Essay on The Theme of Childhood in Oliver Twist

“The range of his creative activity is, in the first place, limited to the world of his youth” (Cecil 169). This quote explains many people. What has previously happened to a person has a tremendous impact on them. It can affect their decisions, emotions, and life. The life of a person can sometimes be seen quite easily through what they do. Artists often reveal what their life has been like through the works that they create. The same can be said about writers. Events in authors past often show up in his works. The above quote is, in fact, made in regard to Charles Dickens.

Her dealings with a number of the wrong people leads to her to indulge in criminal activity. Throughout the story Dickens reveals Nancy’s unraveling internal conflict with morality, ultimately leading her to help Oliver, whom she dies for trying to protect. All the people Nancy surrounded herself with were corrupted. Bill Sikes, the man she loved and stayed loyal to the most, was a common criminal. Fagin, Jack Dawkins, and Charles Bates were also common criminals.

The authors both use the motif of false identities, that are imposed by other characters upon the protagonist, to display how inferior individuals are misunderstood. Dickens displays the motif of false identities through the change of clothes of the protagonist. It was almost immediately after his birth when Oliver was left alone on the streets to survive. Since he had no immediate family to guide him during his childhood as to whom he is as an individual, his identity was chosen for him by an outsider. His rank in society was chosen when Oliver was:

From the moment of his birth, Oliver Twist is besieged by pure evil, and while he grows up without knowledge of what being good is like, having never seen it, having never experienced it, he is able to maintain a level of morality that most of the adults around him cannot. His disposal into the workhouse, an institution original designed to help the poor but has been transformed into a house of punishment by the New Poor Law which callous

Oliver twist is one of the well known novel during the Victorian era. Charles Dickens, a nineteenth century writer mentions the the story of the young boy named Oliver twist in England and the advantures that happen to him.the novel theme up with many interrelated ideas.it is concentrated with the miseries of poverty and the spread of its degrading effects through society,Many evils are awaken in the society because of poverty for instance hunger, homelessness illiteracy etc.which was shown clearly in the novel.one of the worst consequences of poverty and being deprived of life’s essential is crime,with all of its corrosive effects on human nature.in the Victorian era,poverty experienced was extreme in case of the working classes.the

Charles Dickens uses his own opinions to develop the larger-than-life characters in Great Expectations. The novel is written from the point of view of the protagonist, Pip. Pip guides the reader through his life, describing the different stages from childhood to manhood. Many judgments are made regarding the other characters, and Pip's views of them are constantly changing according to his place in the social hierarchy. For instance, Pip feels total admiration that, later, turns to total shame for the man who raised him, Joe Gargery. The primary theme in this novel questions whether being in a higher social and economic class helps a person to achieve true happiness. This idea is shown through Pip's innocence at the forge, visits

Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned British writers with well-known and widespread work. Dickens was born in England in 1812 and died in 1870. During this time, Victorian England experienced an Industrial Revolution, which impacted his life tremendously. New factories and industrial machinery changed many lives of the lower class citizens. The family grew up impoverished and struggled to maintain a good lifestyle. The family’s financial situation was strained as John Dickens, Charles’s father, spent money that the family didn’t have. These societal factors were influential in Charles Dickens’s life, and the same themes present themselves in his works. When an author creates a work, frequently themes of their life events are incorporated into the theme of the book, consciously or unconsciously. Victorian Age industrial-influenced strife was a common theme in Dickens’s life and presented itself throughout Dickens’s books.

England. Dickens addresses these issues in his timeless masterpiece Oliver Twist. In the story of Oliver Twist, Dickens uses past experiences from his childhood and targets the Poor Law of 1834 which renewed the importance of the workhouse as a means of relief

Compare the presentation of childhood in Great Expectations and Jane Eyre Both "Jane Eyre" and "Great Expectation" adopt a typically Victorian outlook on childhood, which can seem quite alien set against modern values. However in both books, and particularly in "Jane Eyre", there is an effort to create a convincing expression of childhood through strong emphasis of the child's point of view above all others. In both books there is a interesting use of hindsight within the first person narration; not only does the narrator describe their childhood with perfect clarity of detail "before the long hour and a half of prayers and Bible-reading was over, I felt ready to perish with cold.

think she has any other life to turn to. She has a hard time with good

Great Expectations’ main character, Phillip Pirrip- generally known as Pip- had a rough upbringing as a child. His sister, Mrs. Joe had “brought him up by hand”, after their parents and five brothers had all been laid to rest many years ago. Another character, Herbert Pocket experienced a bizarre childhood, though in a different manner. Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations develops through the novel following Pip, a young “common boy” who grew up in the countryside. As he matured so did his love for a girl of higher class, Estella. However, being a common boy, Pip was not good enough for his Estella, thus once he was given an opportunity to become a gentleman in London he seized it without much hesitation. Charles Dickens’ had his own

“In the book, Oliver spends most of his days working in return of small meals, no education, and a

The novel depicts the story of an orphan, Oliver Twist who starts his life in a workhouse and is then auctioned into apprenticeship with an undertaker . He doesn’t get food over there and has to starve for food .When his stomach is not filled he always says ,”Please, sir, I want some more.” He flees from there to London where he meets a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by criminals. Oliver was asked to do several tasks which he didn’t wanted to but he had to do. The consequence of these tasks were not good for Oliver , he was once caught and jailed . At the end of the novel Oliver is handed over to a person who later happens to be his

People tend naively see orphans and those without caring families as hopeless and loveless creatures. However, the goodness of strangers can easily prove these thoughts nonsensical as people can provide an abundance of support and love to those with no blood relation to them and can embrace strangers as family. In Charles Dickens’ two novels Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, Dickens challenges the typical idea of parentage and suggests the through love and generosity anyone can become a guardian or mentor figure. Therefore, people should not place as much faith in blood relations and look to others for sources of guidance and compassion.

"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more." No one will ever forget the simple plea made by the poor hungry little orphan named Oliver Twist. Nobody will be able to omit from his mind the painful blows that Oliver suffered. Nor will anyone cease to recall what it felt like to be young and helpless in a much bigger and stronger world. In an effort to bring the ostracized poverty situation of so many children to the public's attention, Charles Dickens wrote an unforgettable book to touch the hearts of millions. Whether he knew it then or not, he was also bringing a new connotation and worldwide innuendo to the term "child labor".