Oliver Twist

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Title Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress

Cover page of Oliver Twist. This is the first novelization which appeared in 1838.
Author	Charles Dickens
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Chapman & Hall
Released	1838
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) (originally as Serial)
ISBN	NA

Oliver Twist (1838) is Charles Dickens' second novel. The book was originally published in Bentley's Miscellany as a serial, in monthly installments that began appearing in February 1837 and continued through April 1839. George Cruikshank provided one steel etching per month to illustrate each installment.^[1]

Oliver Twist is the first English novel with a child protagonist,^[2] and is also notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives.^[3] The book's subtitle, The Parish Boy's Progress alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and also to a pair of popular 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, "A Rake's Progress" and "A Harlot's Progress."^[4]

An early example of the social novel, the book calls the public's attention to various contemporary social evils, including the workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of the time by surrounding the novel's serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of his hardships as a child laborer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s.

Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations, and is the basis for a highly successful British musical, Oliver!.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters in "Oliver Twist" 3 Major themes and symbols 4 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 5 Notes 6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune. Orphaned almost from his first breath by his mother’s death in childbirth and his father’s conspicuous absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law, and spends the first nine years of his life at a "baby farm" in the care of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Along with other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws, Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts.

Around the time of the orphan’s ninth birthday, Mr Bumble, a parish beadle, removes Oliver from the baby farm and puts him to work picking oakum at the main branch-workhouse. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months. Then, the desperately hungry boys draw lots; the poor boy must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes forward, bowl in hand, and makes his famous request: "Please, sir, I want some more."

A great uproar ensues. The board of well-fed gentlemen who administer the workhouse are outraged by Oliver's ingratitude. Wanting to be rid of this troublemaker, they offer five pounds to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice. A brutal chimney sweep almost claims Oliver, but, when he begs despairingly not to be sent away with "that dreadful man" a kindly old magistrate refuses to sign the indentures. Later, Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, takes Oliver into his service. Because of his sorrowful countenance, Sowerberry uses him as a "mute", or mourner, at children's funerals.

While working for the undertaker, Oliver suffers new torments at the hands of Noah Claypole, a charity boy and fellow apprentice, and Mrs. Sowerberry. Eventually, in an attempt to bait Oliver, Noah insults the orphan’s late mother. Oliver flies into an unexpected passion, attacking and besting the much bigger boy. Mrs. Sowerberry, who dislikes Oliver, takes Noah's part, and punishes Oliver. That night, he runs away and wanders aimlessly for a time. However, he soon sets his destination as London.

During his journey to London, Oliver encounters Jack Dawkins, who is also known as the Artful Dodger. Dawkins provides Oliver with a free meal and tells him of a gentleman in London who will help him get established. Grateful for the assistance, Oliver follows Dawkins to the gentleman’s residence. Thus, Oliver unwittingly falls in with a Jewish criminal named Fagin, the "gentleman" of whom Dawkins spoke. Oliver lives with Fagin and his criminal associates in their lair at Saffron Hill for some time, naively unaware of their criminal occupations.

Later, Oliver innocently goes out to "make handkerchiefs" with two of Fagin’s underlings: Dawkins and a boy named Charlie Bates. Oliver realizes too late that their real mission is to pick pockets, and, although he doesn't participate, he is hunted down and arrested. To the judge's evident disappointment, a witness clears Oliver, who, by now acutely ill, faints in the courtroom. A wealthy old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow, whom he was previously thought to have robbed, takes Oliver home and cares for him.

Oliver stays with Mr. Brownlow, recovers rapidly, and blossoms from the unaccustomed kindness. His bliss, however, is interrupted when Fagin, fearing Oliver might "peach" on his criminal gang, orchestrates Oliver's kidnapping. When Mr. Brownlow sends Oliver to pay for some books, one of the gang, Nancy, accosts him with help from a brutal robber named Bill Sikes, and he is quickly bundled back to Fagin's lair. The thieves steal the five pound note Mr. Brownlow had entrusted to him, and strip him of his fine new clothes.

Afterwards, Oliver is forced to participate in another crime; this time, burglary. Bill Sikes, a violent thief who helped in the kidnapping, sends Oliver through a small window and orders him to unlock the front door. The robbery goes wrong, however, and Oliver is shot. After being abandoned by Sikes, a wounded Oliver ends up under the care of the people he was supposed to rob: Rose Maylie and the elderly Mrs. Maylie. Convinced of Oliver’s innocence, Rose takes the boy in and nurses him, once again, back to health.

Meanwhile, a mysterious man named Monks has found Fagin and is plotting with him to destroy Oliver's reputation. Nancy, by this time thoroughly ashamed of her role in Oliver's kidnapping, goes to Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow to warn them. She manages to keep her meetings secret until Noah Claypole (who has fallen out with the undertaker and moved to London to seek his fortune) joins Fagin's gang for protection. During Noah's stay with Fagin, the Artful Dodger is caught and transported to Australia. Later, Noah is sent by Fagin to spy on her, and discovers her secret. Fagin angrily passes the information on to Sikes, twisting the story just enough to make it sound as if Nancy had informed on him (In actuality, she had shielded Sikes, whom she loves despite his brutal character). Believing her to be a traitor, Sikes murders Nancy in a fit of rage, and is himself killed when he accidentally hangs himself while fleeing an angry mob.

Monks is forced by Mr. Brownlow (an old friend of Oliver's father) to divulge his secrets: he is Oliver's paternal half-brother and, although he is legitimate, he was born of a loveless marriage. Oliver's mother, Agnes, was their father's true love. Monks has spent many years searching for his father's bastard child - not to befriend him, but to destroy him (see Henry Fielding's Tom Jones for similar circumstances). Brownlow asks Oliver to give half his inheritance (which proves to be meager) to Monks because he wants to give him a second chance; and Oliver, to please Brownlow, complies. Monks then moves to America, where he squanders his money, reverts to crime, and ultimately dies in prison. Fagin is arrested and condemned to the gallows; in an emotional scene, Oliver goes to Newgate Gaol to visit the old reprobate on the eve of his hanging.

On a happier note, Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Oliver's mother Agnes; she is therefore Oliver's aunt. She marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, and Oliver lives happily with his saviour, Mr. Brownlow. Noah becomes a paid informant; Mr. Bumble loses his job and is reduced to great poverty; and Charley Bates, horrified by Sikes' murder of Nancy, becomes an honest citizen, moves to the country, and works his way up to prosperity.

[edit] Characters in "Oliver Twist"

• Oliver Twist – the title character, an orphan boy born in a workhouse
• Fagin – a Jew who recruits and trains boys for thievery
• Bill Sikes – a violent thief and eventual murderer
• The Artful Dodger aka Jack Dawkins – one of Fagin's boy pickpockets
• Charley Bates – another of Fagin's boy pickpockets
• Nancy – Bill's girl; a thief trained by Fagin who longs for a better life
• Betsy – a thief of Fagin's and friend of Nancy
• Noah Claypole – untalented apprentice to Mr Sowerberry, and something of a bully
• Mr. Brownlow – Oliver's saviour, a kindly old gentleman
• Monks, aka Edward Leeford – Oliver's half-brother, a criminal type bent on destroying Oliver.
• Rose Maylie– A kindly young woman, Oliver's second saviour, who turns out to be his aunt.
• Mr Bumble – the parish Beadle and leader of the orphanage. He's officious, corrupt, a chronic mangler of the King's English, and a great source of comic relief.
• Mr. Sowerberry – an Undertaker who takes Oliver into his service. He's not a bad sort, and rather likes Oliver.
• Mrs. Sowerberry – Mr. Sowerberry's shrewish wife, who dislikes Oliver and treats him cruelly.
• Charlotte – servant to Mrs Sowerberry; in love with Noah Claypole
• Gamfield – a vicious chimney-sweep who nearly claims Oliver as apprentice
• Fang – a harsh, unjust magistrate who almost sentences Oliver to three month's hard labour. Dickens based him on a real magistrate named Laing.
• Mrs Bedwin – Motherly housekeeper to Mr Brownlow who nurses Oliver back to health
• Mr Grimwig – an old friend of Mr Brownlow's who pretends to be a great cynic, but is really a sentimental softy.

[edit] Major themes and symbols

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Oliver Twist, one of Dickens's best-known novels, is a grimly comic indictment of the effects of industrialism upon 19th century England. Oliver, an innocent child, is trapped in an unforgiving society where, thanks in part to the harsh new Poor Laws, his only practical alternatives seem to be the workhouse, Fagin's den of thieves, a prison sentence, or an early grave. From this grim industrial/institutional setting, however, a fairy tale also emerges: In the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive Oliver remains pure-hearted; he refrains from evil when those around him succumb; and, in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward - just as his chief tormenters receive theirs. On the way to this happy ending, Dickens takes the opportunity to explore the kind of life an orphan, outcast boy could expect to lead in the London of the 1830s.^[5]

Charity and love - and the lack thereof - are important motifs in Oliver Twist.^[6] Although mistreated by almost everyone who has any authority over him, Oliver receives love and kindness from a few people – the old magistrate who saves him from Mr. Gamfield, the bookseller who gives evidence to clear him, and, of course, Mr. Brownlow, Rose Maylie, and Nancy. These unaccustomed acts of kindness make a great impression on Oliver, and save him from a variety of bad ends. In contrast to the false charity offered by Fagin, and the grudging pittance afforded him at the workhouse, Mr. Brownlow and Rose Maylie open their homes and hearts to Oliver, and Nancy loses her life when she defies her criminal "family" and helps him escape the life they've planned for him.

Ambivalence is a notable theme in the novel, and is most discernible in Nancy. Although she is a full-fledged criminal, indoctrinated and trained by Fagin since childhood, she retains enough empathy to repent her role in Oliver's kidnapping, and to take steps to try to atone. As one of Fagin's victims, corrupted but not yet morally dead, she gives eloquent voice to the horrors of the old man's little criminal empire. She wants to save Oliver from a similar fate; at the same time, she recoils from the idea of turning traitor, especially to Bill Sikes, whom she loves. When he was later criticised for giving a "thieving, whoring slut of the streets" such an unaccountable reversal of character, Dickens ascribed her change of heart to "the last fair drop of water at the bottom of a weed-choked well."^[7] With Nancy, Dickens shows how the forces of corruption can distort a person's impulses toward the good (Nancy's "good character", by Fagin's lights, consists in being a clever thief who won't "peach") without extinguishing those impulses altogether.

England's class system is another important part of the novel's dynamics. Dickens shows how the Poor Law Amendment of 1834 influenced society: a middle class developed and began to exploit the lower classes^{[citation needed]}. Mrs. Mann, Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Sowerberry are examples of middle class people who abuse members of the lower class. Oliver, an orphan without friends, means, or known relatives, is routinely despised and mistreated on that basis alone - often by people such as Noah Claypole who are only slightly above him on the social scale. When salvation arrives for Oliver, it comes primarily from the upper classes.

If Dickens intends to criticise the class system, however, he delivers a rather mixed message. Noah Claypole, a charity boy like Oliver, is idle, mean, and cowardly; Sikes is a thug; Fagin lives by corrupting children; and the Artful Dodger seems born for a life of crime. Most of the middle-class people Oliver encounters, such as the savagely hypocritical "gentlemen" of the workhouse board, are, if anything, worse.^[8] Oliver, on the other hand, who has an air of refinement remarkable for a workhouse boy, proves to be of gentle birth. Although he has been abused and neglected all his life, he recoils, aghast, at the idea of victimizing anyone else. This apparently hereditary gentlemanliness makes Oliver Twist something of a changeling tale, not just an indictment of social injustice. Oliver, born for better things, struggles to survive in the savage world of the underclass before finally being rescued by his family and returned to his proper place.

In a style that would become characteristic, Dickens makes considerable use of symbolism. The "merry old gentleman" Fagin, for example, has satanic characteristics - he is a veteran corrupter of young boys who first appears standing over a fire holding a toasting-fork in lieu of a pitchfork, and the underworld he presides over has an infernal aspect.^[9] Food, too, has symbolic value; Oliver's odyssey begins with a simple request for more gruel, and Mr. Bumble's shocked exclamation "Oliver Twist has asked for more!" indicates that the "more" Oliver hungers for is not just gruel.^[10] Chapter 8--which contains the last noteworthy mention of food in the form of Fagin's dinner--marks the first time Oliver "ate his share" and represents the transformation in his life that occurs after he joined Fagin's gang.

Names are a rich source of comic symbolism in Dickens' writing, often marking their owners as semi-monstrous caricatures. Mrs. Mann, who has charge of the infant Oliver, is not the most motherly of women; Mr. Bumble, despite his impressive sense of his own dignity, continually mangles the official language he tries to use; and Mr. Fang, the magistrate who adjudicates Oliver's alleged theft of a handkerchief, is such a sadist that he nearly consigns the ailing boy to three month's hard labour - a sentence that would surely have killed him. The Sowerberry's are, of course, "sour berries", a reference to Mrs. Sowerberry's perpetual scowl, and, possibly, to Mr. Sowerberry's profession (burying) and to the poor provender Oliver receives from them. The "good" characters are also named according to their type; Mr. Grimwig, for example, is so called because his seemingly "grim", pessimistic outlook is actually a protective cover for his kind, sentimental soul. Oliver Twist's name, chosen according to an alphabetical system, at first reflects nothing more than his lowly status as just another "item of mortality" in a long list of others. The surname "Twist", however - although bestowed by the eminently prosaic Mr Bumble - foreshadows the strange turns of fortune which await its bearer.

The world of Oliver Twist is indeed a grim one. Dickens manages to contrive happy endings for most of the deserving characters, however; and although Oliver's escape from the slums is more or less miraculous, he clearly hopes to improve the chances of orphans like Oliver by opening the public's eyes to their vulnerability and suffering. In Oliver Twist, the gaze of knowing eyes can be a powerful force. Fagin, who for decades manages to conceal his criminal activities, ends up squirming in the "living light" of too many eyes as he stands in the dock, awaiting sentence. When Sikes kills Nancy, the memory of her eyes continues to accuse him even after he has fled the scene. Charlie Bates turns his back on crime when he sees the murderous cruelty of the man who has been held up to him as a model. With Oliver Twist, Dickens invites the public to become similarly enlightened.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

There have been many theatrical, film and television adaptations of Dickens' novel:

• Beginning in 1868, Dickens himself frequently performed a dramatic reading called "Sikes and Nancy" from Oliver Twist. His family begged him to desist because he flung himself into the performance with such energy that he undermined his by-then precarious health.^[11]
• Several stage versions of the novel played England and the U.S. during the nineteenth century, often to Dickens's dismay and outrage; copyright laws were not enforced strictly then, and Dickens seldom received royalties from the stage versions.
• The earliest film adaptation is a silent film made in 1909.
• A 1912 version starring Nat Goodwin as Fagin.
• A 1916 version with Tully Marshall as Fagin, Hobart Bosworth as Bill Sikes, and Marie Doro in a trouser role as Oliver.
• The 1922 film, the most famous silent version of the classic ever made, starring Jackie Coogan as Oliver and Lon Chaney as Fagin.
• A low-budget 1933 version of the novel (the first with sound), starring Irving Pichel as Fagin, Dickie Moore as Oliver Twist, and Doris Lloyd as Nancy.
• Oliver Twist, a feature film from 1948 by David Lean, starring Alec Guinness in one of his most defining roles as Fagin, is still considered the classic film version.
• In 1960, Lionel Bart's musical play Oliver! opened to rave reviews in London. It became the longest-running musical there up to that time, playing six years. Producer David Merrick brought the show to the United States. The show toured nationally in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit before opening at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway on January 6, 1963, where it received less ecstatic reviews and did not run nearly as long as it did in London.
• Lionel Bart's musical was adapted for the big screen in Oliver! (1968), and won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1969. It featured Mark Lester as Oliver, Ron Moody as Fagin, Oliver Reed as Sikes, Shani Wallis as Nancy, and Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger. It received better reviews than the show had. The film also won an Oscar for its director, Sir Carol Reed. Moody and Wild were also Oscar-nominated, but did not win. This is still the only film version of the novel to receive Oscar nominations.
• A 1985 BBC television drama adaptation in their Classic Serial strand, produced by Terrance Dicks and starring Eric Porter as Fagin.
• An animated interpretation by Disney called Oliver & Company (1988), loosely based on Dickens, about an orphaned cat named Oliver who meets a dog called Dodger. It takes place in New York City instead of England.
• A television movie, Oliver Twist, was released in 1997.
• An ITV/PBS production, Oliver Twist, from 1999, adapted by Alan Bleasdale and starring Robert Lindsay as Fagin, and Andy Serkis as Bill Sikes.
• In 2001, Oliver!, A theatrical adaptation, was done at the Centaur theatre in Montreal Starring James Mariotti-Lapointe as Oliver.
• The 2003 movie Twist by director Jacob Tierney is loosely based on the novel but set in modern-day Toronto with male prostitution and drugs, rather than pickpocketing.
• Boy called Twist by director Timothy Greene (2004) is set in Cape Town, South Africa, in the street-kid scene. With its unglamorous but sympathetic account of city poverty, the film is true to Dickens' story.
• In 2005 director Roman Polanski released a new big-budget version of Oliver Twist.
• In December 2006, "Twist", a new musical (with no connection to the 2003 film), with book and lyrics by Gila Sand and music by Scissor Sisters composer and collaborator Paul Leschen, opened at the Kraine Theatre in New York. [1]

Adaptations of the novel tend to simplify the original story. The way the book is normally interpreted on screen causes modern readers to focus on Bill Sikes as the villain. They thus fail to recognise how Fagin has trained Sikes and made him what he is; part of Dickens' message is that he might have done the same with Oliver had chance not intervened.

The renowned comic book creator, Will Eisner, disturbed by the anti-semitism in the typical depiction of Fagin, created a graphic novel in 2003 titled Fagin the Jew. In this book, the back story of the character and events of Oliver Twist are depicted from his point of view.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Online Text
  • Oliver Twist, available at Project Gutenberg.
  • Oliver Twist - Easy to read HTML version.
  • Oliver Twist – complete book in HTML one page for each chapter.
  • Oliver Twist - Searchable HTML version.
  • RSS Version - Read Oliver Twist in the RSS Version.
• Critical analysis
  • When Is a Book Not a Book? Oliver Twist in Context, a seminar by Robert Patten from the New York Public Library
  • Background information and plot summary for Oliver Twist, with links to other Dickens resources.

Oliver Twist
Characters:	Fagin | Bill Sikes | The Artful Dodger | Nancy Sikes | Rose Maylie
Film adaptions:	Oliver Twist (1948) | Oliver! | Oliver & Company | Oliver Twist (1997) | Twist | Boy called Twist | Oliver Twist (2005)
Other adaptions:	Oliver! | Fagin the Jew | Oliver Twist (TV miniseries)