Oliver Twist

"OLIVER TWIST" BY CHARLES DICKENS

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Characters

Nancy

Oliver Twist

Member of Fagin's gang and his mistress. Seventeen years old girl who stands up for Oliver and protects him.

First child protagonist in an English novel.Story through his eyes. Orphan raised in a workhouse 9 to 12 years old, good-hearted, sweet, caring and innocent.

Rose Maylie

Fagin

Seventeen years old orphan adopted with Oliver and takes care of him.She's actually Oliver's aunt. Has been seriously ill and got married with Harry in the end.

"The bad guy". Leader of a gang boy of boy thieves. Tries to turn Oliver Twist in thief. Kids pick pocket for him.

Mr. Brownlow

Bill Sykes

Suspected Oliver of stealing his handkerchief.Takes Oliver home and takes care of him. Helped Oliver to free from Fagin's plot and adopts him.

A stoutly-built man in his thirties raised under the supervision of Fagin. Highly professional housebreaker and thief. Murder of Nancy on his coscience.

Plot

Oliver is a orphan. When he is nine, he is taken to the workhouse in which he was born, he lives a miserable life and receives no education. He runs away and meets a young pickpocket on the road. Oliver thinks he has found a friend and follows him to London, where he is introduced to other 'friends' that turn out to be a gang of young criminals led by Fagin, an old Jew. The thieves force Oliver to help them in their criminal activities.

Oliver is rescued by Mr Brownlow, a benevolent gentleman, but some members of the gang kidnap the boy. After many incidents the gang is caught by the police and Oliver is discovered to be a relation of Mr Brownlow's. He has finally found a family.

Features and Style

• Dickens's novel are full of Pathos, Sentimentality and Melodrama.

• In Oliver Twist he uses irony to satirize the various institution.

• Dickens underlines problems of the society in which he lives.

• The main characters in his works are usually children.

• His novel begins in a negative way that rises to a happy ending.

IDENTITY This novel is all about mistaken identities, which is the main element of the modern society.

INNOCENCE IN A CORRUPTED SOCIETY Dickens questions whether the terrible environments has the power to “blacken the soul and change it forever.” By analysing the fates of his characters, we can assume that his answer is no.

THE COUNTRYSIDE Dickens believes that people can find comfort with utopic memories of the countryside, they have the potential to purify our thoughts and delete all the negatives of the city.

Themes

THE FOCUS ON INDIVIDUALISM Especially because of the context with the rise of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution.

Dickens and Verga

• They both lived in the 19th century and were very influent.

• In their works they talk about the society of their time reflecting the reality of the working class that lived in poor and miserable conditions.

• Oliver Twist and Rosso Malpelo have some characteristics in common: they're orphan childrens who challenge the difficulties of their lives.

• As writers, they had a different attitude towards reality: Verga uses an impersonal and objective view, while Dickens uses irony to denounce the social issues.

fine!

Realizzato da: Cuomo Giulia, Carleo Ilaria, Di Marino Marianna, Venosi Maria, Onesti Veronica, Tudorache Andra.

VBL a.s. 2023/2024