destroyed, and that there is some relationship between Oliver and Rose herself. Inquiry is set on foot. In the course of it Nancy s action is discovered by the gang, and she is brutally murdered by Bill.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction He has pursued his ruin, animated by hatred and the desire to retain the whole of his father s property. Rose is the sister of Oliver s unlucky mother. Oliver is adopted by Mr Brownlow Monks emigrates and dies in prison. Bumble ends his career I the workhouse over he formerly ruled.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction The plot has been criticized to be improbable: throughout the novel, there are too many happy coincidences to be believable. And the characters have been portrayed to be unconvincing ,too: Sykes and Fagin are too inhuman to be true, while the rich Mr Brownlow and Miss Maylie are vaguely depicted as good and noble: Oliver himself is a pale figure who seems to be ever the helpless victim of fate.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction Dickens, in Oliver Twist, portrays the inhumanity of city life under capitalism. Dickens in the initial chapters has exposed the terrible conditions in the English warehouse of the time and the cruel treatment of a poor orphan by all sorts philanthropists.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction In the description of the thieves den and of the underworld of London, the writer has successfully evoked the sympathy of the readers for the downtrodden people. They are degraded and corrupted by the social environment of the time, either climb up to be oppressors or fall to be victims of society or even criminals.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction Dickens in Oliver Twist, particularly by the happy ending, affirms his belief in the triumph of good over evil. The writer shows that the social problems would be settled if every employer follows the example set by great man Brownlow.
Oliver Twist: A Brief Introduction The remarkable scene in Chapter II, which is chosen here, is only one of the details to show the brutality and corruption of the oppressors and their agents. Oliver was beaten mercilessly because he ventured to ask for an extra portion of gruel to alleviate his intolerable hunger. Dicked, by portraying such marvellous scenes, has voiced the acute sufferings and pain of the oppressed and poor.
