Example Introduction Paragraphs
1. Using an Anecdote
I want you, if only for a second, I want you to try and imagine yourself living in the Victorian
time period. Where your materials, possessions, and gender are more important than who are as an
individual person. Where people will judge you or praise you without even knowing who you are. This is
evident in almost every character in the book, especially Nancy. From birth she is labeled as unworthy
and is cast out. The lower class characters receive similar persecution for similar reasons. The only
reason being, they had nothing, so in society’s eyes they became nothing. By using characters that
portrayed the society’s economic and social beliefs, Dickens show us how class and gender adversely
effected people in the Victorian time period.
2. Using a Question
Ever wondered what life in the Victorian Era was like? The struggles of their society and the lives
of citizens are quite different from today’s challenges. In Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, females such as
Nancy and Mrs.Corney have to deal with complicated situations not only because of their social class,
but also because of their gender. Others, like Fagin and Oliver, have to deal with problems based on
their social class but not as much on gender, unlike females. The negative effect coming from both social
class and gender expectations causes females to encounter more conflicts than males in the novel.
Have you ever met someone who’s pushed you around because they have more power over
you? Most people who are higher than someone or are overpowered, let the power get to them and
tend to look at people who are lower, like they’re nothing. This is similar to being cocky or arrogant. In
the novel, “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens, the character Rose Maylie or any lower class citizen were
treated lower based on their gender and their class and the novel displayed all the little things society in
the Victorian era affected. Rose “Maylie” Fleming is adopted by Mrs. Maylie, an upper class citizen but is
followed around by the “stain on her name”, because she’s lower class, which determines who she can
and can’t marry. Mr. Losborne is a doctor who is a friend of Rose Maylie who takes on the Victorian’s
typical men perspective. Men were known for belittling women because they were fragile and weak.
Men were too noble for the weak women and majority of the males were misogynists. The society in the
Victorian era was harsh on gender and social class. The characters in the novel “Oliver Twist” were
affected by the way society treated and viewed the lower class and females.
3. Using a Quote
“It’s what’s on the inside that counts,” they all say, but we all know that humans are the most
particularly picky creatures to have ever existed. There’s a lot more that “counts” other than just
“what’s on the inside”. Things like the clothes on your back, the hairstyle you’re sporting, the car you
drive, how much money you make, and even uncontrollable things, like your sex, influence the way
people see you. How we see people affects the way that we treat them and us as a society aren’t always
as fair about how we treat people as we would like to think. Sometimes, we would think of someone as
indecent if they were on the street begging for change; sometimes we would think women as trashy if
they wore too much makeup. Now, this didn’t just begin when you were born. Society’s mistreatment of
their own people has been an issue for many years before. During the Victorian era in England, your
gender determined more than just the type of undergarments you had to buy; for it also determined
how others would speak to you, and, your class wasn’t just a tiny slither of your life as it is today; it
determined your place within humanity. The Victorian era was made up of a cruel society, where many
of the people were at a disadvantage caused by their class and gender statuses; the characters in
Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist fell and prevailed because of oppressed situations they encountered based
upon class and gender.