Name: Makwana Monika
Paper no:-6. The Victorian Age
Topic:
critical analysis of Oliver Twist
Roll no: 21
I’d:
makwanamonika76@gmail.com
Institute: S. B. Gardi department of English
Introduction
"Oliver
Twist" was first appeared in 1837. The book was written by Charles
Dickens'. It was attack on the inequities of the 1834 Poor Law, and his
personal protest at society’s terrible treatment of the young and innocent.
"Oliver Twist" was not at first published in book form, but appeared
in monthly parts in Bentley's Miscellany, a periodical of which Dickens was the
first editor. This explains why the book is full of moments of high drama
Charles Dickens had to keep the reader in suspense until the next monthly
episode appeared.
In the tale; this partly accounts for the fact
that each chapter ends with a cliff-hanger that would Oliver Twist is a Novel
written by Oliver twist. Oliver Twist, published in 1838, is one
of Charles Dickens's best-known. It is written after he has already attained
success as the author of The Pickwick Papers. The book
originally appeared as a serial that is each chapter was published
separately, in order, in a magazine called Bentley's
Miscellany, of which Charles Dickens was editor. Each week, readers waited
avidly for the next installment hold the reader's interest until the following
chapter was published. Charles Dickens uses the characters and situations in
the book to make a pointed social commentary, attacking the hypocrisy and flaws
of institutions. Charles Dickens basically believed that most people are good
at heart but that their good impulses could be distorted
by social ills.
After
publishing Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
went on to write 'Nicholas Nickelby' After 1858 he often toured, reading out
loud from his works to huge audiences; every new piece from his pen was eagerly
awaited, and he was perhaps the most famous and best-loved author who has ever
lived.
About the Author
Charles Dickens was born in 1812-1870 and in
Chatham, a naval dockyard situated on the River Tames estuary in the south east
of England, and he happily spent his childhood there. When the family moved to
London, his life became one of intense misery. When he was at the age of 12, he
was sent to work in a dirty, depressing warehouse. When Dickens' father was
imprisoned for debt, the family was forced to live in prison with him. His
writing was colored by these experiences, and also by the feeling of neglect he
felt from his parents.
Charles john Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February, in 1812, at
Portsea, on the England, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. Charles Dicken is the
second born of eight children. His father was a pay clerk in the navy office.
Because of financial difficulties, the family moved about until they settled in
Camden Town, a poor neighborhood in London, England. At the age of 12 Charles
worked with working-class men and boys in a factory that handled blacking.
While his father was in debtor's prison, the rest of the family moved to live
near the prison, leaving Charles to live alone. This experience of lonely
hardship was the most significant event of his life. It colored his view of the
world and would later be described in a number of his novel.
Charles returned to school when his father received an inheritance and was able to repay his debts. But in 1827, at age 15, he was again forced leave school and work as an office boy. In the following year he became a freelance reporter and Stenographer, at the law courts of London. By 1832 he had become a reporter for two London newspapers and, in the following year, began to contribute a series of impressions and sketches to other newspapers and magazines, signing some of them Boz. These scenes of London life went far to establish his reputation and were published in 1836 as Sketches by Boz, his first book. On the strength of this success Charles married Catherine Hogarth. Together they had ten children.
His work
His some
famous work are: In 1836 Dickens also began to publish 'The Posthumous Papers
of the Pickwick Club' in monthly installments, a form of serial publication
that became a standard method of writing and producing fiction in the Victorian
period. So great is Dickens's success with the procedure that Pickwick became one of the most popular
works of the time, and continued to be so after it was published in book form
in 1837. After Pickwick’s success, Dickens began publishing his new novel,
Oliver Twist. He was also now editor of Bentley's
Miscellany, a new monthly magazine. He continued publishing his novel in
his later magazines, Household Worlds and
All the Year Round.
Oliver Twist expressed Dickens's interest in the life of the slums to the
fullest, as it traced the fortunes of an innocent orphan through the London
streets. Though Dickens's career was successful, for the next decade his books
did not achieve the standard of his early successes. These works include: Nicholas Nickelby (1838–1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1841), and Barnaby Rudge (1841).
Novel Analysis: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist was born in
a workhouse and later turns nine-years-old. He then works at a workhouse and
escapes to London where he meets many people who are willing to give him
shelter, the first one is Mr. Sowerberry, the second is an old Jew, then he
stays with Mr. Brownlow and learns he has a half brother named Monks. The old
Jew had taught him to steal and he did just that, and the person Oliver stole
from was Mr. Brownlow who took him in anyway, but the Jew wanted Oliver back,
so he sends his friend Sikes to get him and he is found. Eventually he gets
back to Mr. Brownlow but then moves somewhere else with Mrs. Maylie and Rose.
By the end, Mr. Brownlow had adopted Oliver even through all their obstacles.
Oliver Twist is born in
a workhouse in 1830s England. His mother, whose name no one knows, is found on
the street and dies just after Oliver’s birth. Oliver spends the first nine
years of his life in a badly run home for young orphans and then is transferred
to a workhouse for adults. After the other boys bully Oliver into asking for
more gruel at the end of a meal, Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, offers five
pounds to anyone who will take the boy away from the workhouse. Oliver narrowly
escapes being apprenticed to a brutish chimney sweep and is eventually
apprenticed to a local undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry. When the undertaker’s other
apprentice, Noah Claypole, makes disparaging comments about Oliver’s mother,
Oliver attacks him and incurs the Sowerberry’ 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 pick
pocketing 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.
Best Lines of the Book:
"...what
Oliver wanted a great deal more, a piece of bread and butter, lest he should
seem too hungry when he got to the work house."(p.10) Speaker: Narrator
“‘now
if you stand there, refusing to give evidence, ill punish you for
disrespect...'"(p.77) Speaker: Mr. Fang
"Child
as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery [and said,]
'Please sir, I want some more.'"(p.15) Speaker: Narrator and Oliver
Twist
Thematic Connections:
The story
of Oliver Twist is really based on child labor and a lot of child's childhood
back in the 1830's. Another large part of the story was about child criminals.
Oliver was homeless a lot of the time, and many people thought it was needed to
keep an eye on him because he could do anything illegal at any second. The
really big theme of the novel was to never give up. Even though there might be
trials and tribulations, one must go on with their life. Oliver went through a
series of hard events, but he put up with it and in the end, he was happy. Many
bad things had turned into a really good outcome. This book reminds me of the
book/movie of Hugo. The story is also based on those things. Just trying to
survive is a big part of both Oliver and Hugo's lives. Hugo also had a hard
time with being or being held accountable of being a child criminal. There was
always a police officer keeping an eye on him. The same theme is seen
throughout both these stories.
Style Analysis:
There is
much humor and irony in the book of Oliver
Twist, so the tone is satirical. The definition of satirical includes these
two things and a couple more that are described throughout the book. Charles
Dickens really doesn't describe setting or the environment very well endless it
is relevant to that part of the story. The book really describes how characters
feel and how they act. Along with the imagery comes word choice. The author
doesn't use very high level words for that time. Sometimes he uses confusing
sentences, but the word choice was very simple. His creativity with his words
isn't that high either. He doesn't really use figurative language too much. The
sentences varied in length also. Sometimes they would just be fragments, but
other times they would run on for most of the paragraph.
Conclusion
So we can
see that, at the end of the novel, Oliver completes his travels through the
classes. As you can see, Oliver's journey is long and hard. His travels cause
him to experience the differences between the upper and lower classes of
London. Dickens is able to use the locations Oliver visits to illustrate these
differences. Ultimately, through his experiences, Oliver is able to discover
his true identity and place in society.
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