Oliver Twist is a criticism of the society in which Charles Dickens lived. The book directly criticized the Poor Laws and attempted to inspire middle- and upper-class readers to improve the intolerable conditions in which Dickens himself had grown up. Through the novel's unforgettable characters, Dickens humanized a marginalized social class, shedding light on the dark nature of their lives. In his descriptions of London's workhouses and slums, Dickens forced his readers to recognize the sordid living conditions of the poor. Finally, Dickens uses the plot of Oliver Twist to reveal the flaws of a system that kept the poor trapped in a seemingly permanent state of squalor. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayCharles Dickens learned about the dark and difficult lives of the poor through his childhood experience. This experiential knowledge put him in the perfect position to become an advocate for the poor years later through Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and other well-known novels. According to the article “Bentham, Dickens, and the Uses of the Workhouse,” the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 attempted to make poverty alleviation entirely dependent on living in a workhouse, thus distinguishing among the more worthy poor who they were willing to work and the poor were more deserving and willing to work. lazier and more undeserving people (Stokes 711). Unfortunately, those who worked in factories and workhouses also lived in very difficult conditions. The preface to the Norton Critical Edition of Oliver Twist notes that "The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834... like much of 'welfare reform,' made the living conditions of the poor worse than they had ever been and made them even more difficult for the working poor". to obtain assistance” (Kaplan vi). Workhouses were deliberately made quite miserable by employing workhouse masters to treat workers very harshly. The Dickens family was in such a desperate situation that young Charles became a victim of child labor at the age of twelve. The long, arduous days he spent in the workhouse while his father was in a debtor's prison left a lasting impression on Dickens that haunted him throughout his adult life and served as inspiration for his efforts towards reforms of conditions of Work. Peter Stokes says, "In protest against the law, Dickens published Oliver Twist..." (711). While the misfortune of being poor was often considered a natural and immutable position, Dickens believed that poverty need not be permanent. Thus “Oliver Twist is the first and perhaps most powerful work of fiction that attempts to bring to the attention of those who read these books the misery that everyday life represents for large numbers of people caught up in generational cycles of poverty and desperation and in the selfishness and stupidity of the government and its agencies” (Kaplan iv). By weaving together fact and fiction in Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens creates a masterpiece novel that combines a compelling story with an effective social and political agenda. One of the most notable traits of Oliver Twist is the way Dickens models stereotypical members of the lower classes. social classes in authentic and sensitive people. Orphans, prostitutes and young delinquents make up some of the most important characters in Oliver Twist. The article “Social and Political Issues” states that “Throughout his fiction, there was purpose in his portrayals of the poor” (Engel 495). George Gissing states that Oliver Twist had two moral purposes: the first was to expose the injustice of the Poor Law Act, and the second to portrayaccurately the life of thieves in London. These two views went hand in hand for Dickens, who believed that the high crime rate was a direct result of the poor law system (421). Although the social outcasts of Oliver Twist are not all presented in glamorous ways, Dickens gives these characters a level of humanity that makes them unforgettable. Oliver, the protagonist of Oliver Twist, is the most constant and unchanging character of anyone in the story. He is implacably pure of heart and virtually immune to the influences of his surroundings. With such a strong and unyielding spirit, it is interesting that Oliver is an orphan, the bane of society. When Oliver's mother dies minutes after his birth, he "was given a badge and a ticket, and fell straight into his place: a parish child, the orphan of a workhouse, the humble half-starved laborer, to be handcuffed and tossed around the world. — despised by all and pitied by none” (Dickens 19). As a child with little control over his destiny, Oliver is at the mercy of those around him, "like an object that is picked up, handled, and put into place rather than an individual in control of his own movements" (Duffy 405). The unfortunate circumstances of Oliver's life make him completely pitiful. When we meet Oliver in chapter two, he is nine years old, raised without the affection of a mother or any other form of family. He longs for connections with others, as Dickens reveals Oliver's thoughts on leaving for another workhouse: “Wretched as were the little companions of misery he left behind, they were the only friends he ever knew; and for the first time the sense of his solitude in the wide world entered his heart” (Dickens 24). Throughout the novel, the forces of good and evil seem to fight for Oliver's fate, but "what threatens Oliver seems more powerful and real than what saves him" (Kaplan iv). For example, it is certainly a lucky chance that Oliver meets Mr. Brownlow, a meeting that sets in motion the discovery of Oliver's true identity. However, whatever rare goodwill Oliver receives from kind strangers is tirelessly challenged by the plans of Fagin, Sikes and Monks, who are determined to prevent Oliver from living a better life than that of a common criminal. By creating Oliver, the hero of the story, as an orphan, Dickens insisted that his readers consider the miserable lives these children had to endure. A minor orphan character is little Dick, Oliver's closest friend. Although he plays a very small role in the story, his character serves to strike another blow against the idea of ​​orphans as an inconvenient plague on society. In his parting words to Oliver, Dick states that he will not be happy before his own death takes him to a better place. She states, “I dream so much about heaven and angels; and kind faces that I never see when I am awake” (Dickens 59). The relationship between Dick and Oliver is perhaps the purest and most beautiful depiction of love in the entire story as two young boys who have never been shown love still love each other. Oliver remembers Dick's blessing upon him throughout his life, and Dick's dying wish is to let Oliver know that "I was glad to die when I was very young because, perhaps, if I had lived to to be a man, and if I had grown old, my little sister, who is in Heaven, might forget me or be different from me, and would be much happier if we were both children there together” (121). prominently in the novel, Dick makes the reader understand that this orphan is the victim of a very unfortunate hand of fate, and was a better child than his world deserved While the choice of aorphan as hero of The story may be unconventional, but even more surprising is the secondary character Nancy, the ruined lover of the despicable Bill Sikes. She is described as having a "free and pleasant manner" (Dickens 70) and a rather unkempt appearance, which indirectly identifies her as a prostitute. According to Robert R. Garnett, “Prostitution thrived in the growing cities of Britain… offering a squalid, mean glamor of life” (497) and was one of the few ways a destitute young woman could earn a living. From Nancy's words we learn that she was once one of Fagin's subjects, trained in the art of earning a living on the streets. Nancy exclaims to Fagin “It's my life; and the dirty, cold, damp streets are my home; and you are the wretch who brought me to them long ago; and that will keep me there, day and night, day and night, until I die” (Dickens 116). In the same way that Oliver mildly regrets leaving behind the brats who had been his friends at the workhouse, Nancy is unable to walk away from her life of crime and abuse, even when she recognizes the depravity of her position. Nancy realizes that, "as vile as those plans were, as desperate as their originators were, and as bitter as were her feelings towards the Jew, who had led her, step by step, deeper and deeper into an abyss of crime and misery, where it was born." no escape route; however there were moments in which, even towards himself, he felt a certain yielding... but these were simple wanderings of a mind incapable of completely detaching itself from old companions and associations... he had refused a refuge from all the guilt and misery that surrounded her" (296). Regardless of Nancy's associations, profession, or past actions, she becomes relatable and sympathetic in her utter inability to free herself from the only life she has ever known. More importantly, Nancy becomes the savior of Oliver is the heroine of the novel, when she sacrifices her life so that Oliver can have a better one. William Makepeace Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair, once said of Nancy: "No one read that extraordinary story of Oliver Twist without being interested in poor Nancy. and to her murderer" (Thackeray 408). Richard Ford also asks the question what kind of woman Nancy might have been, had she been born into better circumstances (Ford 407). Thackeray and Ford's words are a testament to Dickens' success in making the character of Nancy a woman with a name and a heart, rather than just another hated prostitute, prowling the dirty streets of London. Oliver Twist's London is not the big city where royalty lives and progress thrives as in other stories. It is dark and disturbing, a breeding ground for scum and evil. Young Oliver, who has been in and around horrible places all his life, reflects: “A dirtier, more miserable place than he had ever seen. The road was very narrow and muddy, and the air was filled with dirty odors” (Dickens 64). This is the kind of place no respectable person would ever want to be seen in, yet these same people had no qualms about hiding those they were ashamed of in such an environment. One would expect characters like Fagin and Sikes to make an appearance in such a place and feel at home. Dickens's talented command of the English language allowed him to vividly portray the nastiness of London's roughest areas. His descriptions of what Oliver sees conjure up images of vermin rather than people: “Children…crawled in and out of doors or screamed from within…the lower orders of the Irish were arguing mightily and mightily. .. where men andDrunken women were downright wallowing in filth” (Dickens 64). The novel, like public opinion, initially implies that Oliver simply wanders into a bad part of town, but Dickens masterfully notes later in the novel that “midnight had come upon the crowded city. The palace, the night cellar, the prison, the asylum: the rooms of birth and death, of health and illness: the rigid face of the corpse and the calm sleep of the child: midnight loomed over everyone" (305). By portraying London in this way, Dickens discreetly states that for villains like Fagin or gentlemen like Brownlow, London is still essentially a place, perceived inaccurately if the mansions and great houses are not depicted alongside the slums and bars. Dickens understood that London as a whole included the least desirable areas with the most fashionable parts of the city. Likewise, humanity is made up of both rich and poor, kind and treacherous, but unwanted alienating company only neglects the problem instead of solving it. Dickens's description of London's slums forced his readers to recognize conditions they had overlooked right under their noses. London's conditions that bred crime and wickedness were under attack in Oliver Twist, but Dickens took his criticism far beyond the confines of London. In Oliver's judgment, London was certainly the most horrible place he had ever seen, but it was not the only questionable place Oliver had resided. Soon Oliver will be transferred from the workhouse where he was born to a branch workhouse where “twenty or thirty juvenile delinquents against the Poor Laws rolled on the floor all day, without the inconvenience of too much food or too little clothing.” (20). Mortality rates in the workhouses were appalling, and Dickens revealed the atrocious neglect that orphans suffered at the hands of church trustees and overseers in chapter two: food, in eight and a half cases out of ten it perversely happened that fell ill from hunger and cold, or fell into a fire through negligence, or was half suffocated by mistake... or inadvertently died of burns when it happened to be a piece of laundry" (20). The horrors of Oliver's early life are probably drawn from Dickens's memories of the workhouse. Steven Marcus writes that in Oliver Twist, “Dickens returned to his earliest and most intense representations of the crisis of his youth…” (Marcus 494). Dickens's memories of the workhouse were particularly sensitive to him, and his interest in the poor from then on was fervent and constant (Engel 495). The young Charles was traumatized by his time in the workhouse, but an older and wiser Dickens used his experience as a tool to expose the terror that children endured in such places. In the complex plot of Oliver Twist, a reader cannot deny the discrimination practiced against Oliver at all times based solely on his position as an orphan. From the moment Oliver is born and promptly labeled an orphan, the author recognizes that the newborn had good reason to cry loudly over his situation. No matter what kind of effort Oliver makes or what misunderstanding he finds himself in the middle of, the people who manage his future seem determined to keep the scoundrel in his rightful place and to teach him to be grateful for their generosity in sending him to a hospice where he had food and shelter. Such employment would ensure that the little brat who had the courage to impose his existence on the world would remain in his place forever, largely convincing the council of his liberality and relieving it of any further responsibility for the child. a helpless Oliver from the beginning of the novel reflects the absoluteinsensitivity to the plight of the poor. When Oliver is questioned by the council, one member condescendingly asks Oliver to state that he has no father or mother. The admission of the fact combined with the intimidation of the whole affair causes Oliver to burst into tears, prompting the gentleman to ask in disbelief, "What are you crying about?" (Dickens 25). Although the men in charge of Oliver's future at least have enough sense not to entrust it to the chimney sweep Mr. Gamfield, it took the deaths of three or four other boys for them to come to the conclusion that Oliver needs another form of Work. None of their plans for the boy include any kind of decent education or the minimum level of education, which would further seal his place in the lower class. The point that Dickens seems to make in the early chapters of the novel is that Oliver's chances of surviving the often fatal professions for which the council or the janitor allocate him are relatively low. The determination towards him certainly also increases the probability that he will die young; the gentleman with the white waistcoat declares that Oliver will be hanged for his serious crime of having asked for more food. But the powers that be do not express any real concern because for them it would be one less mouth to feed, and in the event of the child's death they can console themselves by thinking that they tried to help him by giving him a job. the men on the council, the cranky old women who run the workhouses or the janitor who treats Oliver with such contempt. When Oliver is accused of stealing a handkerchief and is chased, one of the passers-by declares, in response to the cry to give him some air, that he doesn't deserve it (74). Shortly thereafter, the magistrate easily believes that Oliver is the perpetrator, but is reluctant to allow Mr. Brownlow to doubt Oliver's guilt. When Oliver finally encounters Mr. Brownlow's kindness, Brownlow's friend Mr. Grimwig has a strong opinion against Oliver on no particular basis, and immediately accuses Oliver of leaving orange peels on the street with the express intent to cause someone's death (100). With some effort, "Grimwig was strongly willing to admit that Oliver's appearance and manner were unusually attractive, but he had a strong appetite for contradiction" (101), insisting that, appearances aside, Oliver could not be completely blameless. He claims that “the boy has a new suit on his shoulders; a series of precious books under his arm; and a five pound note in his pocket. He will join his old friends, the thieves; and laugh at you” (103). When circumstances prevent Oliver from returning, Grimwig immediately assumes the worst. Throughout the novel, Oliver never acts maliciously towards anyone, except when excessively provoked, and never shows signs of rebellion, wickedness, or malice. In contrast, despite Oliver's constant immersion in a culture of deception and lies, “thrust as he is into this wretched crowd, he is preserved from the vice of its pollution” (Forster 401). Oliver proves several times to be a good and compliant boy, but the general prejudice against him as an orphan complicates his every attempt to escape his status. In the plot of Oliver Twist, Dickens accurately and poignantly reveals that the barrier between the poor rising above their circumstances is the ruthless nature of their fellow men who esteem themselves higher than others. Through Oliver Twist Dickens was able to communicate the difficulties that accompany a life of poverty and tactfully highlight society's flawed worldview that materially damaged any hope of true social reform. Dickens says of his motivations in the article by,.