Background of Oliver Twist

Background of 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.
Oliver Twist is the first English novel with a child protagonist, and is also notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives. 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."
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!

Symbols

Symbols

Bull’s-eye
Bill Sikes’s dog, Bull’s-eye, has “faults of temper in common with his owner” and is a symbolic emblem of his owner’s character. The dog’s viciousness reflects and represents Sikes’s own animal-like brutality. After Sikes murders Nancy, Bull’s-eye comes to represent Sikes’s guilt. The dog leaves bloody footprints on the floor of the room where the murder is committed. Not long after, Sikes becomes desperate to get rid of the dog, convinced that the dog’s presence will give him away. Yet, just as Sikes cannot shake off his guilt, he cannot shake off Bull’s-eye, who arrives at the house of Sikes’s demise before Sikes himself does. Bull’s-eye’s name also conjures up the image of Nancy’s eyes, which haunts Sikes until the bitter end and eventually causes him to hang himself accidentally.

London Bridge
Nancy’s decision to meet Brownlow and Rose on London Bridge reveals the symbolic aspect of this bridge in Oliver Twist. Bridges exist to link two places that would otherwise be separated by an uncrossable chasm. The meeting on London Bridge represents the collision of two worlds unlikely ever to come into contact—the idyllic world of Brownlow and Rose, and the atmosphere of degradation in which Nancy lives. On the bridge, Nancy is given the chance to cross over to the better way of life that the others represent, but she rejects that opportunity, and by the time the three have all left the bridge, that possibility has vanished forever.

Characters’ Names
The names of characters represent personal qualities. Oliver Twist himself is the most obvious example. The name “Twist,” though given by accident, alludes to the outrageous reversals of fortune that he will experience. Rose Maylie’s name echoes her association with flowers and springtime, youth and beauty. Toby Crackit’s name is a lighthearted reference to his chosen profession of breaking into houses. Mr. Bumble’s name connotes his bumbling arrogance; Mrs. Mann’s, her lack of maternal instinct; and Mr. Grimwig’s, his superficial grimness that can be removed as easily as a wig.

Characters in "Oliver Twist"

Characters in "Oliver Twist"

Oliver Twist – the title character, an orphan boy born in a workhouse. Oliver is between nine and twelve years old when the main action of the novel occurs. Though treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, he is a pious, innocent child, and his charms draw the attention of several wealthy benefactors. His true identity is the central mystery of the novel.

Fagin - A conniving career criminal. Fagin takes in homeless children and trains them to pick pockets for him.

Nancy - A young prostitute and one of Fagin’s former child pickpockets. Nancy is also Bill Sikes’s lover.

Rose Maylie - Agnes Fleming’s sister, raised by Mrs. Maylie after the death of Rose’s father. A beautiful, compassionate, and forgiving young woman, Rose is the novel’s model of female virtue.

Mr. Brownlow - A well-off, erudite gentleman who serves as Oliver’s first benefactor.

Monks - A sickly, vicious young man, prone to violent fits and teeming with inexplicable hatred. With Fagin, he schemes to give Oliver a bad reputation.

Bill Sikes - A brutal professional burglar brought up in Fagin’s gang.

Mr. Bumble - The pompous, self-important beadle—a minor church official—for the workhouse where Oliver is born.

Mr. Losberne - Mrs. Maylie’s family physician. A hot-tempered but good-hearted old bachelor, Mr. Losberne is fiercely loyal to the Maylies and, eventually, to Oliver.

Mrs. Maylie - A kind, wealthy older woman, the mother of Harry Maylie and adoptive “aunt” of Rose.

Harry Maylie - Mrs. Maylie’s son. Harry is a dashing young man with grand political ambitions and career prospects, which he eventually gives up to marry Rose.

The Artful Dodger - The cleverest of Fagin’s pickpockets. The Dodger’s real name is Jack Dawkins.

Charley Bates - One of Fagin’s pickpockets. Charley is ready to laugh at anything.

Old Sally - An elderly pauper who serves as the nurse at Oliver’s birth. Old Sally steals Agnes’s gold locket, the only clue to Oliver’s identity.

Mrs. Corney - The matron of the workhouse where Oliver is born. Mrs. Corney is hypocritical, callous, and materialistic.

Noah Claypole - A charity boy and Mr. Sowerberry’s apprentice. Noah is an overgrown, cowardly bully who mistreats Oliver and eventually joins Fagin’s gang.

Charlotte - The Sowerberrys’ maid. Charlotte becomes romantically involved with Noah Claypole and follows him about slavishly.

Toby Crackit - One of Fagin and Sikes’s associates, crass and not too bright. Toby participates in the attempted burglary of Mrs. Maylie’s home.

Mrs. Bedwin - Mr. Brownlow’s kindhearted housekeeper. Mrs. Bedwin is unwilling to believe Mr. Bumble’s negative report of Oliver’s character.

Monks’s mother - An heiress who lived a decadent life and alienated her husband, Mr. Leeford
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Mr. Sowerberry - The undertaker to whom Oliver is apprenticed.

Mrs. Sowerberry - Sowerberry’s wife. Mrs. Sowerberry is a mean, judgmental woman who henpecks her husband.

Mr. Grimwig - Brownlow’s pessimistic, curmudgeonly friend. Mr. Grimwig is essentially good-hearted, and his pessimism is mostly just a provocative character quirk.

Mr. Giles - Mrs. Maylie’s loyal, though somewhat pompous, butler.

Mr. Brittles - A sort of handyman for Mrs. Maylie’s estate. It is implied that Mr. Brittles is slightly mentally handicapped.

Mrs. Mann - The superintendent of the juvenile workhouse where Oliver is raised. Mrs. Mann physically abuses and half-starves the children in her care.

Mr. Gamfield - A brutal chimney sweep. Oliver almost becomes Mr. Gamfield’s apprentice.

Mr. Fang - The harsh, irrational, power-hungry magistrate who presides over Oliver’s trial for pickpocketing.

Feelings for the novel

Feelings for the novel
Oliver Twist is the first English novel with a child protagonist,and is also notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives. one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens', is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in Britain in 18th century. 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.
He wants to revealed malfeasant’s true colors, revealed hiding in London’s terror and violent and black. After I finished this novel, it gives me a big convulsion in my heart. I was moved by his strong and goodness. The main character-Oliver was grown up under the mistreatment and suffering. When he was born his mother died and then he become to an orphan. He changes to a good, he has no freedom, and his life was so difficult. He was suffering hell on earth. When he absconds to a hell, then he will fell into another hell, again and again. He just a little boy, but he has not given up. He fights with the fate. At last, he become to a winner. He gets happy life. He changes his life to be happiness. Oliver lived a happy life in the end.I feel admire by Oliver’s strong and goodness. Although his life was suffering, he met hell again and again, but he didn’t give up, torment can not change his goodness. Then he gets happiness, he’s strong and brave. I want become to that kind of people- strong and brave, never give up for fate. But there still has many laying, cheating, stealing people, they are wicked. I remember there has a world: Man's nature at birth is good. I think wrongdoer’s natural instincts is good, their wicked is not innate. It’s to create by outside bad influence. We should learn to Oliver’s sprits.

Journal 6

Journal 6
Today I finished reading . This novel was written by Charles Dickens'. Oliver Twist, one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens', is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in Britain in 18th century. 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. Oliver Twist is the first English novel with a child protagonist,and is also notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives
The hero of this novel was Oliver Twist, an orphan, who was thrown into a world full of poverty and crime. He suffered enormous pain, such as hunger, thirst, beating and abuse. While reading the tragic experiences of the little Oliver, I was shocked by his sufferings. I felt for the poor boy, but at the same time I detested the evil Fagin and the brutal Bill. Oliver was so pitiful. When he was born his mother died and then he become to an orphan. He changes to a good, he has no freedom, his life was so difficult. He was suffering hell on earth. When he absconds to a hell, then he will fell into another hell, again and again. He just a little boy, but he has not given up. He fights with the fate. At last, he become to a winner. He gets happy life. He changes his life to be happiness. Oliver lived a happy life in the end.
How can such a little boy who had already suffered oppressive affliction remain pure in body and mind？ The reason is the nature of goodness. I think it is the most important information implied in the novel by Dickens-he believed that goodness could conquer every difficulty. Although I don't think goodness is omnipotent, yet I do believe that those who are kind-hearted live more happily than those who are evil-minded.
This novel is a good novel. It can tell me that I’m very happiness. I should treasure my life; I should not waste my life. When I meet difficult or suffering that I should fight with it. I should not give up. I’m the owner for my life, everyone should fight with themselves.

Journal 5

Journal 5
Chapter 28 returns to Oliver’s adventures. Oliver was suffering injuries, and then he lying outside the door and Mr. Brittles helps him, and called a doctor. The doctor Mr. Losberne saves Oliver. 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, and fearful for the boy's safety, goes to Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow to warn them. She knows that Monks and Fagin are plotting to get their hands on the boy again. 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), using the name "Morris Bolter," joins Fagin's gang for protection. During Noah's stay with Fagin, the Artful Dodger is caught with a stolen silver snuff box on his person, convicted at court and transported to Australia. Later, Noah is sent by Fagin to "dodge" (spy on) Nancy, 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.

Journal 4

Journal 4
Oliver returns to hell- Fagin’s house. They strip Oliver of his clothing, Brownlow’s money, and the books. Oliver's Destiny continuing unpropitious, brings a great man to London to injure his reputation. Mr. Brownlow publishes an advertisement offering a reward of five guineas for information about Oliver’s whereabouts or his past. Mr. Bumble notices it in the paper while traveling to London. He thinks Oliver is a thief and cheating him. The time was passed, Oliver still stay with his “reputable friends”. They want to assimilation Oliver. They talks about the benefit about the thief to him. And the wily old Jew is caring about Oliver when he feels lonely. In short, the wily old Jew had the boy in his toils. Having prepared his mind, by solitude and gloom, to prefer any society to the companionship of his own sad thoughts in such a dreary place, he was now slowly instilling into his soul the poison which he hoped would blacken it, and change its hue for ever.
Sikes plans to rob a house, but he needs a small boy for the job. Fagin offers Oliver’s services. Sikes warns Oliver that he will kill him if he shows any signs of hesitation during the robbery. Sikes arranges to have Nancy deliver Oliver to the scene. Fagin watches Nancy for any signs of hesitation. Despite her earlier protests against trapping Oliver in a life of crime, she betrays no further misgivings. At last Oliver is delivered over to Mr. William Sikes from Fagin. Oliver jump to another hell. Now he lives with Sikes. One day morning, they prepare to leave for the job. Sikes takes Oliver on a long journey to the town of Shepperton. They arrive after dark. Oliver begins to his journey.
In 24 chapter, we can knows that something about Oliver’s identity. There has a gold locket; maybe it can help Oliver find his father. I think this chapter is important. That will be a turn point.In which a mysterious character- Mr. Monks appears upon the scene-chapter 26. From chapter 23-27, there are talks peoples befall except Oliver. But these chapters are closed to Oliver. Some of these chapters are important for Oliver’s life after.
In my mind, I think these chapters have a little bit boring.

Journal 3

Journal 3
When Oliver woke up, it was next day morning. Oliver notes that containing further particulars concerning the pleasant old gentleman, and his hopeful pupils. The old gentleman told his hopeful pupils to teach Oliver that how to do their job. Oliver says he want to learn very much. Oliver is virtuous and unsophisticated. He doesn’t know that they will teach him to pilfer something.
Oliver becomes better acquainted with the characters of his new associates; he knows that they are thief and purchases experience at a high price. A police catches him and say he is a thief. And he met good people who help him and believe him. When everyone all thinks he is the thief, the old gentleman- Mr. Brownlow believes him.
In which Oliver is taken better care of than he ever was before. He feels warm. Maybe here is a heaven for him. Mr. Brownlow drops in to see how Oliver is feeling. Oliver thanks him for his kindness. Brownlow exclaims with astonishment that Oliver closely resembles the young lady in the portrait. Brownlow’s exclamation startles Oliver so much that the boy faints.
When Oliver feels warm in the heaven, the evil didn’t pass him. When Fagin knows that Oliver was stay in the old gentleman’s there. He still wants to find Oliver. Oliver still has not to break out of the evil and the surfing.
In this time comprising further particulars of Oliver's stay at Mr. Brownlow's, with the remarkable prediction which one Mr. Grimwig uttered concerning him, when he went out on an errand. He hints that Oliver might be a boy of bad habits. He told his friend that Oliver won’t return when Oliver go to return the book. Last Oliver didn’t return, but the truth is not Mr. Grimwig’s thinks.
The truth is Oliver takes a wrong turn on the way to the bookstall. Suddenly, Nancy appears. She tells everyone on the street that Oliver is her runaway brother who joined a band of thieves, and that she is taking him back home to their parents. Everyone ignores Oliver’s protests. Bill Sikes runs out of a beer shop, and he and Nancy drag Oliver through the dark backstreets. Oliver came into the hell again. Oliver’s life is really rough, when I think he will leaves the hell, and then he will fell into another hell. He just a little boy, he’s pure and kindness, why he was met many sufferings. He has never do the wrong thing.

Journal 2

Journal 2
Oliver begins his new life in the undertaker's shop. But his new life has not change to happy or smoothly, his life still winding, he fell into anther hell. He mingles with new associates, the new associates were bullied him often. They give him the degenerative food and hit him. Going to a funeral for the first time, he forms an unfavorable notion of his master's business. He doesn’t agree with his owner, he thinks his owner’s practice is not good.
The month's trial over, Oliver was formally apprenticed. Oliver Twist moved to resignation by the example of these good people from his probationary period before. Noah becomes increasingly jealous of Oliver’s speedy advancement. One day, he insults Oliver’s dead mother. Being goaded by the taunts of Noah, Oliver attacks him in a fit of rage, and rather astonishes him. Charlotte and Mrs. Sowerberry rush to Noah’s aid, and the three of them beat Oliver and lock him in the cellar.
Noah goes to called Mr. Bumble and told him that Oliver was crazy. And then Mr. Bumble informs Mrs. Sowerberry that feeding meat to Oliver gives him more spirit than is appropriate to his station in life. That was a big joke that is flapdoodle. After Mr. Sowerberry comes back, he bats Oliver and locked him again. Finally Oliver runs away, he passes the workhouse where he used to live and sees an old friend, Dick, in the yard. Dick vows not to tell anyone about Oliver’s flight and bids him a warm farewell. That is the first time Oliver feels warm and Dick is the first people who prayer for him. Through the struggles and sufferings, and troubles and changes, of his after life, he never once forgets it. That prayer remains sharply engraved on his mind like a stigma. I think when Oliver feels lonely or met troubles that memory can accompany and help him.
Oliver decides to walk the seventy miles to London. He encounters on the road a strange sort of young gentleman. Then the young gentleman introduction a man-Fagin to Oliver, then Oliver takes a share of the dinner and sinks into a deep sleep. Oliver takes a deeply sleep, he don’t know that he was fell into another hell again. The troubles and sufferings still follow him.

Journal 1

Journal 1
Today I begin to read a famous novel called written by Charles Dickens. He was the foremostEnglish novelistof the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous social campaigner. Now the story begins……
Oliver Twist (the main character in this novel) is born a sickly infant in a workhouse. The parish surgeon and a drunken nurse attend his birth. When he was born his mother knows that she will die, so she kisses Oliver Twist, and then she dies, and the nurse announces that Oliver’s mother was found lying in the streets the night before. The surgeon notices that she is not wearing a wedding ring. Oliver Twist become to an orphan. This is the beginning of the novel-Oliver Twist’s life.
Authorities at the workhouse send Oliver to a branch-workhouse for “juvenile offenders against the poor-laws.” There has an overseer called Mrs. Mann in this branch- workhouse, her job is receive an adequate sum for each child’s upkeep, but she keeps most of the money and lets the children go hungry, sometimes even letting them die. On Oliver’s ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a minor church official informs Mrs. Mann that Oliver must return to the workhouse. The workhouse offers the poor food for the orphans. One night at dinner, one child tells the others that if he does not have another bowl of gruel he might eat one of them. Terrified, the children at the workhouse cast lots, so they choose that whoever loses shall be required to ask for more food for the boy. Oliver loses, and after dinner, Oliver goes to ask Mr. Bumble that he wants to have more food. His request so shocks the authorities that they offer five pounds as a reward to anyone who will take Oliver off of their hands.
In the parish, Oliver has been flogged and then locked in a dark room as a public example. They want to send Oliver to Mr. Gamfield as an apprentice. Because several boys have died under his supervision, they settle on just over three pounds. They want to secret to transaction; at last the magistrate found Oliver’s face was very white. He asks the boy why he looks so terrified. Oliver falls on his knees and begs that he be locked in a room, beaten, killed, or any other punishment besides being apprenticed to Mr. Gamfield. The magistrate refuses to approve the apprenticeship, and the workhouse authorities again advertise Oliver’s availability.
At last they choose to send Oliver to the parish undertaker. Now he begins to live in the undertaker's shop
Oliver Twist is the main character in this novel, he is an orphan which was very pitiful and has a miserable destiny. When he was born, then his mother died. He’s a good and honest boy and he has a strong heart, he is fight with his fate. He is hungry every. From his life that I can know my life is happily. He is younger than me, but his sprit and heart are bigger than me. I should treasure my life, I should study to him.

plot3

Bumble the beadle has married the matron of the workhouse, Mrs. Corney. The former Mrs. Corney, attending the death of Old Sally, has taken the locket and ring that Sally had taken from Oliver's mother on her deathbed. Monks buys this locket and ring from the Bumbles hoping that in destroying it that Oliver's true identity will remain hidden.Mr. Brownlow and Rose Maylie meet Nancy on London Bridge and she tells them where to find Monks. Fagin has had Nancy followed and, enraged, tells Sikes that Nancy has betrayed them. Sikes brutally murders Nancy and flees to the country.Monks is taken by Mr. Brownlow. Fagin is captured and sentenced to be hung. Sikes, with a mob on his tail, accidentally hangs himself trying to escape. The Bumbles are relieved of their position at the workhouse, become paupers, and are now inmates at the same workhouse they once managed.Oliver is revealed to be the illegitimate son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming. Leeford has fathered the evil Edward (Monks) through a failed former marriage. After seducing Agnes, Edwin dies, leaving a will which states that the unborn child will inherit his estate if "in his minority he should never have stained his name with any public act of dishonor, meanness, cowardice, or wrong" in the event of which all would go to Edward (Monks), hence Monk's attempt to corrupt Oliver via Fagin.Monks is given half of Oliver's inheritance by Mr. Brownlow, who had been a friend of Edwin Leeford, in the hope that he will start a new life. Monks flees to America where he quickly squanders his portion and dies in prison. Rose Maylie is revealed to be the sister of Agnes Fleming who is adopted by the Maylies after her parents die, therefore Rose is Oliver's aunt.

plot2

On the outskirts on the city Oliver, tired and hungry, meets Jack Dawkins who offers a place to stay in London. Thus Oliver is thrown together with the band of thieves run by the sinister Fagin. Oliver innocently goes "to work" with Dawkins, also known as the Artful Dodger, and Charlie Bates, another of Fagin's boys, and witnesses the real business when Dawkins picks the pocket of a gentleman. When the gentleman, Mr. Brownlow, discovers the robbery in progress Oliver is mistaken for the culprit and, after a chase, is captured and taken to the police. Oliver, injured in the chase, is cleared by a witness to the crime and is taken by the kindly Brownlow to his home to recuperate.Oliver is kindly treated at the Brownlow home and, after a period of recuperation, is sent on an errand by Mr Brownlow to pay a local merchant 5 pounds and to return some books. On carrying out this charge Oliver is captured by Nancy and Bill Sikes and returned to Fagin's den of thieves.Mr Brownlow, thinking that Oliver has run away with his money concludes that Oliver was a thief all along. This assumption is further strengthened when Bumble the beadle, answering an ad in the paper, placed by Brownlow, for information concerning Oliver, gives a disparaging opinion of Oliver. Oliver is forced by Fagin to accompany Sikes in an attempted robbery, needing a small boy to enter a window and open the door for the housebreakers. The robbery is foiled when the house is alarmed and, in the ensuing confusion, Oliver is shot.Oliver is nursed back to health at the home of the Maylies, the house Sikes was attempting to burglarize. Oliver imparts his story to the Maylies and Doctor Losberne.The mysterious Monks, revealed to be Oliver's half brother, teams up with Fagin in an attempt to recapture Oliver and lead him into a life of crime thereby negating the unknowing Oliver's claim to his rightful inheritance which would then go to Monks.Sike's woman, Nancy, having compassion for Oliver, overhears Fagin and Monk's plan and tells Rose Maylie in the hope of thwarting the plan. Rose recruits Mr. Brownlow, Dr. Losberne, and others.

plot1

An infant is born of a dying mother in a parish workhouse Old Sally, attending the birth and death, takes from the dying woman a locket and ring. Bumble, the beadle, names the boy Oliver Twist. Oliver is sent to an infant farm, run by Mrs Mann, until he is 9 years old, at which time he is returned to the workhouse.The orphans at the workhouse are starving due to callous mistreatment and cast lots to decide who among them will ask for more gruel on behalf of the group and Oliver is chosen. At supper that evening, after the normal allotment, Oliver advances to the master and asks for more.Oliver is branded a troublemaker and is offered as an apprentice to anyone willing to take him. After narrowly escaping being bound to a chimney sweep, a very dangerous business where small boys are routinely smothered being lowered into chimneys, Oliver is apprenticed to the undertaker, Sowerberry.Oliver fights with Noah Claypole, another of the undertaker's boys, after Noah mocks Oliver's dead mother. After being unjustly beaten for this offence, Oliver escapes the undertaker's and runs away to London.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born on Friday, February 7, 1812 at No. 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport, Portsmouth. His father, John Dickens, was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. In 1814 John was transferred to Somerset House in London. In 1817 John moved his family to Chatham and worked in the naval dockyard. It was here, at Chatham in the Medway Valley, that Charles experienced his happiest childhood memories. John was transferred back to the London office and moved his family to Camden Town in 1822.John Dickens, continually living beyond his means, was imprisoned for debt at the Marshalsea debtor's prison in Southwark in 1824. 12 year old Charles was removed from school and sent to work at a boot-blacking factory earning six shillings a week to help support the family. Charles considered this period to be the most terrible time in his life and would later write that he wondered 'how I could have been so easily cast away at such an age'.This childhood poverty and feelings of abandonment, although unknown to his readers until after his death, would be a heavy influence on Dickens' later views on social reform and the world he would create through his fiction.Dickens would go on to write 15 major novels and countless short stories and articles before his death on June 9, 1870. The inscription on his tombstone in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey reads: "He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world".

Oliver Twist

One of Dickens most popular stories is Oliver Twist, an early work published 1837-8. Like many of his later novels, its central theme is the hardship faced by the dispossessed and those of the outside of tolite society. Oliver himself is born in a workhouse and treated cruelly there as was the norm at the time for pauper children, in particular by Bumble, a parish council official or eadle The story follows Oliver as he escapes the workhouse and runs away to London. Here he receives an education in villainy from the criminal gang of Fagin that includes the brutal thief Bill Sikes, the famous artful Dodger and Nancy, Bill whore. Oliver is rescued by the intervention of a benefactor "Mr Brownlow " but the mysterious Monks gets the gang to kidnap the boy again. Nancy intervenes but is murdered viciously by Sikes after she has showed some redeeming qualities and has discovered Monk sinister intention. The story closes happily and with justice for Bumble and the cruel Monks who has hidden the truth of Oliver parentage out of malice. Accusations were made that the book glamorised crime (like the ewgate Group of the period) but Dickens wisely disassociated himself from criminal romances. His achievement was in fact in presenting the underworld and problems of poverty to the well-off in a way rarely attempted previously.