The Wonderous Words of Charles Dickens Come to Life in the Novel, Oliver Twist

In the novel Dickens introduces many characters to readers, and many of those characters contrast each other greatly, creating character foils. These contrasts highlight the differences of the characters and the part of society they represent. This allows readers

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:

Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is saturated with the evil of men (and women) who seek to destroy the purest of things—the innocence of a child. The majority of the characters in this novel are driven by greed, power (over the less fortunate) and pure evil—non-more so than Mister Bumble, the cruel, pompous old beadle of the poorhouse where Oliver is raised, and Fagin, a “loathsome reptile” of a man. While each of these men will succumb to some level of depravity, as will the other characters, young Oliver Twist does not. Against all odds, Oliver is the only one who remains untainted by the evil that surrounds him all times. Despite the heartbreaking revelation of his parents’ demise, dealing with the loss of them both, the ill treatment he receives on a daily basis, existing in a world completely void of light and permeating with corruption, Oliver never adopts the pervasive nature of those around him. The infestation, which eventually consumes all those around him, is something that Oliver Twist was able to avoid due to his purity of self.

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

Twist.”) These quotes explain a little of what Oliver Twist is about and how Charles Dickens

Religion was a huge part of everyday life which essentially controlled and consumed the lives of the individuals of the Victorian Era and the entire era as a whole. Religion was the foundation of society with the entirety of the social hierarchy being based around it. The novel ‘Oliver Twist’ has been used to depict Religion in the Victorian Era as extremely corrupt with its representatives being pompous and hypocritical. Dicken’s typifies this in “although this invitation was accompanied with a curtsey that might have softened the heart of a church warden, it by no means mollified the beadle”. The use of metaphoric language emphasises the tyrannic attitude of Mr Bumble, and the superiority complex that he displays throughout the Novel. Dickens satirical commentation of the Beadle attempts to challenge the perception of Religion in the Victorian Era.

As young Oliver, ill-treated and hungry, approaches his masters saying “Please, sir, I want some more” (Dickens 11), Charles Dickens enthralls his readers in the harsh, twisted journey of Oliver Twist. Through a series of exciting events full of abuse, loyalty, hatred, and love, Dickens portrays the overlooked difficulties of the poor, lower class that Oliver Twist’s action-packed life has been subject to. Some of Dickens most loved characters, including the adolescent pickpocket under the pseudonym the Artful Dodger, the brutal Bill Sikes, devoted Nancy, and the criminal mastermind Fagin, are all presented in his entrancing Oliver Twist. Dickens does a brilliant job of manipulating his characters into acts of heinous crimes, life risking encounters, and joyous memories all the while unfolding an unimaginable ending to his superb tale. Although Dickens presents many captivating ideas, the focus of this particular monograph will concentrate on the unfailing loyalty of his characters and how this faithfulness will lead to their benefit or downfall. Before delving too deep in detail however, a brief summary must be presented.

Oliver, a small boy, is orphaned at a young age. He encounters many trials, and finds out that he is the heir to a fortune. Oliver is thrown into the harsh environment of child labor, crime, and corruption. He remains good-natured, despite the world around him telling him that he is bad. Many characters in Oliver Twist symbolize the contradictions in the Victorian Era.

In Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, Joe Gargery is a blacksmith in the marsh town and lives with Mrs. Joe, Pip 's sister. He isn 't healthy and just barely supports Pip and Mrs. Joe, but he works hard to do everything he can. Joe is quiet and not an outgoing person but he seems to find ways to show people how he is forgiving and very honest. Joe shows that he has the passion and emotion to change someone 's attitude towards others, such as Pip. Joes childhood was full abuse from his father and trying to survive life. He never got an education because he needed to survive without his father growing up. His father made Joe realize that if you 're cruel and not caring, the life you live won 't be real. The Victorian era was brutal because if you didn 't have an education it was tough to get a job, and if you didn 't have money, you weren 't considered a “gentlemen”. Being a gentlemen in the Victorian era meant you have earned respect and improved on your social status. Joe proves that he did everything himself and experienced what is was like having responsibilities growing up and not having everything handed to you. He cares for other and shows that if someone is in need he will do anything to help. Joe Gargery should be considered a gentleman because he is the of the only characters in Great Expectations that is true to himself hardworking, compassionate and forgiving.

In this essay I will be writing about how Charles Dickens uses the story Oliver Twist to expose the appalling treatment of poor children in Victorian Britain. Oliver Twist was written in 1837–9, this period in Britain history was known as the Victorian period. Life in Britain was changing a lot at this time, more and more people were moving to the city due to the Industrial Revolution. Most of the people, who were moving to the city, were living in the country. There were a lot of negative effects of lots of people moving to the city, it was getting really overcrowded and there was a lack of housing.

When the order of society determines everything, a decision to become greater, will lead one to neglect their true values. In the novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens introduces the reader to Pip. Set during the Victorian era, Dickens brings forward all the influences, good and bad, of Pips life. Professor John Bowen states “Like many Victorians, Dickens himself was fascinated by the idea that you could make yourself anew” (Bowen 2). Dickens incorporates events of his own life to help the reader understand Pips society and childhood as he learns the true meaning of life when his unexpectedly changes.

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

Dickens's criticism of a money – minded society is quite evident, and his attack against industrialism and materialism is significant in this novel,79 which makes it different from other novels Dickens has written.80 Oliver Twist is a matter of a whole society, persecuted by application of the utilitarian, economic and materialistic doctrines to human relationships that become mechanized and emotionally dead. Edgar Johnson, reveals Dickens's hatred to capitalism, " there is no mistaking Dickens's violent hostility to industrial capitalism and its entire scheme of life. Here he is proclaiming a doctrine not of individual but of social sin unveiling what he now sees as the real state of modern society."81

In Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist, Dickens portrays the hardships of people in poverty during the Victorian era through Oliver and various characters throughout the novel. Oliver is born into a workhouse with no name where he is starved, beaten, and treated like a prisoner during the first ten years of his life. Dickens makes all his characters in the novel “…either a jailor or a prisoner, like Dickens himself both, the author and his turn key” (Lepore). Two characters that are both exemplified as prisoners throughout the novel are Oliver and Nancy. During Oliver’s younger years, he is under both the Parochial and Fagin’s reign. As for Nancy, she is depicted in certain ways as a

Criminality of subjects is more or less decided by the majority at that given time. If the majority claimed an act was considered bad, for whatever reasoning they wanted to give, such as eating ice cream on Tuesdays, then those who did do the act would be considered bad individuals. Society at large has closely tied criminality with morality, or in other words, doing a bad thing equals being a bad person. The understanding of what is considered “wrong” or “bad” has constantly changed throughout history, however, and so it is unreliable to hold strictly to the belief that actions equal personhood. Additionally, the lower classes in society, Victorian society specifically, have been tasked as being the most criminal, and as such the most immoral, as they have been systematically forced into the roles of criminals at birth due to their social standing. Even though Nancy is a prostitute and has done crimes, recognized as “bad” actions, her character still challenges Victorian assumptions because it highlights how poverty is not a crime, fallen women are not immoral, and the poor themselves are not inherently immoral.