Literary analysis oliver twist PDF

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Literary analysis: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist is a well-known story, but the book is not quite as widely read as you might think. In fact, Time Magazine's list of the 10 most popular Dickens novels Oliver Twist ranks 10th, although it was a sensational success in 1837, when it was first serialized and contributed the treacherous villain Fagin to English literature. The novel has the lively story and the incomprehensible literary skill that Dickens brings with him to all his novels, but it also has a raw, rough quality that can drive away some readers. Oliver Twist was also influential in bringing about the cruel treatment of paupers and orphans in Dickens' time. The novel is not only a brilliant work of art but an important social document. 'Oliver Twist': Accusation of 19th century workhouse The main character Oliver was born in a workhouse during the first half of the 19th century. His mother dies during his birth, and he is sent to an orphanage, where he is treated badly, abused regularly and poorly fed. In a famous episode, he goes up to the strong authoritarian, Mr. Bumble, and ask for a second help from whom. For this impertinence he is removed from the workhouse. He then flies from the family that takes him in. He wants to find his fortune in London. Instead, he ends up with a boy named Jack Dawkins, who is part of a child group of thieves run by a man named Fagin. Oliver is brought into the gang and trained like a pocket. When he goes out to his first job, he runs away and is almost sent to prison. But the kind person he is trying to rob saves him from the city jail (prison) and the boy is instead taken into the man's home. He thinks he's escaped Fagin and his cunning gang, but Bill Sikes and Nancy, two members of the gang, force him back. Oliver is sent to another job - this time Sikes helps with a burglary. Kindness almost saves Oliver time and time again The job goes wrong, and Oliver is shot and left behind. Once again, he is taken in, this time by Maylies, the family he was sent to rob; with them, his life changes dramatically for the better. But Fagin's gang comes after him again. Nancy, who's worried about Oliver, tells Maylie's what's going on. When the gang finds out about Nancy's betrayal, they kill her. Meanwhile, Maylie's Oliver is reunited with a gentleman who helped him earlier and who with the kind of coincidental plot typical of many Victorian novels - turns out to be Oliver's uncle. Fagin is arrested and hanged for his crimes; and Oliver settles into a normal life, reunited with his family. The fears that await children in London's underclass Oliver Twist is probably not the most psychologically complex of Dickens' novels. Instead, Dickens uses the novel to give contemporary readers a dramatic understanding of the deplorable social situation of England's underclass and especially its children. In that sense, it is more closely linked to Hogarthian satire than Dickens' more romantic novels. Bumble, the pearl, is an excellent example of Dickens' broad characterization at work. Bumble is a large, terrifying figure: a tin pot Hitler, who is both terrifying to the boys under his control, and also somewhat pathetic in his need to retain his power over them.

Fagin: A controversial villain Fagin is also a wonderful example of Dickens’ ability to draw a caricature and still place it in a convincingly realistic story. There is a cruelty in Dickens’ Fagin, but also a cunning charisma that has made him one of literature’s most convincing villains. Among many film and television productions of the novel, Alec Guinness’ portrayal of Fagin is perhaps the most admired. Unfortunately, Guinness makeup incorporated stereotypical aspects of portraits of Jewish villains. Together with Shakespeare’s Shylock, Fagin remains one of the most controversial and probably anti – Semitic creations in the English literary canon. Meaning of “Oliver Twist” Oliver Twist is important as a cross-cutting work of art, although it did not result in the dramatic changes in the English workhouse system that Dickens may have hoped for. Nevertheless, Dickens researched this system extensively before writing the novel, and his views undoubtedly had a cumulative effect. Two English reform acts that dealt with the system actually preceded the previous publication of Oliver Twist, but several followed, including the influential reforms of 1870. Oliver Twist is still a powerful indictment of English society in the early 1800s. Sources: Dickens, C., 1838. Oliver Twist. Pearson Education....