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Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (07_oliver_twist_by_charles_dickens.doc)

CHARLES DICKENS

Oliver Twist

The Parish Boy´s Progress

Title:

        Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Published:

        Hertfordschire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992.

About the author:

        Charles Dickens (*February 7, 1812  † June 9, 1870) acclaimed as one of history's greatest novelists.

Charles John Huffam Dickens, pen-name "Boz", was the foremost English novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous social campaigner. Considered one of the English language's greatest writers, he was acclaimed for his rich storytelling and memorable characters, and achieved massive worldwide popularity in his lifetime. The popularity of Dickens' novels and short stories has meant that none have ever gone out of print. Dickens wrote serialised novels, which was the usual format for fiction at the time, and each new part of his stories would be eagerly anticipated by the reading public.

        The life story of Charles Dickens is a success story. Generally regarded today as one of the greatest novelists in the English language, Dickens had the unusual good fortune to have been recognized by his contemporaries as well as by posterity.

        From the appearance of his first full-length work of prose fiction, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, in 1836-1837, which began publication when he was twenty-four years old and which was a phenomenally popular success on both sides of the Atlantic, Charles Dickens has retained his place as one of the best-loved and most widely read novelists in the world.

        Dickens remained a prolific writer to the end of his life, and his novels – among them his best-known works as Great Expectations (1860–1861), David Copperfield (1849–1850), Oliver Twist (1837–1839), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Bleak House (1852–1853), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839), The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837), and A Christmas Carol (1843) – continued to earn critical and popular acclaim.

About the book:                                                                                                        Oliver Twist (1838) is Charles Dickens' second novel and one of his best-known works. The book was originally published in Bentley's Miscellany as a serial, in monthly instalments that began appearing in February 1837 and continued through April 1839.                                                                                                 Oliver Twist is the first English novel with a child protagonist, and is also notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives. Like most of Dickens' work, the book is used to bring the public's attention to various contemporary social evils, including the workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. The novel is full of sarcasm and dark humour, even as it treats its serious subject, revealing the hypocrisies of the time.                        Oliver Twist is notable for its emphasis on the struggle to survive, its presentation of the poor and criminals as real people with their own stories and sufferings, and its emphasis on money and the hypocrisy it frequently breeds.

        Throughout Oliver Twist, Dickens criticizes the Victorian stereotype of the poor as criminals from birth. Oliver Twist is full of mistaken, assumed, and changed identities. Oliver joins his final domestic scene by assuming yet another identity. Once the mystery of his real identity is revealed, he quickly exchanges it for another, becoming Brownlow’s adopted son. After all the fuss and the labyrinthine conspiracies to conceal Oliver’s identity, it is ironic that he gives it up almost as soon as he discovers it.

        The final passage of the novel sums up Dickens’s moral and religious vision.  “I have said that they were truly happy; and without strong affection and humanity of heart, and gratitude to that Being whose code is Mercy and whose great attribute is Benevolence to all things that breathe, happiness can never be attained. Within the altar of the old village church there stands a white marble tablet which bears as yet but one word: “Agnes!”…… I believe that the shade of Agnes sometimes hovers round the solemn nook. I believe it none the less because that nook is in a Church, and she was weak and erring.” (pg. 360)

On the one hand, Dickens considers a firm and true belief in God to be an essential prerequisite of both moral rectitude and earthly happiness. On the other hand, the novel has not been kind to characters such as Mr. Bumble, who prattle on about Christian values, but whose behaviour is notably lacking in “Benevolence” and who are quick to condemn others as sinners. The description of Agnes’s grave is an attack on puritanical religion, which would consider adultery to be an unforgivable sin. The novel’s faith in Christian values is as wholehearted as its attacks on Christian hypocrisy are biting.

        The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of his hardships as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations, and the basis for a highly successful British musical, Oliver!.

Main topic:

        Oliver Twist is a grimly comic indictment of the effects of industrialism upon 19th century England. Oliver, an innocent child, is trapped in an unforgiving society where, thanks in part to the harsh new Poor Laws, his only practical alternatives seem to be the workhouse, Fagin's den of thieves, a prison sentence, or an early grave. From this grim industrial/institutional setting, however, a fairy tale also emerges: In the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive Oliver remains pure-hearted; he refrains from evil when those around him succumb; and, in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward - just as his chief tormenters receive theirs. On the way to Oliver´s happy ending, Dickens takes the opportunity to explore the kind of life an orphan, outcast boy could expect to lead in the London of the 1830s.

        Oliver Twist had a twofold moral purpose: to exhibit the evil working of the Poor Law Act, and to give a faithful picture of the life of thieves in London. The motives hung well together, for in Dickens's view the pauper system was directly responsible for a great deal of crime.         Both Oliver and the thieves are victims of the Poor Laws and other social institutions that prevent or discourage them from productive work. They all battle hunger, cold, and lack of decent living conditions, and society seems bent on rubbing them out – even Oliver's harmless and sweet friend Dick is viewed as a nuisance and a danger by the authorities. As Dickens wrote, children in the infant farm are often killed when they are "…overlooked in turning up a bedstead, or inadvertently scalded to death when there happened to be a washing…” (pg. 6)

Plot summary:

        Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in the workhouse of an unnamed town some 75 miles from London. Orphaned almost from his first breath by his unmarried and nameless mother’s death in childbirth and his father’s conspicuous absence, Oliver is meagrely provided for under the terms of the Poor Law, and spends the first nine years of his life at a “baby farm” (pg. 5) in the care of a woman named Mrs. Mann, who starves the children under her care and pockets the money given to her for their food. Although many of the children die, investigations always determine that the death was “accidental”. Along with other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws, Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts.

        Around the time of the orphan’s ninth birthday, Mr Bumble, a parish beadle, removes Oliver from the baby farm and puts him to work picking oakum at the main branch-workhouse. “So they established the rule that all poor people should have the alternative ….of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it.” (pg. 11)        Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months. Then, the desperately hungry boys draw lots; the poor boy must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes forward, bowl in hand, and makes his famous request: “Please, sir, I want some more.” (pg. 12) A great uproar ensues. The boards of well-fed gentlemen, who administer the workhouse, while eating a meal fit for a king, are outraged by Oliver's ingratitude. Wanting to be rid of this troublemaker, they offer five pounds to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice. A brutal chimney sweep almost claims Oliver, but, when he begs despairingly not to be sent away with him. “Oliver fell on his knees, and clasping his hands together, prayed that they would order him back to the dark room – that they would starve him – beat him – kill him if they pleased – rather than send him away with that dreadful man.” (pg. 20) So a kindly old magistrate refuses to sign the indentures. Later, Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, takes Oliver into his service.         Because of his sorrowful countenance, Sowerberry uses him as a mute, or mourner, at children's funerals. When the undertaker’s other apprentice, Noah Claypole, makes disparaging comments about Oliver’s mother, Oliver attacks him and incurs the Sowerberrys’ wrath. Desperate, Oliver runs away at dawn and travels toward London.

        Outside London, Oliver, starved and exhausted, meets Jack Dawkins, a boy his own age. Jack offers him shelter in the London house of his benefactor, Fagin. It turns out that Fagin is a career criminal who trains orphan boys to pick pockets for him. After a few days of training, Oliver is sent on a pickpocketing mission with two other boys. When he sees them swipe a handkerchief from an elderly gentleman, Oliver is horrified and runs off. He is caught but narrowly escapes being convicted of the theft. Mr. Brownlow, the man whose handkerchief was stolen, takes the feverish Oliver to his home and nurses him back to health. Mr. Brownlow is struck by Oliver’s resemblance to a portrait of a young woman that hangs in his house. Oliver thrives in Mr. Brownlow’s home, but two young adults in Fagin’s gang, Bill Sikes and his lover Nancy, capture Oliver and return him to Fagin.

        Fagin sends Oliver to assist Sikes in a burglary. Oliver is shot by a servant of the house and, after Sikes escapes, is taken in by the women who live there, Mrs. Maylie and her beautiful adopted niece Rose. They grow fond of Oliver, and he spends an idyllic summer with them in the countryside. But Fagin and a mysterious man named Monks are set on recapturing Oliver. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Oliver’s mother left behind a gold locket when she died. Monks obtains and destroys that locket. When the Maylies come to London, Nancy meets secretly with Rose and informs her of Fagin’s designs, but a member of Fagin’s gang overhears the conversation. When word of Nancy’s disclosure reaches Sikes, he brutally murders Nancy and flees London. Pursued by his guilty conscience and an angry mob, he inadvertently hangs himself while trying to escape.

        Mr. Brownlow, with whom the Maylies have reunited Oliver, confronts Monks and wrings the truth about Oliver’s parentage from him. It is revealed that Monks is Oliver’s half brother. Their father, Mr. Leeford, was unhappily married to a wealthy woman and had an affair with Oliver’s mother, Agnes Fleming. Monks has been pursuing Oliver all along in the hopes of ensuring that his half-brother is deprived of his share of the family inheritance. Mr. Brownlow forces Monks to sign over Oliver’s share to Oliver. Moreover, it is discovered that Rose is Agnes’s younger sister, hence Oliver’s aunt. Fagin is hung for his crimes. Finally, Mr. Brownlow adopts Oliver, and they and the Maylies retire to a blissful existence in the countryside.

Characters:

Oliver Twist -  The novel’s protagonist. Oliver is an orphan born in a workhouse, and Dickens uses his situation to criticize public policy toward the poor in 1830s England. Oliver is between nine and twelve years old when the main action of the novel occurs. Though treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, he is a pious, innocent child, and his charms draw the attention of several wealthy benefactors. His true identity is the central mystery of the novel.

Fagin -  A conniving career criminal. Fagin takes in homeless children and trains them to pick pockets for him. He is also a buyer of other people’s stolen goods. He rarely commits crimes himself, preferring to employ others to commit them—and often suffer legal retribution—in his place. Dickens’s portrait of Fagin displays the influence of anti-Semitic stereotypes.

Nancy -  A young prostitute and one of Fagin’s former child pickpockets. Nancy is also Bill Sikes’s lover. Her love for Sikes and her sense of moral decency come into conflict when Sikes abuses Oliver. Despite her criminal lifestyle, she is among the noblest characters in the novel. In effect, she gives her life for Oliver when Sikes murders her for revealing Monks’s plots.

The Artful Dodger -  The cleverest of Fagin’s pickpockets who introduces Oliver to Fagin. The Dodger’s real name is Jack Dawkins. Though no older than Oliver, the Dodger talks and dresses like a grown man. The Dodger is so-called by his skill and cunning in that respect. As a result he has become the leader of the gang of child criminals, trained by the elderly Fagin. Ultimately The Dodger is caught with a stolen silver snuff box on his person, convicted as a "lifer", and "sent abroad" (to Australia). The nickname "Artful Dodger" is still commonly used to refer to someone who is good at avoiding responsibility or the consequences of his or her actions. "Artful Dodger" is also Cockney rhyming slang for "lodger".

Charley Bates -  One of Fagin’s pickpockets. Charley is ready to laugh at anything.

Mr. Brownlow -  A well-off, erudite gentleman who serves as Oliver’s first benefactor. Mr. Brownlow owns a portrait of Agnes Fleming and was engaged to Mr. Leeford’s sister when she died. Throughout the novel, he behaves with compassion and common sense and emerges as a natural leader.

Monks -  A sickly, vicious young man, prone to violent fits and teeming with inexplicable hatred. With Fagin, he schemes to give Oliver a bad reputation.

Bill Sikes  - A brutal professional burglar brought up in Fagin’s gang. Sikes and Nancy are lovers, and he treats both her and his dog Bull’s-eye with an odd combination of cruelty and grudging familiarity. His murder of Nancy is the most heinous of the many crimes that occur in the novel.

Mr. Bumble  - The pompous, self-important beadle—a minor church official—for the workhouse where Oliver is born. Though Mr. Bumble preaches Christian morality, he behaves without compassion toward the paupers under his care. Dickens mercilessly satirizes his self-righteousness, greed, hypocrisy, and folly, of which his name is an obvious symbol.

Agnes Fleming -  Oliver’s mother. After falling in love with and becoming pregnant by Mr. Leeford, she chooses to die anonymously in a workhouse rather than stain her family’s reputation. A retired naval officer’s daughter, she was a beautiful, loving woman. Oliver’s face closely resembles hers.

Mr. Leeford -  Oliver and Monks’s father, who dies long before the events of the novel. He was an intelligent, high-minded man whose family forced him into an unhappy marriage with a wealthy woman. He eventually separated from his wife and had an illicit love affair with Agnes Fleming. He intended to flee the country with Agnes but died before he could do so.

Mr. Losberne -  Mrs. Maylie’s family physician. A hot-tempered but good-hearted old bachelor, Mr. Losberne is fiercely loyal to the Maylies and, eventually, to Oliver.

Mrs. Maylie -  A kind, wealthy older woman, the mother of Harry Maylie and adoptive “aunt” of Rose.

Harry Maylie -  Mrs. Maylie’s son. Harry is a dashing young man with grand political ambitions and career prospects, which he eventually gives up to marry Rose.

Rose Maylie -  Agnes Fleming’s sister, raised by Mrs. Maylie after the death of Rose’s father. A beautiful, compassionate, and forgiving young woman, Rose is the novel’s model of female virtue. She establishes a loving relationship with Oliver even before it is revealed that the two are related.

Old Sally -  An elderly pauper who serves as the nurse at Oliver’s birth. Old Sally steals Agnes’s gold locket, the only clue to Oliver’s identity.

Mrs. Corney -  The matron of the workhouse where Oliver is born. Mrs. Corney is hypocritical, callous, and materialistic. After she marries Mr. Bumble, she hounds him mercilessly.

Noah Claypole -  A charity boy and Mr. Sowerberry’s apprentice. Noah is an overgrown, cowardly bully who mistreats Oliver and eventually joins Fagin’s gang.

Charlotte -  The Sowerberrys’ maid. Charlotte becomes romantically involved with Noah Claypole and follows him about slavishly.

Toby Crackit -  One of Fagin and Sikes’s associates, crass and not too bright. Toby participates in the attempted burglary of Mrs. Maylie’s home.

Mrs. Bedwin -  Mr. Brownlow’s kindhearted housekeeper. Mrs. Bedwin is unwilling to believe Mr. Bumble’s negative report of Oliver’s character.

Mr. Sowerberry  -  The undertaker to whom Oliver is apprenticed. Though Mr. Sowerberry makes a grotesque living arranging cut-rate burials for paupers, he is a decent man who is kind to Oliver.

Mrs. Sowerberry -  Sowerberry’s wife. Mrs. Sowerberry is a mean, judgmental woman who henpecks her husband.

Narrator:

        The narrator is a third person anonymous omniscient narrator and assumes the points of view of various characters in turn. The narrator’s tone is not objective; it is sympathetic to the protagonists and far less so to the novel’s other characters. When dealing with hypocritical or morally objectionable characters, the narrative voice is often ironic or sarcastic.

Books, chapters:

        The book contains 53 chapters with 24 illustrations by George Cruikshank. Each chapter begins with a short description of what will happen in it.

Bibliography

Ackroyd, Peter: Dickens. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1990.

Dickens, Charles: Oliver Twist. Hertfordschire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992.

Schlicke, Paul: Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Westland, Ella: Introduction to Oliver Twist in Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist.

Hertfordschire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992.

Internet

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-olivertwist/bio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Dickens&printable=yes

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oliver/context.html