Oliver Twist
Author: Charles Dickens
Serialised 1837-1839, book form 1838
Original title: Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress
Book report by Sara Hoogakker (V5b)
2017-2018
About Charles Dickens
, Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and
social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded
by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented
popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century critics and scholars had recognised
him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated
in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20
years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles,
lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned
vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers.
Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour,
satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly
or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the
dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. The instalment format allowed Dickens to
evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development
based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the
way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens improved
the character with positive features. His plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove
elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in
ha'pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new
class of readers.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas
Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver
Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels,
evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London
and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens has been praised by fellow
writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for his realism, comedy,
prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde,
Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing,
and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something
that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically
repulsive characters.
Main characters
Oliver Twist
As the child hero of a melodramatic novel of social protest, Oliver Twist is meant to appeal
more to our sentiments than to our literary sensibilities. On many levels, Oliver is not a
believable character, because although he is raised in corrupt surroundings, his purity and
virtue are absolute. Throughout the novel, Dickens uses Oliver’s character to challenge the
Victorian idea that paupers and criminals are already evil at birth, arguing instead that a
corrupt environment is the source of vice. At the same time, Oliver’s incorruptibility
undermines some of Dickens’s assertions. Oliver is shocked and horrified when he sees the
Artful Dodger and Charley Bates pick a stranger’s pocket and again when he is forced to
participate in a burglary. Oliver’s moral scruples about the sanctity of property seem inborn
in him, just as Dickens’s opponents thought that corruption is inborn in poor people.
Furthermore, other pauper children use rough Cockney slang, but Oliver, oddly enough,
speaks in proper King’s English. His grammatical fastidiousness is also inexplicable, as
Oliver presumably is not well-educated. Even when he is abused and manipulated, Oliver
does not become angry or indignant. When Sikes and Crackit force him to assist in a
robbery, Oliver merely begs to be allowed to “run away and die in the fields.” Oliver does not
