Contents

Argument... 4
Introduction... 5

Chapter I
Charles Dickens- Biography..6

Chapter II
19th-Century England.. 10

Chapter III
The Poor Laws in Oliver Twist15

Chapter IV
Oliver Twist..15
4.1 Plot and Structure of Oliver Twist...........18
4.2 Analysis of Major Characters 20
4.3 Themes of Oliver Twist.22
4.4 Motifs in Oliver Twist...........................................................................24
4.5 Symbolism in Oliver Twist25
Conclusions..29
Bibliography30
3

Argument
I have chosen to speak about this subject because I was very impressed with abused
children during that time. Oliver Twist is the simple story of an innocent boy's struggle for
survival. Dickens transforms this simple story into a moving one through his gripping narration,
convincing character delineation, masterly irony, mirthful humor, and casual style. Though the
story ends in the manner of a fairy tale, it sounds believable and rings true to life.
The novel deals with the life of not only Oliver but all the characters who are connected
with his life. Dickens successfully paints such a large canvas with conviction. He gathers the
different threads of the story and merges them into the novel with ease. The frequent shifts in the
scenes do not confuse the reader but relieve the monotony of continuous narration. They also
serve to lift the gloom clouding the story.
Oliver Twist is a novel which projects the social evils prevalent during the nineteenth
century. Dickens paints the criminal world with all its gory detail and exhibits its inhabitants with
their deformity and wretchedness. He focuses his attention on the greedy and corrupt officials of
the Parish and reveals the crudity and cruelty of the officers of the law. However, he does not
express his bitterness towards them. He laughs at them and their eccentricities through humor
and irony. We might hope that legal justice in Oliver Twist would be blind, not taking into
account peoples social status, gender, or age. Unfortunately, however, in early nineteenthcentury England, such factors did seem to matter. The legal system portrayed in Oliver Twist,
however, is heavily biased in favor of middle-class and upper-class individuals. Oliver enters
courtrooms twice in the novel. Only by chance does he see the terror on Olivers face and so
decide to save him from life as a chimney sweep. Like the magistrate, the justice system is half
blind. It is generally unable to perceive the perspective or interest of the poor. Olivers trial for
stealing a handkerchief also highlights the precarious position of the poor in the eyes of the law.
Some critics have taken objection to the frequent rhetorical moralizing and philosophical
outpouring in the novel. Dickens used such devices neither to enhance the beauty of the novel
nor to reform the people. His involvement in the novel made him express his views on certain
issues without inhibition. These expressions are conventional for Victorian novels.

Introduction
The bibliography of Charles Dickens includes more than a dozen major novels, a large
number of short stories (including a number of Christmas-themed stories and ghost stories),
several plays, several non-fiction books, and individual essays and articles. Dickens' novels were
serialised initially in weekly or monthly magazines, then reprinted in standard book formats.
The early 19th century was an era of political and social unrest in Britain. In the early
19th century a group of Evangelical Christians called the Clapham Sect were active in politics.
They campaigned for an end to slavery and cruel sports.
Dickens meant to demonstrate this incongruity through the figure of Oliver Twist, an
orphan born and raised in a workhouse for the first ten years of his life. His story demonstrates
the hypocrisy of the petty middle-class bureaucrats, who treat a small child cruelly while voicing
their belief in the Christian virtue of giving charity to the less fortunate. Dickens was a lifelong
champion of the poor. He himself suffered the harsh abuse visited upon the poor by the English
legal system.
The plot of "Oliver Twist" is complex and intricate. Dickens narrates the story of Oliver
by alternatively relating the tales of other characters of the story. He followed this serial structure
as the novel was first printed as a serial in a magazine. The growth of Oliver from infancy to
youth forms the major plot, while the structure of the lives of other characters can be treated as
minor plots. The plot structure of Oliver's life traces a zig-zag pattern. His life moves at a steady
pace from his birth to his life at the Sowerberry's. After his exit from the shop of the undertaker
till his entry into the Maylie household, it moves up and down. His accident at Chertsey creates a
crisis in his life which leads him to a life of peace and contentment. From then onwards his
fortunes move upwards till he settles down with Mr. Brownlow to lead a life of security and
respectability.
Dickens's style is marked by a kind of literary obesity that is displeasing to some modern
tastes. But in this connection as in all others we need to look at Dickens from the standpoint of
his contemporaries. This means judging his art in one instance as it was viewed by the audience
he addressed, whose tastes and expectations were vastly different from our own. A tribute to the
greatness of his work is that it can still be read with pleasure today in spite of some of its
excesses.

Chapter I
Charles Dickens Biography

Charles Dickens is the most popular prose-writer of the Victorian period. His popularity
is due to the fact that he struck a chord which finds response in the emotions of common
humanity everywhere. He was born on February 7, 1812, at Landsport, near Portmouth as the
second eight children of a family continually plagued by debt. His father was a clerk in the Naval
Pay Office and his salary was too small to keep his large family. In 1816 his family moved in a
poor suburb of London. Dickens's education was neglected but fortunately, there were in the
house a few copies of writing by Fielding, Smollett and Goldsmith.
When Dickens was twelve years old, his familys dire straits forced him to quit school
and work in a blacking factory, a place where shoe polish is made. Within weeks, his father was
put in debtors prison, where Dickenss mother and siblings eventually joined him. At this point,
Dickens lived on his own and continued to work at the factory for several months. The horrific
conditions in the factory haunted him for the rest of his life, as did the experience of temporary
orphan-hood. Apparently, Dickens never forgot the day when a more senior boy in the warehouse
took it upon himself to instruct Dickens in how to do his work more efficiently. For Dickens, that
instruction may have represented the first step toward his full integration into the misery and
tedium of working-class life. After inheriting some money, Dickenss father got out of prison and
Charles returned to school. When Dickens was forty-four years old, he was able to afford to
purchase the property; it became his permanent residence for the rest of his life. Young Charles
received his first schooling at home from his mother. He later attended regular schools in
Chatham. He soon began reading his father's small collection of literary classics. The youngster
also revealed early signs of genius, which John Dickens delighted in showing off. Having his
father's approval encouraged Charles to work at his studies. The pleasant times came to an end in
1822, when John Dickens was ordered back to London. The elder Dickens's fondness for
luxuries beyond his means had caught up with him. He was in debt beyond the point where his
creditors would cut him slack. Mrs. Dickens tried to help by starting up a school, but this only
drew the family deeper into debt. To lessen the strain, Charles, then twelve years old, was put to
6

work in a shoe-polish factory at low wages. Two weeks later, his father was sent to a debtors'
prison, where Mrs. Dickens and their four smallest children joined him. During that difficult
time, young Charles had only irregular relations with his family.
The next four or five months were a painful ordeal. In addition to degrading labor,
Charles endured the indignities of insufficient food, shabby quarters, and the association of rough
companions. It was a humiliating trial that left an indelible impression on the proud and sensitive
boy. In later years, he never spoke of this episode, except in the pages of David Copperfield. It is
likely that this introduction to poverty was instrumental in shaping his life. Dickens became
distinguished by furious energy, determination to succeed, and an inflexible will. After John
Dickens had been in prison for about three months, his aged mother died. The inheritance he
received was large enough to pay his more pressing debts and allow his release from debtor's
prison. An additional result of this inheritance was that Charles was taken out of his job at the
shoe-polish factory a few weeks later and sent back to school. He spent the next two and a half
years in an academy, completing all of the formal education he was ever going to get.
In the spring of 1827, Charles Dickens, then a youth of fifteen, entered a lawyer's office.
While applying himself to the law, he managed in his free time to master shorthand. About a year
and a half later, the energetic young man felt ready to try a more promising occupation. He
became a freelance court reporter, and for the next three years, the future novelist was brought
into close contact with grim realities of life as it was played out in the courts. His work was
seasonal and irregular, giving him time to read in the British Museum.
In March 1832, Dickens became a journalist. After serving on two newspapers and
gaining experience as a parliamentary reporter, in 1834 he joined the staff of the prominent
Morning Chronicle, where he got the reputation for being one of the fastest and most accurate
reporters in London. In addition to his metropolitan activities, his assignments took him all over
England, mainly to cover political events. With this exposure to the prevailing realities of
political life, in Parliament and around the nation, Dickens's apprenticeship was receiving its
finishing touches. In the meantime, drawing upon the abundance of material he'd seen in twentyone years, Dickens had begun to compose sketches of London life. The first of these was
published unsigned in the Monthly Magazine of December 1833. In August 1834, the
signature "Boz" made its first appearance, and Dickens's anonymity gradually evaporated.
The energetic Dickens produced numerous sketches while continuing his newspaper
career. The records of the reporter's keen observations that were preserved in the vivid pieces
later found their way into a number of celebrated novels. Finally, on the author's twenty-fourth
7

birthday, February 7, 1836, Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Everyday Life and Everyday People
was published in book form. A second series came out later, and the complete edition was issued
in 1839. The following month saw an even more significant literary event: the first number of
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was offered to the public. Instead of being first
serialized or released in its entirety, the work came out in individual numbers that were sold
separately from March 1836 to November 1837. Only 400 copies were printed of the first
installment, and the initial reception was inauspicious. But later sales rose spectacularly and
printings reached 40,000.
The success of the Sketches by Boz had sharpened Dickens's confidence in the future and
sufficiently improved his income to allow him to consider marriage. On April 2, 1836, two days
after the first of the Pickwick Papers went on sale, Dickens and Catherine Hogarth were married.
The bride was the oldest daughter of George Hogarth, the editor of the Evening Chronicle, an
affiliate of the newspaper for which Dickens wrote. The couple had ten children, but after
twenty-two years the marriage ended in dissension and separation.
When the success of the Pickwick Paper was assured, the star reporter resigned from the
Morning Chronicle, but within a few months he became editor of a new periodical, Bentley's
Miscellany. The February 1837 issue began the serialization of Oliver Twist, or, the Parish Boy's
Progress by Boz, even though the busy editor was still at work on the Pickwick Papers. Before
Oliver Twist had all appeared, several numbers of Dickens's next novel, Nicholas Nickleby
(1838-39), had been printed. Oliver Twist was completed in September 1838 and was issued in
book form before the end of the year, although serial publication ran until March 1839.
Dickens's non-literary activity alone would have taxed the stamina of an ordinary person.
He had a boundless zest for life; everything that he did was undertaken with energy and speed.
He enjoyed an active social life and was a prolific letter writer. Many relatives and his own
numerous family commanded much of his attention- and material assistance. Some of his time
was taken by his interest in organized charity. His travels took him to the continent and twice to
America. There were several changes of residence, including sojourns in Italy, Switzerland, and
France. In spite of all this, Dickens managed to keep up a strenuous exercise programme,
including horseback riding and brisk walks of up to twelve or fourteen miles. While still a child,
Dickens developed an enduring attachment for the theatre. At one time in his youth, Dickens
made an attempt to become a professional actor. As an adult, he delighted in arranging amateur
performances, at various times writing plays, managing productions, or acting.

His dramatic interests later found expression in the famous readings from his own works.
These started with a benefit in 1853, and professional appearances began in 1858. Dickens's
second trip to America in 1867-1868 was a reading tour that proved to be highly profitable. He
threw himself into the oral interpretation of his works, sparing neither himself nor his audiences.
After presenting the murder of Nancy from Oliver Twist, Dickens commonly had to leave the stage
for a rest before proceeding. The swooning of females in the audience was a regular feature of
these occasions. Beginning with his early successes, Dickens's literary career was an unbroken
triumphal procession. His popularity grew enormously and everywhere he came to be regarded
with almost reverence. His cosmopolitan reading public grew to epic numbers, and every addition
to his writing was awaited with wild expectation. Dickens was universally beloved as probably no
other living writer has ever been.
On June 8, 1870, Charles Dickens, working on the manuscript of his last book, The
Mystery of Edwin Drood, wrote longer than was his usual practice. At dinner time he collapsed and
sank into a coma; he died in the evening of the following day. The news of Dickens's death was
carried on a shock wave of grief to remote regions of the earth. As his body was interred in
Westminster Abbey, the whole world mourned.

Chapter II
19th-Century England
During much of the long period beginning with the French Revolution (1789-92) and the
following Napoleonic era, which lasted until 1815, England was caught up in the swirl of events
on the continent of Europe, with resultant conflict at home.
Early in the French Revolution, many Englishmen enthusiastically welcomed the
overthrow of the old order. But as the violence and terror in France reached extreme heights,
keen partisanship divided the English society. The upper levels of society the propertied and
governing classes-were naturally alarmed at the way events across the English Channel were
stimulating radicalism among the population. On the other hand, the underprivileged and the
liberals were encouraged to agitate for improved conditions. Disorder, followed by repressive
measures, became commonplace, particularly later, when England was at war with France. The
struggle on the continent led to acute hardship among the English people. The heavy tax burden
imposed to support military operations bore hardest on those least able to pay. Although the
upper classes had relatively little need to sacrifice, the working classes were hit hard by rising
prices and food scarcity. Their hardships were multiplied when the government issued paper
currency, which produced inflation.
At the same time, the prolonged economic struggle between France and its enemies
deprived England of most of its markets for manufactured goods. Extensive unemployment
brought on acute distress during the years 1811-1813. In 1811, jobless workers in organized
groups known as the Luddites roamed the country, destroying the machinery that they believed
had replaced them in the labor market. In 1812, the year of Charles Dickens's birth, the
destruction of manufacturing equipment was made punishable by death. In 1815, Napoleon was
defeated and confined to the island of St. Helena for the remainder of his days. After the long
period of bloody conflicts, peace was restored, resulting in a general jubilation. But optimism
and high hopes were quickly shattered. The end of war plunged England into the most ruinous
depression the nation had ever suffered. The working classes placed the blame for their woes on
the landlords and industrialists.

10

Once again violence and destruction swept the land, with the inevitable retaliation by the
authorities. A climax was reached with the Peterloo Massacre. In St. Peter's Fields, Manchester,
on August 16, 1819, a regiment of cavalry charged an orderly assembly of citizens, killing eleven
and injuring four hundred. Fierce public indignation followed the outrage, but officials openly
gave support to the action. For a long time, one of England's major problems had been the
support of paupers, whose numbers steadily increased. Direct relief had been in operation since
the days of Queen Elizabeth. This outlay came to require the imposition of crushing parish taxes.
Abuses became rampant; many of the able-bodied preferred to live at public expense rather than
to seek work. When the practice of supplementing starvation wages with relief payments
developed, unscrupulous employers took advantage of the situation by lowering wages, and the
independent worker who wanted to be self-supporting was frustrated in his efforts. After the
defeat of Napoleon, 400,000 veterans were added to the hordes of the unemployed, aggravating
the crisis. In contrast to ugly appearances on the surface, there was an undercurrent of strong
forces striving for improvement. The pressure of public opinion supported the efforts of
reformers to rectify many old abuses.
In 1800, 220 crimes, many of them obviously minor, were punishable by death. One
result of these circumstances, which now seem barbaric, was that juries often refused to convict
the accused. At the same time, prominent crusaders were campaigning relentlessly for abolition
of capital punishment. By 1837, only 15 crimes carried the death penalty. Slavery also came
under attack by humanitarian forces. In 1808, the slave trade was made illegal. In 1834, slavery
was entirely abolished in British land possessions. The objective was quietly achieved through
gradual transition and with generous compensation to former slave-owners. In the elections
brought about by the crowning of William IV in 1830 as king, the Tories (conservatives who
supported the established church and the traditional political structure) lost control of the
government. With the power now in the hands of the Whigs (favorers of reform), the way was
opened for an era of accelerated progress.
Among the most urgently recommended steps was parliamentary reform. In 1829, the
first Catholic was admitted to Parliament. In spite of determined opposition in the House of
Lords, the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed. The bill eliminated many inequities in
representation, and the middle class was enlarged. In 1833 came the beginning of child-labor
laws. From that time on, an increased amount of legislation was enacted to control the hours of
labor and working conditions for children and women in manufacturing plants.

11

A new concept was adopted to deal with the vexing issue of poverty. The Poor Law of
1834 provided that all able-bodied paupers must reside in workhouses. Inmates of the
workhouses became objects of public stigma, and to further heighten the unpopularity of the
institutions, living arrangements in them were deliberately made harsh. In one way, the plan was
successful. Within three years, the cost of poor relief was reduced by over one-third. However,
the system was sharply censured, and the increased prevalence of crime has been attributed to it.
Dickens made the Poor Law of 1834 a conspicuous target of denunciation in Oliver Twist.
On June 20, 1837, Queen Victoria came to the throne of England as the long period of
middle-class ascendancy was gaining momentum. At that time, Dickens's hugely popular
character, Mr. Pickwick (The Pickwick Papers) had already captured a devoted following. At the
same time, the trials and ordeals of Oliver Twist were engaging the sympathies of a large, eager
audience. The inauguration of the Victorian Age found twenty-five-year-old Charles Dickens
firmly established on the road to literary fame that would take him to ever greater eminence
throughout his life.

12

Chapter III
The Poor Laws in Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist opens with a bitter invective directed at the nineteenth-century English Poor
Laws. These laws were a distorted manifestation of the Victorian middle classs emphasis on the
virtues of hard work. England in the 1830 was rapidly undergoing a transformation from an
agricultural, rural economy to an urban, industrial nation. The growing middle class had
achieved an economic influence equal to, if not greater than, that of the British aristocracy.
In the 1830, the middle class clamored for a share of political power with the landed
gentry, bringing about a restructuring of the voting system. Parliament passed the Reform Act,
which granted the right to vote to previously disenfranchised middle-class citizens. The middle
class was eager to gain social legitimacy. This desire gave rise to the Evangelical religious
movement and inspired sweeping economic and political change. In the extremely stratified
English class structure, the highest social class belonged to the gentleman, an aristocrat who
did not have to work for his living. The middle class was stigmatized for having to work, and so,
to alleviate the stigma attached to middle-class wealth, the middle class promoted work as a
moral virtue. But the resulting moral value attached to work, along with the middle classs
insecurity about its own social legitimacy, led English society to subject the poor to hatred and
cruelty. Many members of the middle class were anxious to be differentiated from the lower
classes, and one way to do so was to stigmatize the lower classes as lazy good for nothings. The
middle classs value system transformed earned wealth into a sign of moral virtue. Victorian
society interpreted economic success as a sign that God favored the honest, moral virtue of the
successful individuals efforts, and, thus, interpreted the condition of poverty as a sign of the
weakness of the poor individual.
The sentiment behind the Poor Law of 1834 reflected these beliefs. The law allowed the
poor to receive public assistance only if they lived and worked in established workhouses.
Beggars risked imprisonment. Debtors were sent to prison, often with their entire families, which
virtually ensured that they could not repay their debts. Workhouses were deliberately made to be
13

as miserable as possible in order to deter the poor from relying on public assistance. The
philosophy was that the miserable conditions would prevent able-bodied paupers from being lazy
and idle bums. In the eyes of the middle-class English society, those who could not support
themselves were considered immoral and evil. Therefore, such individuals should enjoy no
comforts or luxuries in their reliance on public assistance. In order to create the misery needed to
deter immoral idleness, families were split apart upon entering the workhouse. Husbands were
permitted no contact with their wives, lest they breed more paupers. Mothers were separated
from children, lest they impart their immoral ways to their children. Brothers were separated
from their sisters because the middle-class patrons of workhouses feared the lower classs
natural inclination toward incest. In short, the state undertook to become the surrogate parents
of workhouse children, whether or not they were orphans. Meals served to workhouse residents
were deliberately inadequate, so as to encourage the residents to find work and support
themselves. Because of the great stigma attached to workhouse relief, many poor people chose to
die in the streets rather than seek public aid. The workhouse was supposed to demonstrate the
virtue of gainful employment to the poor. In order to receive public assistance, they had to pay in
suffering and misery. Victorian values stressed the moral virtue of suffering and privation, and
the workhouse residents were made to experience these virtues many times over.
Rather than improving what the middle class saw as the questionable morals of the ablebodied poor, the Poor Laws punished the most defenseless and helpless members of the lower
class. The old, the sick, and the very young suffered more than the able-bodied benefited from
these laws. Dickens meant to demonstrate this incongruity through the figure of Oliver Twist, an
orphan born and raised in a workhouse for the first ten years of his life. His story demonstrates
the hypocrisy of the petty middle-class bureaucrats, who treat a small child cruelly while voicing
their belief in the Christian virtue of giving charity to the less fortunate. Dickens was a lifelong
champion of the poor. He himself suffered the harsh abuse visited upon the poor by the English
legal system. In 1830, the poor England truly had no voice, political or economic. In Oliver
Twist, Dickens presents the everyday existence of the lowest members of the English society. He
goes far beyond the experiences of the workhouse, extending his depiction of poverty to
Londons squalid streets, dark alehouses, and thieves dens. He gives voice to those who had no
voice, establishing a link between politics and literature with his social commentary.

14

Chapter IV
Oliver Twist
In his preface to Oliver Twist, Dickens emphatically expressed resentment at the practice in
popular literature of depicting rogues, like Macheath in The Beggar's Opera, as dashing figures,
leading lively and colorful lives. He considers such misrepresentations as a potentially harmful
influence on impressionable minds. Dickens firmly maintains that the nature and behaviour of his
seemingly extreme characters reflect truth without distortion, however implausible they may seem.
Dickens is frequently charged with offering a view of the world that exaggerates reality. A novelist,
however, communicates his interpretation of life through the medium of fiction. His
accomplishment grows out of a blend of experience and imagination. In judging the writer's success,
we have to grant his purposes and goal. Dickens was fascinated by extreme behaviour and attitudes.
He had a peculiar talent for exaggeration. For him, real life was the springboard for fancy. Thus the
world of story he created is a mirror in which the truths of the real world are reflected.
Oliver Twist is a good illustration of Dickens's belief that the novel should do more than
merely entertain. It should, he believed, be directed toward social reform. This does not mean
Dickens was a propagandist who held forth idealistic goals as cures for the ills of the world.
Although he bitterly attacks the defects of existing institutions, the government, the law, education,
penal systems and mercilessly exposes the injustice and wretchedness inflicted by them, he does not
suggest the overthrow of the established order. Nor will you find any easy answers or pat solutions.
Dickens's attitudes and themes reflect a general approval of the English state and society. He could
not have had such enormous popularity if he had not in a large measure voiced sentiments and
values that motivated the readers of his times. Dickens looked upon almost all institutions with
suspicion, including religious movements.
In Oliver Twist, he acknowledges that the trait of goodness in humanity can be irretrievably
lost if it is subjected to ungoverned corrupting influences. For this reason, Dickens lays great stress
on environment in the development of character and regulation of conduct. Although he had little
faith in the operation of politics, he rested his hopes for progress on education. But schooling must
be well conceived and administered. In many of his books, Dickens demonstrates with the full
15

strength of his satiric lash how education, in the hands of the wrong authority figures, can become as
bad if not worse than ignorance. It is noteworthy that whenever Oliver Twist's fortunes begin to rise,
his benefactors immediately take an interest in his education. Dickens is often accused of being
weak or lacking in character portrayal. But in this regard, as in other feats of dramatic exposition,
Dickens's distinctive gifts as a storyteller yielded the most remarkable creations. Dickens was more
concerned with the outer behaviour of people than he was with the exploration of psychological
depths. For the most part, his characters are considered "flat" because they don't reveal varied facets
of personality or develop as the narrative unfolds. Instead, they remain unchanged through the
course of events and interaction with other characters. Since they are not gradually built up into
complex human beings, characters may sometimes suddenly act contrary to expectations. Some of
Dickens's more eccentric characters may seem overdrawn, but they usually discharge a serious
function in his fiction. They are not to be looked upon as representative types of actual humanity.
Second-rank characters regularly are given some identity tag or trait when they are first introduced,
often by being labeled with some idiosyncrasy. They are readily remembered thereafter by the
recurring peculiarity of speech or behaviour, even when they have little to do with the mainstream of
action. Thus, Dickens's secondary characters are usually the most memorable. His unsavory figures
also tend to stand out more than the models of rectitude and propriety. This is because it is more
difficult for a writer to dramatize or signify by a phrase or gesture. As a result, Dickens's
protagonists are frequently pallid, unconvincing figures who lack the vitality and individuality that
distinguish the villains and secondary characters. Dickens loved the operatic and demonstrative
narrative intensity that has been called melodrama. His characters reflect this. The principals fall
into two groups whose natures are predominantly white (virtuous or proper) or black (villainous and
mean-spirited bordering on violent) . The serious characters between whom the essential conflict
takes place therefore embody the extremes of virtue and viciousness.
The novels of Dickens are marked,many would insist,by an erratic looseness of construction
that may confuse readers who are more used to unified works. In the case of Dickens, it may be
difficult to discover what the centre of a work is what it is precisely about which should be
expressible in a succinct statement. The plot is woven out of an involved central intrigue that can be
hard to unravel because of the distractions of subordinate and irrelevant incidents. The resort to
melodrama, particularly in the rendition of great crucial scenes, can defeat the writer's designs.
When the effort to portray tragic intensity lapses into melodrama and sentimentality, the effect upon
the reader is reduced. Pathos must be utilized with care, otherwise readers may resent having their
feelings exploited. In his humour, Dickens's exuberance also carried him beyond the bounds of
16

moderation, but he seldom lost sight of his intentions. He liberally indulged in humorous riffs solely
to ornament the story and amuse his audience. He also made use of humour for satiric effect by
exaggerating weakness or vice to reduce it to maximum absurdity. When particularly aroused by an
offense against humanity, Dickens may introduce the exaggeration of caustic irony saying the
opposite of what he really meant, but trusting the reader to "get" the true intent that resolves into
open sarcasm. But whatever faults Dickens may have, they are the faults of genius. Many of the
technical flaws in his works were imposed by historical circumstances. He was not only a confirmed
moralist but a supreme storyteller. He fully recognized that in order for the world to receive his
message, his books had to be read. That meant that he had subtly to attract his readers by taking into
account their tastes and desires. When Dickens began writing, the novel had not yet reached the state
of development and acceptance it was later to reach. People who read novels expected to be
entertained. Fiction was looked upon as light reading and at the time was not always considered
respectable. Shrewd novelist that he was, Dickens provided his readers with lively diversion while
soothing their consciences with moral flavoring.
The novel as a literary form was still developing ,so Dickens followed the eighteenth-century
tradition that favoured long, rambling tales, freely embellished with uplifting attributes. In addition,
the form of Dickens's books was partially dictated by the needs of serial publication. Serialization
prescribed an episodic structure rather than a tightly contrived plot conveyed by a dexterously linked
story. Each installment needed to be in some degree an independent entity with its own centre of
interest, while at the same time leading up to a height of suspense in anticipation of the next issue.
For Dickens, this episodic format meant that he was often writing the installments of a particular
novel to keep up with the publication schedule of a magazine, sometimes barely keeping ahead of
the typesetters. He had no opportunity for revising and polishing his efforts after a novel was
finished, and a work might never be planned as a whole. The author sometimes knew no better than
his readers what was to happen next.
Whatever imperfections Dickens's writing may contain, his extraordinary popularity can
leave no doubt that he was the reigning literary figure of his day. His works represented the blending
of his genius with a tradition he inherited from the times in which he lived. In spite of his occasional
grouchiness, Dickens supported the best of which Victorian England was capable. And each
succeeding generation has affirmed the original judgment by paying homage to the generosity of his
spirit and the immensity of his creative achievement.

17

4.1 Plot and Structure of Oliver Twist

The plot of a novel is a synthesis of all elements that make up the material. It is not the same
as the story, although the story is an essential component of the plot. The story provides the
framework in the form of a sequence of events related by the forces that cause them to take place.
Oliver Twist is a typical Dickens novel, fashioned around a core of tangled intrigue that
brings together a large number of people. These characters are of varied origins and diverse
backgrounds. On the surface, it would seem unlikely that their paths should ever cross, but they are
all inexorably drawn into the same web of circumstances. Dickens suggests that the lives of people
of all stations may become interwined. No one, he says, is safe from being influenced by the actions
of others possibly even complete strangers. The resulting complications and their unraveling
contribute a large measure of mystery and suspense. Writers and critics sometimes use the
term denouement in connection with the resolution of a story. The French word simply means an
unknotting or an unscrambling of a jumble of twine. See how easily that relates to the complex
interactions of a Dickens story. The characteristic distinguishing ingredients of plot are conflict and
resolution. In Oliver Twist, there are dual conflicts: the one between Monks and Oliver, the other
between Fagin and Sikes. Through his conspiracy with Monks, Fagin becomes involved in both
conflicts. He also becomes the agent whose decisions trigger the two lines of inevitable action,
which subsequently converge. The crisis in Oliver's conflicts involves no significant desire on his
part. Fagin makes one critical decision when he maneuvers Oliver into the Chertsey fiasco. The
unsuccessful burglary is the climax in the boy's misadventures. The grim disaster leaves him utterly
helpless, but it is a turning point and his fortunes steadily improve from there. The resolution of his
difficulties is achieved by Brownlow's triumph over Monks.
In the smoldering rivalry between Sikes and Fagin, the crisis is reached when Fagin actually
plans to have Sikes murdered. Fagin's first step to eliminate Sikes involves having Nancy spied
upon. This leads directly to the climax of the girl's murder. With that bloody deed, the entire
company of thieves is drawn into a whirlpool of events, which ultimately brings them all to ruin.

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The denouement discussed earlier the unknotting of story complications comes with Sikes literally
being hanged in his own noose, at the end of the day when the gang has been demolished.
Dickens's illustrations of the complications and their unraveling are accomplished by means
of a complex mosaic of back-illumination. This technique offers several distinct advantages. It
makes it easier to raise suspense to a high pitch and keep reader interest at a lively level. In order to
draw the numerous persons into the current of events, Dickens is forced to make liberal use of
accident and coincidence. By using the tricks and techniques of the dramatist that he was, Dickens is
able to obscure his coincidences and accidents to the point where the reader scarcely notices. Other
improbabilities are also made to seem real through Dickens's manipulation. In Chapter 49, for
example, Brownlow undermines Monks's resistance with the startling words "the only proofs of the
boy's identity lie at the bottom of the river, and the old hag that received them from the mother is
rotting in her coffin." These are the exact words that Nancy claimed to have overheard from Monks
while she was engaged in her risky game of eavesdropping on Monks's secret meeting with Fagin.
Then Rose precisely remembered this statement after her tempestuous meeting with Nancy in
Chapter 40 and passed it on to Brownlow, who uses it to demoralize Monks with the very words that
he spoke to Fagin in supposed secret. This flawless transmission would verge on the absurd if it
were methodically reported in normal time-sequence. But as it is, the implausibility is lost sight of in
the intricate patterns of disclosure.
The novel exhibits many characteristics of melodrama. The quality of pathos (sentimentality)
is freely injected, most gratuitously in the case of Oliver's friend, "little Dick". The portrait of
Oliver's mother and Monks's scar are signs used as recognition devices. Other examples of standard
melodramatic apparatus include the doings of the evil brother, a destroyed will, assumed names, and
the discovery of unknown relatives. The romantic subplot between Rose and Harry uses elements of
melodrama. In the contest between the evil and good forces of the book, Rose stands out in a
dazzling display that would today be called "goody-goody". Harry's noble abandonment of fame
and fortune for the sake of true love is a lofty tribute to virtuous sentiment it could happen in real
life, but it often does not. Although the romance is hardly a vital element of the plot, it does follow
established literary tradition and provides a centre of interest for bringing the book to a conclusion.

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4.2 Analysis of Major Characters

Oliver Twist

As the child hero of a melodramatic novel of social protest, Oliver Twist is meant to appeal
more to our sentiments than to our literary sensibilities. On many levels, Oliver is not a believable
character, because although he is raised in corrupt surroundings, his purity and virtue are absolute.
Throughout the novel, Dickens uses Olivers character to challenge the Victorian idea that paupers
and criminals are already evil at birth, arguing instead that a corrupt environment is the source of
vice. At the same time, Olivers incorruptibility undermines some of Dickenss assertions. Oliver is
shocked and horrified when he sees the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates pick a strangers pocket
and again when he is forced to participate in a burglary. Olivers moral scruples about the sanctity of
property seem inborn in him, just as Dickenss opponents thought that corruption is inborn in poor
people. Furthermore, other pauper children use rough Cockney slang, but Oliver, oddly enough,
speaks in proper Kings English. His grammatical fastidiousness is also inexplicable, as Oliver
presumably is not well-educated. Even when he is abused and manipulated, Oliver does not become
angry or indignant. When Sikes and Crackit force him to assist in a robbery, Oliver merely begs to
be allowed to run away and die in the fields. Oliver does not present a complex picture of a person
torn between good and evil instead, he is goodness incarnate.
Even if we might feel that Dickenss social criticism would have been more effective if he
had focused on a more complex poor character, like the Artful Dodger or Nancy, the audience for
whom Dickens was writing might not have been receptive to such a portrayal. In fact, Oliver Twist
was criticized for portraying thieves and prostitutes at all. Given the strict morals of Dickenss
audience, it may have seemed necessary for him to make Oliver a saintlike figure. Because Oliver
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appealed to Victorian readers sentiments, his story may have stood a better chance of effectively
challenging their prejudices.

Nancy
A major concern of Oliver Twist is the question of whether a bad environment can
irrevocably poison someones character and soul. As the novel progresses, the character who best
illustrates the contradictory issues brought up by that question is Nancy. As a child of the streets,
Nancy has been a thief and drinks to excess. The narrators reference to her free and agreeable . . .
manners indicates that she is a prostitute. She is immersed in the vices condemned by her society,
but she also commits perhaps the most noble act in the novel when she sacrifices her own life in
order to protect Oliver. Nancys moral complexity is unique among the major characters in Oliver
Twist. The novel is full of characters who are all good and can barely comprehend evil, such as
Oliver, Rose, and Brownlow; and characters who are all evil and can barely comprehend good, such
as Fagin, Sikes, and Monks. Only Nancy comprehends and is capable of both good and evil. Her
ultimate choice to do good at a great personal cost is a strong argument in favour of the
incorruptibility of basic goodness, no matter how many environmental obstacles it may face.
Nancys love for Sikes exemplifies the moral ambiguity of her character. As she herself points out to
Rose, devotion to a man can be a comfort and a pride under the right circumstances. But for
Nancy, such devotion is a new means of violence and suffering indeed, her relationship with Sikes
leads her to criminal acts for his sake and eventually to her own demise. The same behavior, in
different circumstances, can have very different consequences and moral significance. In much
of "Oliver Twist", morality and nobility are black and white issues, but Nancys character suggests
that the boundary between virtue and vice is not always clearly drawn.

Fagin
Although Dickens denied that anti-Semitism had influenced his portrait of Fagin, the Jewish thiefs
characterization does seem to owe much to ethnic stereotypes. He is ugly, simpering, miserly, and
avaricious. Constant references to him as the Jew seem to indicate that his negative traits are
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intimately connected to his ethnic identity. However, Fagin is more than a statement of ethnic
prejudice. He is a richly drawn, resonant embodiment of terrifying villainy. At times, he seems like a
childs distorted vision of pure evil. Fagin is described as a loathsome reptile and as having fangs
such as should have been a dogs or rats. Other characters occasionally refer to him as the old
one, a popular nickname for the devil. Twice, in Chapter 9 and again in Chapter 34 , Oliver wakes
up to find Fagin nearby. Oliver encounters him in the hazy zone between sleep and waking, at the
precise time when dreams and nightmares are born from the mere silent presence of some external
object. Indeed, Fagin is meant to inspire nightmares in child and adult readers alike. Perhaps most
frightening of all, though, is Chapter 52 , in which we enter Fagins head for his last night alive.
The gallows, and the fear they inspire in Fagin, are a specter even more horrifying to contemplate
than Fagin himself.

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4.3 Themes of Oliver Twist

The Failure of Charity
Much of the first part of Oliver Twist challenges the organizations of charity run by the
church and the government in Dickenss time. The system Dickens describes was put into place by
the Poor Law of 1834 , which stipulated that the poor could only receive government assistance if
they moved into government workhouses. Residents of those workhouses were essentially inmates
whose rights were severely curtailed by a host of onerous regulations. Labor was required, families
were almost always separated, and rations of food and clothing were meager. The workhouses
operated on the principle that poverty was the consequence of laziness and that the dreadful
conditions in the workhouse would inspire the poor to better their own circumstances. Yet the
economic dislocation of the Industrial Revolution made it impossible for many to do so, and the
workhouses did not provide any means for social or economic betterment. Furthermore, as Dickens
points out, the officials who ran the workhouses blatantly violated the values they preached to the
poor. Dickens describes with great sarcasm the greed, laziness, and arrogance of charitable workers
like Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Mann. In general, charitable institutions only reproduced the awful
conditions in which the poor would live anyway. As Dickens puts it, the poor choose between "being
starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it."
The Folly of Individualism
With the rise of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution, individualism was very much in
vogue as a philosophy. Victorian capitalists believed that society would run most smoothly if
individuals looked out for their own interests. Ironically, the clearest pronunciation of this
philosophy comes not from a legitimate businessman but from Fagin, who operates in the illicit
businesses of theft and prostitution. He tells Noah Claypole that a regard for number one holds us
all together, and must do so, unless we would all go to pieces in company. In other words, the
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groups interests are best maintained if every individual looks out for "number one," or himself. The
folly of this philosophy is demonstrated at the end of the novel, when Nancy turns against Monks,
Charley Bates turns against Sikes, and Monks turns against Mrs. Corney. Fagins unstable family,
held together only by the self-interest of its members, is juxtaposed to the little society formed by
Oliver, Brownlow, Rose Maylie, and their many friends. This second group is bound together not by
concerns of self-interest but by strong affection and humanity of heart, the selfless devotion to
each other that Dickens sees as the prerequisite for perfect happiness.
Purity in a Corrupt City
Throughout the novel, Dickens confronts the question of whether the terrible environments
he depicts have the power to blacken [the soul] and change its hue for ever. By examining the
fates of most of the characters, we can assume that his answer is that they do not. Certainly,
characters like Sikes and Fagin seem to have sustained permanent damage to their moral
sensibilities. Yet even Sikes has a conscience, which manifests itself in the apparition of Nancys
eyes that haunts him after he murders her. Charley Bates maintains enough of a sense of decency to
try to capture Sikes. Of course, Oliver is above any corruption, though the novel removes him from
unhealthy environments relatively early in his life. Most telling of all is Nancy, who, though she
considers herself "lost almost beyond redemption," ends up making the ultimate sacrifice for a child
she hardly knows. In contrast, Monks, perhaps the novels most inhuman villain, was brought up
amid wealth and comfort.
The Countryside Idealized
All the injustices and privations suffered by the poor in Oliver Twist occur in cities either the
great city of London or the provincial city where Oliver is born. When the Maylies take Oliver to the
countryside, he discovers a "new existence." Dickens asserts that even people who have spent their
entire lives in "close and noisy places" are likely, in the last moments of their lives, to find comfort
in half imagined memories "of sky, and hill and plain". Moreover, country scenes have the potential
to "purify our thoughts" and erase some of the vices that develop in the city. Hence, in the country,
"the poor people are so neat and clean," living a life that is free of the squalor that torments their
urban counterparts. Oliver and his new family settle in a small village at the novels end, as if a
happy ending would not be possible in the city. Dickenss portrait of rural life in Oliver Twist is
more approving yet far less realistic than his portrait of urban life. This fact does not contradict, but
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rather supports, the general estimation of Dickens as a great urban writer. It is precisely Dickenss
distance from the countryside that allows him to idealize it.

4.4 Motifs in Oliver Twist

Disguised or Mistaken Identities

The plot of Oliver Twist revolves around the various false identities that other characters
impose upon Oliver, often for the sake of advancing their own interests. Mr. Bumble and the other
workhouse officials insist on portraying Oliver as something he is not an ungrateful, immoral
pauper. Monks does his best to conceal Olivers real identity so that Monks himself can claim
Olivers rightful inheritance. Characters also disguise their own identities when it serves them well
to do so. Nancy pretends to be Olivers middle-class sister in order to get him back to Fagin, while
Monks changes his name and poses as a common criminal rather than the heir he really is. Scenes
depicting the manipulation of clothing indicate how it plays an important part in the construction of
various characters identities. Nancy dons new clothing to pass as a middle-class girl, and Fagin
strips Oliver of all his upper-class credibility when he takes from him the suit of clothes purchased
by Brownlow. The novels resolution revolves around the revelation of the real identities of Oliver,
Rose, and Monks. Only when every characters identity is known with certainty does the story
achieve real closure.
Hidden Family Relationships
The revelation of Olivers familial ties is among the novels most unlikely plot turns: Oliver
is related to Brownlow, who was married to his fathers sister; to Rose, who is his aunt; and to
Monks, who is his half brother. The coincidences involved in these facts are quite unbelievable and
represent the novels rejection of realism in favour of fantasy. Oliver is at first believed to be an
orphan without parents or relatives, a position that would, in that time and place, almost certainly
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seal his doom. Yet, by the end of the novel, it is revealed that he has more relatives than just about
anyone else in the novel. This reversal of his fortunes strongly resembles the fulfillment of a nave
childs wish. It also suggests the mystical binding power of family relationships. Brownlow and
Rose take to Oliver immediately, even though he is involved in an attempted robbery of Roses
house, while Monks recognizes Oliver the instant he sees him on the street. The influence of blood
ties, it seems, can be felt even before anyone knows those ties exist.
Surrogate Families
Before Oliver finds his real family, a number of individuals serve him as substitute parents,
mostly with very limited success. Mrs. Mann and Mr. Bumble are surrogate parents, albeit horribly
negligent ones, for the vast numbers of orphans under their care. Mr. Sowerberry and his wife, while
far from ideal, are much more serviceable parent figures to Oliver, and one can even imagine that
Oliver might have grown up to be a productive citizen under their care. Interestingly, it is the
mention of his real mother that leads to Olivers voluntary abandonment of the Sowerberrys. The
most provocative of the novels mock family structures is the unit formed by Fagin and his young
charges. Fagin provides for and trains his wards nearly as well as a father might, and he inspires
enough loyalty in them that they stick around even after they are grown. But these quasi-familial
relationships are built primarily around exploitation and not out of true concern or selfless interest.
Oddly enough, the only satisfactory surrogate parents Oliver finds are Brownlow and Rose, both of
whom turn out to be actual relatives.
Olivers Face
Olivers face is singled out for special attention at multiple points in the novel. Mr.
Sowerberry, Charley Bates, and Toby Crackit all comment on its particular appeal, and its
resemblance to the portrait of Agnes Fleming provides the first clue to Olivers identity. The power
of Olivers physiognomy, combined with the facts that Fagin is hideous and Rose is beautiful,
suggests that in the world of the novel, external appearance usually gives a fair impression of a
persons inner character.

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4.5 Symbolism in Oliver Twist

A novel may have many levels of symbolism. Setting and characters may convey
symbolic meaning aside from their plot functions. Some trait or gesture of a person may
symbolize an aspect of his character, as Bumble's fondness for his three-cornered hat serves to
illuminate his devotion to a tradition of recognition, status, and power. A purely symbolic
character is one who has no plot function at all. The chimney sweep, Gamfield, may be looked
upon in this light. He contributes nothing to the development of the plot but stands forth as a
significant embodiment of unprovoked cruelty. Ordinarily, symbolic statement gives expression
to an abstraction, something less obvious and, perhaps, even hidden. In spite of his conspicuous
role in the plot, Brownlow exemplifies at all times the virtue of benevolence.
The novel is shot through with another symbol, obesity, which calls attention to hunger
and the poverty that produces it by calling attention to their absence. It is interesting to observe
the large number of characters who are overweight. Regardless of economics, those who may be
considered prosperous enough to be reasonably well-fed pose a symbolic contrast to poverty and
undernourishment. For example, notice that the parish board is made up of "eight or ten fat
gentlemen"; the workhouse master is a "fat, healthy man"; Bumble is a "portly person"; Giles is
fat and Brittles "by no means of a slim figure"; Mr. Losberne is "a fat gentleman"; one of the
Bow Street runners is "a portly man." In many ways, obesity was as much a sign of social status
as clothing. Setting is heavily charged with symbolism in "Oliver Twist". The physical evidences
of neglect and decay have their counterparts in society and in the hearts of men and women. The
dark deeds and dark passions are concretely characterized by dim rooms, smoke, fog, and pitchblack nights. The governing mood of terror and merciless brutality may be identified with the
frequent rain and uncommonly cold weather. Dickens's style is marked by a kind of literary
obesity that is displeasing to some modern tastes. But in this connection as in all others we need
to look at Dickens from the standpoint of his contemporaries. This means judging his art in one
instance as it was viewed by the audience he addressed, whose tastes and expectations were
vastly different from our own. A tribute to the greatness of his work is that it can still be read
with pleasure today in spite of some of its excesses. In many ways, the pace of life was more
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unhurried and deliberate in the early-nineteenth century than it is now, so readers would have the
time to savor Dickens's rich use of language. In a period when people were thrown much on their
own resources for diversion, without the intrusions of movies, radio, or television, they could
enjoy a display of literary virtuosity for its own sake. The practice of reading aloud helped to
bring out the novelist's artistry. When Dickens read from his books, his audiences were
entranced, so he must, at least unconsciously, have written with some thought for oral effect.
Bill Sikess dog, Bulls eye, has "faults of temper in common with his owner" and
is a symbolic emblem of his owners character. The dogs viciousness reflects and represents
Sikess own animal like brutality. After Sikes murders Nancy, Bulls eye comes to represent
Sikess guilt. The dog leaves bloody footprints on the floor of the room where the murder is
committed. Not long after, Sikes becomes desperate to get rid of the dog, convinced that the
dogs presence will give him away. Yet, just as Sikes cannot shake off his guilt, he cannot shake
off Bulls eye, who arrives at the house of Sikess demise before Sikes himself does. Bulls eyes
name also conjures up the image of Nancys eyes, which haunts Sikes until the bitter end and
eventually causes him to hang himself accidentally.
Nancys decision to meet Brownlow and Rose on London Bridge reveals
the symbolic aspect of this bridge in "Oliver Twist". Bridges exist to link two places that would
otherwise be separated by an uncrossable chasm. The meeting on London Bridge represents the
collision of two worlds unlikely ever to come into contact the idyllic world of Brownlow and
Rose, and the atmosphere of degradation in which Nancy lives. On the bridge, Nancy is given
the chance to cross over to the better way of life that the others represent, but she rejects that
opportunity, and by the time the three have all left the bridge, that possibility has vanished
forever.

The names of characters represent personal qualities. Oliver

Twist himself is the most obvious example. The name "Twist," though given by accident, alludes
to the outrageous reversals of fortune that he will experience. Rose Maylies name echoes her
association with flowers and springtime, youth and beauty. Toby Crackits name is a lighthearted
reference to his chosen profession of breaking into houses. Mr. Bumbles name connotes his
bumbling arrogance; Mrs. Manns, her lack of maternal instinct; and Mr. Grimwigs, his
superficial grimness that can be removed as easily as a wig.
The conditions of publication undoubtedly were instrumental in shaping
the writer's technique. When he was faced with the challenge of holding his readers for over a
year, he had to make his scenes unforgettable and his characters memorable. Only a vivid
recollection could sustain interest for a month between chapters. Also, there was a need to cram
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each issue with abundant action to satisfy those who would re-read it while waiting impatiently
for the next installment. What may seem excessively rich fare to those who can read the novel
straight through without breaking may have only whetted the appetites of the original readers.
The immediate popularity of Dickens's works bears witness to the soundness of his literary
judgment.

Conclusions
In his preface to Oliver Twist, Dickens emphatically expressed resentment at the practice in
popular literature of depicting rogues, like Macheath in The Beggar's Opera, as dashing figures,
leading lively and colorful lives. He considers such misrepresentations as a potentially harmful
influence on impressionable minds. Dickens firmly maintains that the nature and behavior of his
seemingly extreme characters reflect truth without distortion, however implausible they may seem.
Dickens is frequently charged with offering a view of the world that exaggerates reality. A novelist,
however, communicates his interpretation of life through the medium of fiction. His
accomplishment grows out of a blend of experience and imagination. In judging the writer's success,
we have to grant his purposes and goal. Dickens was fascinated by extreme behavior and attitudes.
He had a peculiar talent for exaggeration. For him, real life was the springboard for fancy. Thus the
world of story he created is a mirror in which the truths of the real world are reflected.
Oliver Twist is a good illustration of Dickens's belief that the novel should do more than
merely entertain. It should, he believed, be directed toward social reform. This does not mean
Dickens was a propagandist who held forth idealistic goals as cures for the ills of the world.
Although he bitterly attacks the defects of existing institutions government, the law, education, penal
systems and mercilessly exposes the injustice and wretchedness inflicted by them, he does not
suggest the overthrow of the established order. Nor will you find any easy answers or pat solutions.
Dickens's attitudes and themes reflect a general approval of the English state and society. He could
not have had such enormous popularity if he had not in a large measure voiced sentiments and
values that motivated the readers of his times. Dickens looked upon almost all institutions with
suspicion, including religious movements.
His works represented the blending of his genius with a tradition he inherited from the times
in which he lived. In spite of his occasional grouchiness, Dickens supported the best of which
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Victorian England was capable. And each succeeding generation has affirmed the original judgment
by paying homage to the generosity of his spirit and the immensity of his creative achievement.

Bibliography

1. Banta Clona Brnzu, Manual de literatur Englez i American, Editura Teora,

1993.
2. Buzatu Doina, Comentarii literare i exerciii lexico-gramaticale n Limba Englez,
Editura AN-DA, 1996.
3. Sanders Andrew, The short Oxford History of English Literature, Editura Oxford
University Press, 1999.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era
5. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oliver/context.html
6.http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/oliver-twist/critical-essays/plot-and-structure-ofoliver-twist
7. http://www.shmoop.com/oliver-twist/essay.html

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Banta Clona Brnzu, Manual de literatur Englez i American, Editura Teora, 1993, p. 125.
2 Andrew Sanders, The short Oxford History of English Literature, Editura Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 256.
3 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/oliver-twist/critical-essays/plot-and-structure-of-oliver-twist
4 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oliver/context.html
5 Doina Buzatu, Comentarii literare i exerciii lexico-gramaticale n Limba Englez, Editura AD-DA,1996, p. 156.
6 http://www.shmoop.com/oliver-twist/essay.html

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