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Major Novels
Oliver Twist (1838)
Oliver Twist tells the adventures of an orphan,
Oliver Twist, who is unknown of parentage. He is born in a workhouse and
brought up there under brutal and intolerable conditions. After serving an
unhappy apprenticeship to an undertaker, he runs away to London.
Unfortunately, he falls into a gang of thieves on the way. These thieves try
every means to convert Oliver into a thief. Later, a rich and merciful
gentleman, Mr. Brownlow, rescues Oliver. Yet, those thieves kidnap him again
because a bad man named Monks has a special interest in keeping Oliver in
the gang. In the course of burgling expedition led by Bill Sikes, Oliver
receives a gunshot wound, and comes into the hands of Mrs.Maylie and her
protégée Rose. Oliver is treated well by Rose. Later, it is discovered that
Monks is the half-brother of Oliver as well as the chief criminal who has
been trying to ruin Oliver in order to get their father’s whole property.
Rose is the sister of Oliver’s mother. Everything is revealed. Finally
Oliver is adopted by Mr.Bromnlow while Monks dies in prison.
This novel, in eyes of a child, not only presents
a truthful picture of the poor and oppressed, but also criticizes the brutal
social system and the institutions that are responsible for such miseries,
especially the workhouse. 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 mentions, the poor choose between “being starved by
a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it.” The first
eleven chapters in Oliver Twist just expose the terrible conditions in the
English workhouse where poor orphans were cruelly treated by all sorts of
“philanthropists”.
The evening
arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his cook's uniform,
stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves
behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace was said over the
short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each other, and
winked at Oliver; while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he
was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table;
and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed
at his own temerity:
“Please, sir, I want some more.”
The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned
very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some
seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were
paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.
“What!” said the master at length, in a faint
voice.
“Please, sir,” replied Oliver, “I want some
more.”
The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the
ladle; pinioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.
The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble
rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in
the high chair, said, “Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist
has asked for more!”
This is the well-known scene of this novel, that is, Oliver asks
for more thin gruel to relieve his hunger, which is allotted to each child
only one ladle. Just for one bowl of thin gruel, the board get together and
all seriously condemn Oliver’s evil thing with all vicious curse, such as
“That boy will be hung,” This shows the terrible brutality and corruption of
the oppressors and their agents. In such kind of scenes, Dickens voiced the
helpless miseries of the poor and trodden.
Another strikingly vivid description of this novel is the
thieves’ den and the underworld of London, which people are unwillingly to
face directly. Although Dickens describes the gang’s cruelty and wickedness,
he also shows his sympathy for those who are degraded and corrupted by the
evil social environment. These people are victims of the society and their
actions are also a kind of rebellion.
Sharply contrasted to the evil city, the countryside is
idealized by Dickens just like in other works. All the injustices and
privations suffered by the poor in this novel, including Oliver Twist,
occur in cities. 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, 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. Thus, in the countryside, “the poor people
[are] so neat and clean.” At the novel’s end Oliver and his new family
settle in a small village, as if a happy ending would not be possible in the
city. Dickens’s portrait of rural life in Oliver Twist is more approving yet
less realistic than his portrait of urban life. This idealization may be
because of Dickens’s distance from the countryside
The characters’ names in this novel usually indicate their
personal qualities. Oliver Twist himself is the most obvious example. The
name “Twist,” though given by accident, suggests the outrageous reversals of
fortune that he will experience. Rose Maylie’s name echoes her association
with flowers and springtime, youth and beauty. Toby Crackit’s name is a
lighthearted reference to his chosen profession of breaking into houses. Mr.
Bumble’s name connotes his bumbling arrogance; Mrs. Mann’s, her lack of
maternal instinct; and Mr. Grimwig’s, his superficial grimness that can be
removed as easily as a wig. The combination of a common surname and a
symbolic family name forms a distinguishing feature in this novel
Oliver, who is born in a workhouse, in fact belongs to the
upper class. Although he experiences a lot of sufferings and is kept as a
thief, he never loses his good nature but keeps his purity. However, this
seems contradictory to Dickens’ idea, because he stressed the determinate
effect of the surroundings on individuals in this novel. Oliver himself is a
pale figure because he seems helpless in face of fate. The improbability of
the plot is a flaw. Toward the end of the novel, the plot gets to be very
intricate. When all mysteries are revealed, readers may find the end with
impossible coincidences and obvious trick that aims to lead to a happy
ending.
Despite of this shortness, this novel offers a true picture
of the society as well as a strong attack on the social evils. Oliver
Twist is one of Dickens’ best novels. It is said that this novel caused
the movement of bettering the conditions in the English workhouse.
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