Charles+Dickens+strikes+again

Charles Dickens strikes again

//Oliver Twist, which was released fourteen days ago, is Charles Dickens’ second novel. The book takes a look on various current social evils, including the workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. Continue to reed The Victorian Gazelle’s review.//

The character Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in the workhouse in an unnamed town near London. As his mother died in childbirth and his father disappeared, Oliver spends the first nine years of his life at a “baby farm” in the care of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of his ninth birthday, Oliver is set to work at the main branch-workhouse, until one day he desperately asks for some more food. The people who work there are outraged by Oliver’s ingratitude and offer five pounds to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice, as they want to get rid of this troublemaker. Oliver gets employed by Mr. Sowerberry and is promoted to a “mute”. One day, a bully harasses Oliver, and as Mr. Sowerberry’s wife takes the bully’s side, Oliver sets his wandering feet towards London. There, after almost getting arrested for being friends with some pocket pickers, a wealthy old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver home and cares for him. In London, Oliver keeps getting into trouble with the law and must face several challenges.

Oliver is an innocent child trapped in an unforgiving society where, thanks in part to the harsh new Poor Laws, his only practical alternatives seem to be in the workhouse, with the thieves, a prison sentence, or an early grave. However, Oliver remains pure-hearted; he refrains from evil when those around him succumb; and, in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward. On the way to this happy ending, Dickens takes the opportunity to explore the kind of life an orphan, outcast boy can expect to lead in London these days.

Crime and punishment is an important theme in the book, as is sin and redemption. Dickens describes criminal acts ranging from picking pockets to murder. Poverty, too, is a prominent concern in “Oliver Twist”. Dickens describes slums so decrepit that whole rows of houses seem on the point of collapse.This book is expected to arouse huge reactions as Dickens straight to the point criticizes today’s society in England.