A BOOK REVIEW
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Šimon Soikot Choudhury
Oliver twist, Charles Dickens,
Vintage Publishing,2016
ISBN:1784871702
480 pages, 6.99€(martinus)
Charles dickens, British novelist, generally considered the greatest one of the Victorian
period. The defining moment of Dickens´s life occurred when he was twelve years old. With
his father in prison for not being able to pay up his debt, Charles was withdrawn from school
and forced to work in a factory. This deeply affected the sensitive boy he was. By age 13 he
returned to school and ended hid formal education at age 15. In his early days he worked as
a reporter. But he exhibited a great ability to spin a story in a more entertaining manner and
high quality, combined with serial release of his comic novel The Pickwick papers, made
him the most popular English author of his time. After that he released Oliver twist and The
old curiosity shop, both of them in a form of book series. Shortly after a trip to America he
wrote Christmas carol only within few weeks. With release of Dombey and Son, his novels
started to express a bigger fear of evils in Victorian industrial society, which intensified in
his next novel David Copperfield, as well as in Bleak house
, Little Dorrit, Great Expectations. A tale of two cities appeared in the height of his
popularity, from public after success of his works. Overall Dickens works are characterized
by his encyclopedic knowledge of London, grim and cruel world he lived in, a pervasive
spirit of benevolence and geniality, unlimited boundaries of character creation, a good ear
for characteristic speech, and a highly individual and unique style of his prose works.
6. Exhausting and long battles of good against evil, with evil forces continually and tirelessly
trying corrupt and exploit the good. It portrays the power of Many Human traits, good and
bad, for example LOVE, HATE, GREED and REVENGE.
7. On the day of Olivers birth his mother was found on the street and gave birth in the
workhouse. He never had chance to know her because she dies shortly after. Oliver spends
first few years of his life in a badly run baby farm. After nine years of struggle and hunger
he is transfered to the workhouse for adults by minor town official Mr. Bumble. In
workhouse everyone suffer from hunger and malnutrition. The young boys select Oliver to
ask for more thin watered down gruel at the end of the meal. Work house board and
everyone is shocked, so Mr. Bumble puts up an offer for everyone interested in taking
Oliver to help them with their craft. Oliver is given to local undertaker Mr. Sowerberry.
Unfortunately Mr. Sowerberrys other apprentice, Noah, bullied Oliver on regular basis.
Oliver lost his temper when Noah made horrible and insensitive comment regarding death of
Olivers mother. In heat of this situation Oliver Assaults Noah, resulting in Despise from
Sowerberry family. Desperate, Oliver runs away and travels toward London. On the
outskirts of London he meets The artful dodger, he offers Oliver shelter in the London house
of his benefactor, Faigin also call The Jew. It turn out that Faigin is career criminal who
trains abandoned boys to pick pockets for him. After few days of brief training in picking
pockets, Oliver is sent to the streets of London to pick pockets with two other boys. When
he sees them steal a handkerchief from an elderly gentleman, Oliver is stunned and horrifies
so he runs off. Only shortly after that, he is caught but narrowly dodges a conviction of theft
only thanks to the gentleman whose handkerchief was stolen Mr. Brownlow. Cramped in
fever he is taken by Mr. Brownlow´s house where he is nursed and taken care of. Mr.
Brownlow is struck by Oliver’s resemblance to a portrait of a young woman that hangs in
his house. Suspecting Oliver will rat them out Faigin sends two of his best criminals to
capture Oliver and bring him back to the gang. Oliver is assigned a role by Faigin in major
burglary, with two other more experienced criminals Sikes and Crackit. But burglary goes
south when Oliver is shot by Servant of Maylies family. Our trio of burglars make swift
escape and they throw wounded Oliver in a ditch. Luckily Oliver crawls back to the house
they tried to break into and Maylies call the doctor to stitch up his shot wound. They take
him to their countryside house for summer. 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 it from Ms. Bumble and destroys the golden
locket. When the Maylies come to London, Nancy sets up a secret meeting with Rose and
informs her of Fagin’s plans, but a sneaky member of Fagin’s gang overhears the
conversation. When word of Nancy’s secret meeting reaches Sikes, he brutally murders
Nancy when she comes home and flees London. Pursued by his guilty conscience and an
angry mob, but he unintentionally hanged himself while trying to escape them. Thanks to
Maylies Oliver is reunited with Mr. Brownlow. Mr. Brownlow confronts Monks and
uncovers the truth about Olivers heritage. It is revealed that Monks is Olivers half brother.
And their father Mr. Leeford, was unhappily married to a wealthy woman and had an affair
with Olivers mother, Agnes Fleming. Monks has been pursuing Oliver all along in the hopes
of ensuring all of their family's inherited wealth will be only his. Mr. Brownlow forces
Monks to sign over Oliver’s share to Oliver. They agree on terms and Monks gives Oliver
his fair share. 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 countryside next to each other.
8. Oliver twist
9. Dickens develops many symbols in Oliver Twist. The overarching ones relate closely to his
social criticism, tying into concepts of criminality, poverty, and the class system. However,
the novel also features symbols that attach to individual characters or events, such as Mr.
Bumble's hat, Agnes's locket, London Bridge, and Nancy's eyes.
DarknessIn Oliver Twist, darkness is associated with crime and evildoing. Criminals'
work is best done at night; their crimes are planned in smoky rooms with
boarded-up windows, and they scurry through the city along narrow, fogfilled passages. The darkness of the setting reflects the darkness of their
thoughts and deeds.
Countryside- In contrast to the dark streets of the poor quarters of London, the countryside
is bright with sun-drenched open spaces and colourful flowers. In Oliver
Twist it is a place of health, happiness, and security, while the city is a place
of disease, desperation, and danger.
ObesityIn contrast to the hunger and leanness of the poor, the comfortably off are
"portly," "fat," or "by no means slim." In many cases, as with Mr. Bumble and
the members of the workhouse board, obese people are also greedy and
pompous, but readers should recognize that Mr. Losberne, Giles, and Brittles
are overweight, too. Dickens even points out that Oliver becomes healthy and
gains weight once he has moved in with the Maylies. Obesity ultimately is a
symbol of membership in the prosperous middle class, indicating a condition
in which people have more than enough. As with the poor, the middle class
encompasses both the virtuous and the evil.
Dirt and
Dilapidation- Dirt and dilapidation represent poverty. But as with obesity,
dirt and dilapidation link to a darker theme as well—
criminality. The baby farm children are seldom washed, which
stems from Mrs. Mann's neglect. The thieves wear dirty
clothes and live in dilapidated surroundings; it is true that this
stems from poverty, but other characters in Oliver Twist are
both poor and clean. Thus a character's level of cleanliness can
be seen as a measure of that person's virtue and strength of
spirit.
10. “Please, sir, I want some more.”
“Some people are nobody's enemies but their own, yer know.”
“I confess I have yet to learn that a lesson of the purest good may not be drawn from the
vilest evil.”
“The simple fact was, that Oliver, instead of possessing too little feeling, possessed rather too
much, and was in a fair way of being reduced to a state of brutal stupidity and sullenness for life,
by the ill usage he had received.”
“The law is ass, Sir!”
“Don't believe that,' said Fagin. 'When a man's his own enemy, it's only because he's too
much his own friend.”
“There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.”
11. Have English dictionary on hand, there are plenty of words that are rare or not that often
used in modern English.
12. Undertaker- made coffins and buried people after death,
Beadleminor church official with non-religious responsibilities,
gruela thin porridge,
a pauperpoor person,
Porringershallow bowl,
Benignkindly/ without harm,
Languishbecome weak,
Facetiousnot serious Sanguine-cheerful,
prolificlarge amount,
fainwilling,
Sovereigns- a one pound coin minted in the 1800s in England