Oliver Twist :: English Literature

Oliver TwistOliver Twist - As the child hero of a melodramatic novel of socialprotest, Oliver Twist is meant to appeal more to our sentiments thanto our literary sensibilities. On many levels, Oliver is not abelievable fictitious character, because although he is brocaded in corruptsurroundings, his purity and virtue are absolute. Th nervyout thenovel, heller uses Olivers character to challenge the mincing ideathat paupers and criminals are already villainy at birth, arguing insteadthat a corrupt environment is the quotation of vice. At the same time,Olivers incorruptibility undermines some of Dickenss assertions.Oliver is shocked and horrified when he sees the insincere Dodger andCharley Bates pick a strangers pocket and again when he is strained toparticipate in a burglary. Olivers moral scruples about the holinessof property seem inborn in him, just as Dickenss opponents melodic themethat corruption is inborn in deplorable people. Furthermore, other pauperchildren use ro ugh Cockney slang, but Oliver, oddly enough, speaks inproper Kings English. His grammatical fastidiousness is as well asinexplicable, as Oliver presumably has not been educated well. take downwhen he is ill-use and manipulated, Oliver does not become angry orindignant. When Sikes and Crackit force him to assist in a robbery,Oliver merely begs to be allowed to run away and die in thefields. Oliver does not present a complex picture of a individual tornbetween good and evil instead, he is goodness incarnate.Even if we might feel that Dickenss social criticism would have beenmore trenchant if he had focused on a more complex poor character,like the Artful Dodger or Nancy, the audience for whom Dickens was typography might not have been receptive to such a portrayal. DickenssVictorian middle-class readers were likely to hold opinions on thepoor that were only a little less extreme than those expressed by Mr.Bumble, the beadle who treats paupers with great cruelty. In fact,Oliver Tw ist was criticized for portraying thieves and prostitutes atall. Given the strict morals of Dickenss audience, it may have seemednecessary for him to make Oliver a saintlike figure. Because Oliverappealed to Victorian readers sentiments, his yarn may have stood abetter chance of effectively contest their prejudices.Nancy - A major concern of Oliver Twist is the question of whether ornot a bad environment can irrevocably poison someones character andsoul. As the novel progresses, the character who best illustrates thecontradictory issues brought up by that question is Nancy. As a childof the streets, Nancy has been a thief and drinks to excess. Thenarrators seed to her free and agreeable .