A Literary Review Of Oliver Twist Essay

, Research Paper

The story of an orphan boy without the ?easy life? dares to take on the world in his many journeys, and countless adventures. He goes from the lowest part of London, to a part that he never knew existed. He makes many freinds and a few enemys. No one can turn down his sensitive, helpless looks and you end up caring about him whether you want to or not. Mr. Bumble is a rat man, is always picking on people, and is very fond of bullying others. He likes to be in charge. Halfway through the book, Bumble changes. When he marries Mrs.Corney,he loses authority. Then she makes all the decisions. Jack Dawkins, known as the artful dodger, is a charming rogue. Fagin’s best pupil. He is a dirty, wild, hyper boy. Dickens makes Dodger look more appealing by describing his outrageous clothes and untamed manners. Fagin is a master criminal, whose specialty is selling stolen property. He employs a gang of thieves and is always looking for new recruits. He is a man of high intelligence, although does not use it enough. Mr. Brownlow is a generous man, concerned for other people. A very respectable looking person with a heart large enough for any six ordinary men. Bill Sikes is a bully, a robber and a murderer. He is an ally of Fagin. Fagin plans the crimes and Sikes carries them out Monks, also known as Edward Leeford, is Oliver’s half brother. He wants to destroy Olivers chance of inheriting their fathers estate. Nancy is the the pupil of Fagin, and the abused mistress of Sikes. Although she is a prostitute and an accomplice of crooks, she has the instincts of a good person. Rose Maylie is very differnt from Nancey on the surface. Both were orphans, but Rose grew up with more family values. She is sympathetic to Oliver, but unlike Nancy, Rose is does not know of all the evils of the world. Oliver Twist, a loving, innocent orphan child; the son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming. He is generally quiet and shy rather than aggressive. Oliver’s kind nature earns him the pity and love of the good people he meets. Dicken’s choice of Oliver’s name tells a lot, because the boy’s story is full of “twists” and turns. Dickens uses his skills at creating to make Oliver a character for everyone Oliver Twist is orphaned at birth, he grows up in the workhouse until he is apprenticed ,at an early age, to Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker. Unhappy and mistreated, Oliver runs away. In London, he meets The Artful Dodger. The slightly older boy takes Oliver to the hideout of a London gang of juvenile delinquents. Looked after by Fagin, an old Jew who teaches them how to perfect pick-pocketing, the boys roam the city by day practicing their trade. Also associated with the gang are the sinister Bill Sikes and his soft-hearted girlfriend, Nancy. Oliver, too, learns to steal, but, on one of his first lone attempts, he is caught. Oliver is taken to the police station, where a kindly and wealthy old gentleman, Mr. Brownlow, intervenes on the boy’s behalf. Planning to educate and care for the boy, Mr. Brownlow takes custody of Oliver. Bill Sikes and his friend Monk learn of Oliver’s newly acquired position and see an opportunity to rob the Brownlow house, using Oliver to let them in. They kidnap him and return with him to the gang. When Nancy tries to return Oliver to Mr. Brownlow, she is brutally murdered by Sikes. The attempted robbery fails, and Sikes drags Oliver over the rooftops of London as he is pursued by the police and an enraged torch-carrying mob. Sikes falls and hangs himself. Oliver is rescued and returns to Mr. Brownlow to discover that he is the lost grandson Brownlow has been looking for. The major action of Oliver Twist moves back and forth between two worlds: The filthy slums of London and the clean, comfortable house of Brownlow and the Maylies. London is a world of crime. Things happen there at night, in dark alleys and in, abandoned, dark buildings.Maybe he is suggesting evil dominates this world Charles Dickens grew up in London, very poor. His father ended up in prison and the young Charles had to start working at a factory. It only lasted for a few months, but he never forgot the humiliation and the suffering. In the 1830s Dickens started to work as a journalist in London. In 1837 he gained fame with the novel “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club”. “Oliver Twist” came the year after, and was followed by “Nicholas Nickleby”. Charles Dickens is considered one of the greatest authors of the 19th century. I found this book very interesting and got more out of it then I thought that I would. It was a light on the real world today. Which is why I think Charles Dickens is such an outstanding author because his work still reflects on the world we live in today. So I say that if you have to pick any book to do a report on, let it be Oliver Twist A literary Review of Oliver Twist By:Larry Bailey Mr. Nicholson 1/13/99