Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

Its tough to be a single mother even now. Years ago in England it was no better. Agnes Fleming, Oliver’s mother did not survive the birth of her illegitimate child. Though she had a wedding ring on, as circumstances fell in, all evidence of Oliver’s paternal identity was deleted.

Charles Dickens in his own way has portrayed the dilemmas of an orphan boy. It is in his suffering and experiences does the book achieve a universal significance.

The Story in short

Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse. An orphan, we follow his ordeals along with other orphans who are ill fed. When Oliver asks for more food he is severely chastised. Oliver’s experience as an apprentice to an undertaker is even hideous.

When at that man’s place he fights a boy almost double his age called Noah Claypole, we for the first time realize that Oliver is a survivor.

Oliver runs away and comes across such characters called Charlie Bates and the Artful Dodger. They are actually a part of a ragged gang of pick-pockets lead by Fagin the miser. Thus Oliver becomes Fagin’s protégé. He learns the art of the gang and gets caught one day. Luckily he falls under the care of his real life aunt Rose Maylie and the kind Mr. Brownlow.

But even then its not the end of his troubles as his past catches up with him. Monks his half brother wants to take a revenge. Bill Sikes another criminal, too is after him. But alls well that ends well. The Fagin gang is nabbed, Bill Sikes is killed and Oliver’s true identity is revealed.

Characters

Charles Dickens’ novels generally have a variety of characters. But the one which actually struck me in this book is that of Nancy. Nancy is a criminal much like ‘Moll Flanders’ but her motherly instincts gets the better of her. Her gruesome murder scene still haunts me. Fagin is another study in crime much like the ruthless murderer Sikes and the Psycho type Monks.

Society

You get a picture of the day. The position of women, the condition in the workhouses, child labour, class differences along with the obscure world of crime.

There is also some relief from the tension in the love story of Rose and Harry.

The Author

They say that ‘David Copperfield’ is autobiographical. Well you will find generous amount of similarities here.

The End

You may never know what you may find. Oliver finds that his past is neither so hidden nor so shameful as he has been led to believe. So clouds do have silver linings !

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A boy losing his mother at his birth…thrown inside an orphanage…cruelly treated…and then one day fleeing to fall into the hands of thieves and criminals…ultimately saved by a benevolent, good Samaritan; does this theme seem familiar to you? I presume so, yes. This is the universal theme on which many writers wrote their stories, filmmakers of Hollywood and Bollywood made innumerable motion pictures, about the social injustice and the cruel and heartless treatment towards children throughout the world; and ironically the evil still persists.

But, about one hundred and sixty three years back, a writer named Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist with the same theme. He pointed his finger at the social inequalities and class discrimination of the Victorian society of England during the early nineteenth century, which was a cesspool with corrupt officials, prejudiced judges and hardened criminals. The middle class stamped the poor as savages of lower qualities. From the very beginning, Oliver Twist serves as a tirade against Victorian society’s treatment of children and women of the poor.

Oliver Twist’s mother dies at his birth. With the absence of his father, he is sent to a regional orphanage. At the age of six he is directed to a town workhouse. The children at this workhouse live in filthy and unhygienic conditions with inadequate food. They remain hungry always, as the food served is insufficient. One day, Oliver Twist, out of sheer hunger asked ” Please, sir, I want some more”. The loathsome officials treated this as a profane offence and ordered Oliver to be kept in solitary confinement. Not only that, Oliver was flogged on the table during suppertime every night, to admonish the other children not to indulge in such an act of asking for more. Oliver lives through the agony. At a later date, Oliver is given to an undertaker and he runs away to London from there. He falls from the frying pan into the fire, as he encounters a bunch of thieves and criminals. They coax him into crimes. Oliver’s anguish is never ending. Murder and mysteries follow. An old gentleman saves him.

Charles Dickens in his childhood endured very miserable conditions of poverty. His father was jailed for debt and he had to work in a factory at the age of twelve. His impoverished childhood had haunted him throughout and Oliver Twist is the epitome of his unfortunate situations. Dickens’ style of story telling is of rich originality. He describes horror with humour, like a bitter pill coated with sugar. There is deep pathos in the horrific conditions the children have to live through in the workhouse. Without proper cloth and hygiene and with pangs of hunger burning their stomachs, the agony of the innocent children flows through Dickens’ pen. It is Dickens who is entering the workhouse as Oliver Twist. When Oliver cries, it is Dickens who is crying with his humour and a heart full of pain, reminiscing his own childhood.

Dickens takes you through the crowded streets of London where you can see how invisible the poor are, among the filth and dirt. He strips the myth of middle class moral values and declares them as a complete sham. His boisterous humour has a murmur of bitter criticism of the unsympathetic treatment of the poor by the middle class. All the other characters of the novel truly represent the vices and the inhumanness of the feudalistic society. They shake the very foundation of our psychology. Charles Dickens has exhibited throughout the book his revolt against oppression, the revolt of the weak against the strong.

Oliver Twist represents the oppressed people, among whom one had innocently asked for more. The glitter of this innocence will not fade for generations to come.

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