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Oliver Twist
A problem that Dickens' narrator speaks of from early on in the novel is the way the poor are set apart and stigmatized. Oliver is a perfectly ordinary baby and child, but once he is dressed in the...
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Oliver Twist
The leader of the criminal band Oliver falls in with is called Fagin. Often referred to as "the Jew" (revealing Dickens's rampant antisemitism, which was indicative of Victorian society as a...
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Oliver Twist
While not precisely autobiographical, Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist does have certain elements that are based on Dickens’s own life. In the book, and like Dickens himself, Oliver spends part of...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver has walked all the way to London to escape from Mr. Sowerberry's funeral parlor, where he'd previously been living and working. Oliver seeks a better life in the capital after all the many...
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Oliver Twist
The story is narrated in third person omniscient from Oliver's perspective. Third person point of view is a type of narration that follows a character without that character directly telling the...
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Oliver Twist
Dickens says that Jack Dawkins is a commonplace-looking, very grubby boy, but he has "all the airs and manners of a man." He is short and bow-legged, about four feet six inches tall, and has sharp,...
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Oliver Twist
Dickens is in a class by himself. This is a truism, but it is relevant to your question because Oliver Twist is both unique and representative within the context of its time: the early Victorian...
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Oliver Twist
As the book opens, the narrator offers the circumstances of Oliver’s birth in the workhouse. The birth is attended by a “parish surgeon,” who comes to the workhouse as contracted on a case by case...
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Oliver Twist
At Mrs. Maylie's house, where Oliver Twist is left with a broken arm by his gang of thieves, Mr. Giles has the double function of being the butler and the steward, a position that gives him higher...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is a bildungsroman, also known as a coming of age novel. Dickens uses a variety of styles in this book in order to stimulate a variety of emotions and reactions from...
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Oliver Twist
In chapter 22, "The Burglary," of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, Bill Sikes, Toby Crackit, and Oliver Twist are making their way in the oppressive darkness and heavy fog to the house at Chertsey,...
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Oliver Twist
One of the most significant events in Oliver Twist is the death of Nancy. At first, Nancy seems like a hopeless criminal. She is a thief and heavily hinted to be a prostitute. She helps Fagin and...
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Oliver Twist
Much to the consternation of his Jewish friends and admirers, Dickens originally referred to Fagin as "The Jew" more often than he referred to him by his name. Thankfully, Dickens heard their...
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Oliver Twist
In the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, Toby Crackit, nicknamed "Flash" for his flamboyant demeanor, is a burglary partner of Bill Sikes who helped plan the attempted robbery of the Maylie...
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Oliver Twist
The nurse is a drunken old woman who lives in the workhouse because she is impoverished. She is pressed into service as a nurse in return for an extra allowance of beer. She is described as rather...
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Oliver Twist
In chapter 9 of Oliver Twist, "Containing Further Particulars Concerning The Pleasant Old Gentleman, And His Hopeful Pupils," Oliver is lying in his bed of old sacks on the dirty floor, half-awake...
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Oliver Twist
Noah Claypole is Mr. Sowerberry's apprentice at his funeral business. Having come from a humble background, he's fiercely ambitious and harbors hopes of one day rising further with the firm. When...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist is what's known as a progress. In fact, the subtitle was "A Parish Boy's Progress" originally. In a progress, the main character does not take action directly. In short, he does not...
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Oliver Twist
Did you look for them on eNotes? Visit the links below.
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Oliver Twist
Noah Claypole's idea of class structure is extremely specialized. For him, there is not merely the upper class, middle class, and lower class. Even within the lower class, there is a hierarchy....
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Oliver Twist
Early in Dickens's novel, a "gentleman in a white waistcoat" makes the judgment that the boy Oliver will undoubtedly "be hung" one day, an opinion which nobody seeks to correct. Dickens suggests...
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Oliver Twist
The short answer is, marry him. Chapters 23 and 27 of Oliver Twist are concerned with the courtship of Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Corney. It is a very brief courtship and many things remain unspoken. When...
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Oliver Twist
Fagin forces Oliver to help the gang with a burglary. Sikes pushes Oliver through a small window and tells him to unlock the door. Once inside, however, Oliver tries to alert the family—only to be...
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Oliver Twist
Dickens's classic novel Oliver Twist about a small boy whose tragic life does not end in tragedy is forever inspiring as it provides reader the promise that man is essentially good at heart. This...
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Oliver Twist
Dickens is able to engage the reader in the first chapter of Oliver Twist through the depiction of difficulty and struggle that define the protagonist's life. The dominant element in the first...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist’s mother dies almost immediately after he is born. In chapter 1 of the novel, the narrator describes how Oliver struggles to breathe for the first few moments of his life. The reader...
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Oliver Twist
In Oliver Twist, Fagin and the boys play a pickpocket game. Fagin walks about with items in his pockets, and the object of the game was for the boys to take things out of his pocket without him...
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Oliver Twist
What makes Mr. Bumble miserable is his marriage. This parochial beadle might like to lord it over the half-starved waifs in his "care" at the workhouse, but at home, it's his wife who's firmly in...
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Oliver Twist
In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens introduces a young pickpocket named Jack Dawkins who most people refer to him as "the Artful Dodger" The nickname describes his skill at his trade: his mind is...
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Oliver Twist
As soon as the Artful Dodger lays eyes on Oliver, he knows that he'd be perfect for Fagin's gang of thieves and pickpockets. For one thing, it's patently obvious that he's new in town and doesn't...
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Oliver Twist
In Chapter 13 of Oliver Twist, Fagin is very much troubled by Oliver's separation from the thieves. This separation occurrs in Chapter 10, when Oliver picks the pocket of a "very...
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Oliver Twist
In the middle of Dickens' novel, the exploited Oliver Twist is taken by the brutal Sikes on a long trip outside London. Poor Oliver does not understand the purpose of this trip, but when they cross...
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Oliver Twist
Interestingly, Dickens intentionally created Oliver as a character who is not influenced by anything. Throughout the book, Oliver is "tempted" by various characters, who try to teach him how to...
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Oliver Twist
When Oliver Twist is born at the workhouse, it is time for the O's in the naming of newborns, so "Oliver" is chosen by Mr. Bumble, the beadle, who is responsible for the naming of the children in...
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Oliver Twist
This is one of the most famous scenes in the novel when Oliver Twist dares to say, "Please, sir, I want some more," in reference to more of the dreadful gruel the boys are served. Dickens...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver's behavior and hints about his parentage tell us that he has an aristocratic heritage. Foreshadowing is a hint that an author gives the reader at later events in a book. Authors use it to...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver was taken to Fagin’s den in London. Oliver actually gets taken a lot of places throughout the book. He is taken from the workhouse to the undertaker, where he is supposed to be apprenticed....
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Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist was one of Dickens’s earliest works. What makes it unique is that it is a progress. A progress is a story where the main character does not change. He goes through his journey...
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Oliver Twist
What a fascinating question! These are two very interesting texts to compare and contrast. If I were you and I had to compare them, I would try to approach it from the vantage point of looking at...
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Oliver Twist
Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist were both poor orphans. As a young boy, Oliver was orphaned and sent to live with a wet nurse named Mrs. Mann. When he was still a boy, he was sent to live at a dirty...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver is first convicted and committed to three months hard labor, but is then discharged so he does not go to jail. When Oliver is arrested for stealing Mr. Brownlow’s handkerchief, no one...
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Oliver Twist
There are two prominent depictions of marriage that Dickens draws in Oliver Twist The first is that marriage is necessary between young people who act so as to bring a baby into the world. This is...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver’s mother had a locket and a wedding ring, which Sally stole and Mr. Bumble’s wife took. Oliver's mother barely made it to the workhouse before she died shortly after giving birth to him....
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Oliver Twist
Fagin and Monks, a villainous man, meet in Chapter XXXIX, after Monks has a meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Bumble after the death of old Sally, who, on her deathbed reveals the identity of Oliver's...
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Oliver Twist
The primary reason that Oliver asks for more gruel (which is similar to oatmeal) is because he is hungry. The board members of the workhouse where Oliver lives meet and decide that "the poor people...
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Oliver Twist
One of the major themes in Oliver Twist is the hypocrisy of the Poor Law of 1834 which existed at the time. The government decided that poor people could only receive charity if they voluntarily...
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Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist is the protagonist, and Fagin is the villain. People seem to be affected by Oliver in that he brings out the best in them. Oliver is a virtuous and innocent young boy. Fagin tries...
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Oliver Twist
A good place to start if you are having to come up with a thesis on a novel is thinking through the themes that are presented through the action, plot and characters and then using one of those...
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Oliver Twist
The judgment upon whether Oliver Twist would have been better off under the employment of Mr. Sowerberry or that of Fagin is qualitative, and, as such, dependent upon the reader's interpretation...
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Oliver Twist
You can read a more detailed plot summary in my link below. Enotes is excellent for that. So instead of summarizing I will discuss, as you ask in your question. First of all, the storyline is...
