"Oliver Twist" Synopsis

Plot summary

Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse in an unnamed town within 75 miles north of London. Orphaned almost from his first breath by his mother’s death in childbirth and his father’s unexplained absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law, and spends the first eight 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 (the same one where his mother worked before she died). Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months, until the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser 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, while eating a meal fit for a king, are outraged by Oliver's 'ingratitude'. Wanting to be rid of this troublemaker, they offer five pounds sterling 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. He treats Oliver better, and, because of the boy's sorrowful countenance, uses him as a mute, or mourner, at children's funerals. However, Mr. Sowerberry is in an unhappy marriage, and his wife takes an immediate dislike to Oliver – primarily because her husband seems to like him – and loses few opportunities to underfeed and mistreat him. He also suffers torment at the hands of Noah Claypole, an oafish but bullying fellow apprentice who is jealous of Oliver's promotion to mute, and Charlotte, the Sowerberry's maidservant, who is in love with Noah.

One day, in an attempt to bait Oliver, Noah insults the orphan’s late mother, calling her "a regular right-down bad 'un". Oliver flies into an unexpected passion, attacking and even besting the much bigger boy. Mrs. Sowerberry takes Noah's side, helps him subdue Oliver, punches and beats Oliver, and later compels her husband and Mr. Bumble, who has been sent for in the aftermath of the fight, into beating Oliver again. Once Oliver is sent to his room for the night, he does something that he hadn't done since babyhood - breaks down and weeps. Alone that night, Oliver finally decides to run away. He wanders aimlessly for a time, until a well-placed milestone sets his wandering feet towards London.

During his journey to London, Oliver encounters one Jack Dawkins, who is also affectionately known as the Artful Dodger, although young Oliver is oblivious to this hint that the boy may be dishonest. Dodger provides Oliver with a free meal and tells him of a gentleman in London who will "give him lodgings for nothing, and never ask for change". Grateful for the unexpected assistance, Oliver follows Dodger to the gentleman’s residence. In this way, Oliver unwittingly falls in with an infamous Jewish criminal known as Fagin, the "old gentleman" of whom the Artful Dodger spoke. Ensnared, Oliver lives with Fagin and his criminal associates in their lair at Saffron Hill for some time, naively unaware of their criminal occupations. He believes they make wallets and handkerchiefs.

Later, Oliver innocently goes out to "make handkerchiefs" because of no income coming in, with two of Fagin’s underlings: The Artful Dodger and a boy of a humorous nature named Charley Bates. Oliver realises too late that their real mission is to pick pockets. Dodger and Charlie steal the wallet of an old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow, and promptly flee. When he finds his wallet missing, Mr. Brownlow turns round, sees Oliver, and pursues him. Others join the chase and Oliver is caught and taken before the magistrate. Curiously, Mr. Brownlow has second thoughts about the boy- he seems reluctant to believe he is a pickpocket. To the judge's evident disappointment, a bookstall holder who saw Dodger commit the crime clears Oliver, who, by now actually ill, faints in the courtroom. Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver home and, along with his housekeeper Mrs. Bedwin, 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, decides that Oliver must be brought back to his hideout. When Mr. Brownlow sends Oliver out to pay for some books, one of the gang, a young girl named Nancy – albeit reluctantly – accosts him with help from her abusive lover, a brutal robber named Bill Sikes, and Oliver is quickly bundled back to Fagin's lair. The thieves take the five pound note Mr. Brownlow had entrusted to him, and strip him of his fine new clothes. Oliver, dismayed, flees and attempts to call for police assistance, but is ruthlessly dragged back by the Dodger, Charlie and Fagin. Nancy, however, is sympathetic towards Oliver and saves him from beatings by Fagin and Sikes.

Meanwhile, a mysterious man named Monks has found Fagin and is plotting with him to destroy Oliver's reputation. Nancy, by this time 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 Mr. Sowerberry, stolen money from him and moved to London together with his girlfriend Charlotte 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, convicted (in a very humorous courtroom scene) 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 across a rooftop from an angry mob.

Fagin in his cell.

Monks is forced by Mr. Brownlow (an old friend of Oliver's father) to divulge his secrets: his real name is Edward Leeford, and 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. Mr. Brownlow has a picture of her, and began making inquiries when he noticed a marked resemblance between her face, and the face of Oliver. Monks has spent many years searching for his father's 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 and friend to Oliver; The Bumbles lose their jobs (under circumstances that cause him to utter the well-known line "The Law is a Ass") and are reduced to great poverty, eventually ending up in the same workhouse where they once lorded it over Oliver and the other boys; and Charley Bates, horrified by Sikes' murder of Nancy, becomes an honest citizen, moves to the country, and works his way up to prosperity. This novel is loved by people around the world, while the book itself is now translated into more than 25 languages.

Introduction

Dickens describe the effects of industrialism on 19th-century England, and to criticise the harsh new Poor Laws. Oliver, an innocent child, is trapped in a world where his only alternatives seem to be the workhouse. 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 – he leaves London for a peaceful life in the country, surrounded by kind friends. On the way to this happy ending, Dickens explores the kind of life an orphan, outcast boy could expect to lead in the London of the 1830s.

Poverty and social class

Poverty is a prominent concern in Oliver Twist. Throughout the novel, describing slums so decrepit that whole rows of houses are on the point of collapse, and people so downtrodden that they seem scarcely human. The deceased, a young mother, has died of starvation despite her husband's desperate efforts to beg for her on the streets. The surviving adults are horrible in their wretchedness: the husband frightens Oliver with his frenzied grief, while the dead woman's haglike mother chuckles at the irony of outliving her own child, then whines for a warm cloak to wear to the funeral.

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—a commodious country house.

Symbolism

The many obstacles Oliver faces symbolises the concept of good versus evil, with the evil continually trying to corrupt and exploit the good, but the good winning out in the end. The "merry old gentleman" Fagin, for example, has satanic characteristics: he is a veteran corrupter of young boys who presides over his own corner of the underworld; he makes his first appearance standing over a fire holding a toasting-fork; and he refuses to pray on the night before his execution.

Food is another important symbol; "Oliver Twist has asked for more!" indicates that the "more" Oliver hungers for is not just gruel.

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, when Rose gives Nancy her handkerchief, and when Nancy holds it up as she dies, it shows that by her acts, Nancy has gone over to the "good" side against the thieves.Her position on the ground is as if she is in prayer, and this shows her godly or good nature.

Setting

The story of Oliver Twist is a dark tale of corruption, degrading living conditions, and the terror of unanticipated violence. The novel takes place against a background that is by degrees appropriately sinister. Slime and filth seem inescapable. Even the elements conspire to accentuate the dismal atmosphere; the weather is often bitterly cold, and rain and fog are frequent.

Because criminals are thought to be creatures of the night, a large amount of significant action that takes place after dark. Sunlight rarely penetrates their gloomy world and even then perhaps only to mock—as on the morning that Nancy is killed. The only period of sustained brightness is during the summer months when Oliver stays with the Maylies at their rural cottage. Even then, black shadows are cast by Rose’s near-fatal illness and the chilling intrusion of Monks and Fagin.

The novel deals mainly with poverty and crime—the results of abandoning the rules and practices of social awareness and compassion. The criminal elements in the novel represent the outcasts of society who lurk inside crumbling ruins. These structures represent the tottering institutions that have helped to deform their lives. In Dickens’s descriptions, the words “neglect” and “decay” recur insistently. And it has been the neglect of human values that has fostered the spiritual decay that is so aptly reflected in the odious surroundings.

Theme

Oliver Twist is a novel teeming with many closely interrelated ideas. There is preoccupation with the miseries of poverty and the spread of its degrading effects through society. With poverty comes hunger, another theme that is raised throughout the book, along with Dickens’s notion that a misguided approach to the issues of poverty and homelessness brings many evils in its wake.

One of the worse consequences of poverty and being deprived of life’s essentials is crime, with all of its corrosive effects on human nature. Dickens gives a great deal of attention to the painful alienation from society suffered by the criminal, who may come to feel completely isolated as the fragile foundations of his own hostile world snap. Crime is bad enough in itself, Dickens seems to be saying. When crime is the result of poverty, it completely dehumanizes society.

On the positive side, Dickens places heavy value on the elevating influence of a wholesome environment. He emphasizes the power of benevolence to overcome depravity. And goodness—like criminal intent—may expect to earn its own suitable reward. Sound familiar? The Dickensian theme of virtue being its own reward has its roots in the novels and poems of chivalry and redemption, where the good prosper and the “wicked” are sent packing.

Style

Dickens’s style is marked by a kind of literary obesity that is displeasing to some modern tastes. But in this connection—as in all others—we need to look at Dickens from the standpoint of his contemporaries. This means judging his art in one instance as it was viewed by the audience he addressed, whose tastes and expectations were vastly different from our own. A tribute to the greatness of his work is that it can still be read with pleasure today in spite of some of its excesses.

In many ways, the pace of life was more unhurried and deliberate in the early-nineteenth century than it is now, so readers would have the time to savor Dickens’s rich use of language. In a period when people were thrown much on their own resources for diversion, without the intrusions of movies, radio, or television, they could enjoy a display of literary virtuosity for its own sake. The practice of reading aloud helped to bring out the novelist’s artistry. When Dickens read from his books, his audiences were entranced, so he must, at least unconsciously, have written with some thought for oral effect.

The conditions of publication undoubtedly were instrumental in shaping the writer’s technique. When he was faced with the challenge of holding his readers for over a year, he had to make his scenes unforgettable and his characters memorable. Only a vivid recollection could sustain interest for a month between chapters. Also, there was a need to cram each issue with abundant action to satisfy those who would re-read it while waiting impatiently for the next installment. What may seem excessively rich fare to those who can read the novel straight through without breaking may have only whetted the appetites of the original readers. The immediate popularity of Dickens’s works bears witness to the soundness of his literary judgment.

List of Characters

Oliver Twist—Son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming, an orphan boy born in a workhouse. He is a young boy who is very passionate and very kind hearted, but he is very naive. He does not yet know the dangers of the world.

Sally Thingummy—An old pauper woman who is an inmate of the workhouse and later dies there. She attends at Oliver’s birth, “rendered rather misty by an unwonted allowance of beer.”

Agnes Fleming—Oliver’s mother; the daughter of a retired naval officer. “She was found dying in the street . . . but where she came from, or where she was going to, nobody knows.”

Mrs. Mann—An elderly woman who conducts an infant farm (the then equivalent of a foster home). “A woman of wisdom and experience; she knew what was good for children,” so of the funds provided for their sustenance “she appropriated the greater part . . . to her own use.”

Mr. Bumble—The parish beadle (a minor church official); “a fat man, and a choleric (cranky show-off) [with] a great idea of his oratorical powers and his importance.” “He had a decided propensity for bullying: derived no inconsiderable pleasure from the exercise of petty cruelty; and, consequently, was (it is needless to say) a coward.”

Mr. Limbkins—Head of the parish board; “a particularly fat gentleman with a very round, red face.”

The Workhouse Master—”A fat, healthy man.”

Gamfield—A chimney sweep, “whose villainous countenance was a regular stamped receipt for cruelty.”

Mr. Sowerberry—An undertaker; “a tall, gaunt, large-jointed man,” in matrimonial disputes denominated “a brute, an unnatural husband, an insulting creature, a base imitation of a man.”

Mrs. Sowerberry—”A short, thin, squeezed-up woman, with a vixenish [literally, fox-like] countenance, [having] a good deal of taste in the undertaking way.”

Charlotte—The Sowerberry’s maidservant; a somewhat sloppy girl, she is “of a robust and hardy make.”

Noah Claypole—Charity boy employed by Sowerberry, he later joins Fagin’s gang under the name of Morris Bolter. “A large-headed, small-eyed youth of lumbering make and heavy countenance.”

Little Dick—Oliver’s companion on the infant farm, with whom he “had been beaten, and starved, and shut up.”

John (Jack) Dawkins—The Artful Dodger; Fagin’s most esteemed pupil. A pickpocket and thief, he is a dirty “snub-nosed, flat-browed, common-faced boy . . . short of his age; with rather bowlegs, and little, sharp, ugly eyes.”

Fagin—The master criminal; “a very old shriveled Jew, whose villainous-looking and repulsive face was obscured by a quantity of matted red hair.” Fagin, the mastermind among the criminals, is as ugly in appearance as he is repulsive in disposition

Charles Bates—One of Fagin’s gang; “a very sprightly” young boy given to uproarious laughter.

Betsy—Member of the Fagin gang. “Not exactly pretty, perhaps; but . . . looked quite stout and hearty.”

Nancy—Trusted and resourceful member of Fagin’s gang. Untidy and free in manner, but “there was something of the woman’s original nature left in her still.” When Nancy makes contact with the world of conventional behavior as represented by Rose and Brownlow, she judges that she has taken the path of error that must inevitably lead to destruction.

Mr. Brownlow—”A very respectable-looking personage” with a heart “large enough for any six ordinary old gentlemen of humane disposition.” Basically kind and generous, he has some common, questionable characteristics. He is often impatient and curt.

Mr. Fang—A notorious magistrate; a “lean, long-backed, stiff-necked, middle-sized man, with no great quantity of hair.”

The Bookseller—”An elderly man of decent but poor appearance.”

Mrs. Bedwin—Brownlow’s housekeeper; “a motherly old lady, very neatly and precisely dressed.”

Bill Sikes—A ruthless felon associated with Fagin; he is violent, and abusive, his anger likely to erupt at any moment. Bill Sikes represents the ultimate outcome of a brutalizing existence. He has almost completely lost any sign of human sensitivity or tenderness.

Bull’s-eye—Sikes’s dog; “a white-coated, red-eyed dog . . . having faults of temper in common with his owner.” Bull’s-eye eventually betrays his abusive master.

Mr. Grimwig—A retired lawyer and old friend of Brownlow’s. “A stout old gentleman, rather lame in one leg,” he has “a strong appetite for contradiction, [although] not by any means a bad-hearted man.”

Barney—Waiter at the Little Saffron Hill dive. “Another Jew; younger than Fagin, but nearly as vile and repulsive in appearance.

Tom Chitling—One of Fagin’s creatures; a simpleton of about eighteen, with “small twinkling eyes, and a pock-marked face.”

“Flash” Toby Crackit—Associate of Fagin’s and Sikes’; a rather flamboyant type, with “no great quantity of hair [and] a trifle above the middle size.”

Mrs. Corney—Matron of the workhouse where Oliver was born; she later marries Bumble.

Monks—Edward Leeford, Oliver Twist’s half-brother; son of Edwin Leeford and his legal wife. A tall, dark man, subject to fits of cowardice and epilepsy, he is interested in ruining Oliver’s reputation. Monks is a dark, sinister figure who lurks menacingly in the background during much of the novel, a disaster waiting to happen. He sometimes appears without warning or identification

Mr. Giles—Mrs. Maylie’s butler and steward. “One who labored under a very agreeable sense of his own merits and importance.”

Brittles—Man-of-all-work for Mrs. Maylie; “treated as a promising young boy still, though he was something past thirty.”

Rose Maylie—Rose Fleming; Agnes Fleming’s younger sister, thus Oliver’s aunt. Accepted as Mrs. Maylie’s niece; later becomes her daughter-in-law. Being a person of sterling worth, incorruptible by human complexity and inconsistency, she is correspondingly uninteresting, particularly in contrast with Nancy.

Mrs. Maylie—Rose’s adoptive aunt; a stately lady, “well advanced in years.”

Mr. Losberne—A surgeon of Chertsey who “had grown fat, more from good-humor than from good living.”

Harry Maylie—Mrs. Maylie’s son. “He seemed about five-and-twenty years of age, and was of middle height; his countenance was frank and handsome; and his demeanor easy and prepossessing.”

Kags—A career criminal, “a robber of fifty years, whose nose had been almost beaten in.