August 12, 2010

Sociolinguistics

I. Sociolinguists study the relationship between language and society, explaining why we speak differently in different social context and concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the way it is used to convey social meaning.


Sociolinguistics is a term including the aspects of linguistics applied toward the connections between language and society, and the way we use it in different social situations.


4 components which influence social factors:

· Participants, who is speaking and who are they speaking to?

· Setting or social context of the interaction, where are they speaking?

· Topic, what is being talking about?

· Function, why are they speaking?


5 different dimensions which contribute to the appropriate choice:

· A social distance scale, concerned with participants relationship, useful in emphasizing that how well we know someone

Intimate = high solidarity

Distant = low solidarity

· A status scale, concerned with participants relationship, points to the relevance of relative status in some linguistic choice

Superior = high status

Subordinate = low status

· A social role, importsnt and often a factor contributing to status differences between people. Typical role relationship are teacher – pupil, doctor – patient, soldier – civilian, official – citizen. The same person maybe spoken to in a different code depending on whether they are acting as teacher, as father or as a customer in the market place

· A formality scale relating to the setting or type of interaction, useful in assessing of the social setting or type interaction on language choice

Formal = high formality

Informal = low formality

· Two functional scales relating to the purposes or topic of interaction


II. Language Choice in Multilingual Communities


Domain: involves typical interactions between typical participants in typical setting

Domain / Addressee / Setting / Topic / Language

Family / Parent / Home / planning a family party /

Friendship / Friend / Classroom / planning to go to swim /

Domain

Addressee

Setting

Topic

Language

Family

Parent

Home

Planning a party

Guarani

Friendship

Friend

Cafe

Humorous ancedote

Guarani

Religion

Priest

Church

Choosing the Sunday liturgy

Spanish

Education

Teacher

Primary

Telling a story

Guarani

Education

Lecturer

University

Solving math problem

Spanish

Administration

Official

Office

Getting an important license

Spanish

Language Repertoire: bahasa yang dipakai sehari – hari atau perbendaharaan bahasa yg kita kuasai, contohnya: diluar pake bahasa Indonesia, di rumah pake bhasa jawa


Diglossia: In a bilingual community, in which two languages or dialects are used differently according to different social situations.

diglossia have three crucial features:

  1. In the same language, used in the same community, there are two distinct varieties. One is regarded as high (H) and the other low (L).
  2. Each is used for distinct functions.
  3. No one uses the high (H) in everyday conversation.

Diglossia: a characteristic of speech communities rather than individuals. Individuals may be bilingual, societies or communities are diglossic. The term diglossia describes societal or institutionalized bilingualism where 2 varieties are required to cover all the community’s domain.

No one uses the H varieties in everyday conversation


Polyglosia: useful term for describing situation where more than 2 distinct codes or varieties are used for clearly distinct purposes or in clearly distinguishable situation

Polyglosia: use for situation where a community regularly uses more than 2 language


Code Switching or Code Mixing, when there is some important change in the situation, such as the arrival of a new person. Ex: John is Chinese, when he comes to the class when the other speak English, her friend switch their language to Chinese in orde to greet her


Switch motivate by the identity and relationship between participant often express a move along the solidarity or social distance dimension and also reflect a change in the other dimension, such as the status relation between people or the formality of their interaction


Change of topic can symbolize a change in the relationship between two participants. Ex: 2 person switch from their roles as neighbors to their roles as bureaucrat and member of public


Methaporical Switching: each of the codes represents a set of social meaning and the speaker draws on association of each, just as people use metaphors to represent complex meaning


III. Language Maintenance and Shift


Language Death, when all people who speak language die, then also language died with them. Ex: Aboriginal language when the Europeans arrived


Factors Contributing to Language Shift: Economic, social and political factors, people learn English to get good jobs, to increase their social status or grade etc


Demographic factor: resistance to language shift tends to last longer in rural than in urban areas, rural groups tend to be isolated from the centres of political power for longer

- shift tends to occur faster in some groups than in others, the size of groups sometimes a critical factors, Ex: In Australia, areas with the largest group of the maltese speakers had the lowest rates of shift toward English


Attitudes and Values: language shift tend to be slower among communities where the minority language is highly valued, when language be an important symbol of ethnic identity, it is generally maintained longer, pride in their ethnic identity and their language can be important factors which contribute to language maintenance


Factors a minority language can be maintained:

· Where language is considered an important symbol of minority groups identity

· If families from minority group live near each other and see each other frequently

· The degree and frequency of contact with homeland


Ethnolinguistic Vitality, three components which involved:

· The status of the languages as reflects in attitudes toward it

· The sizes of the group who uses the language and their distribution

· The extent to which the language enjoys institutional support


Language Revival:

· When language is rated as high in status by its users, and also regarded as a language of solidarity to be used between minority group member

· When it is regarded as appropriate for expressing referential as well as affective or social meaning

· When it is able to used in a wide range of context both formal and informal


IV. Linguistic Varieties and Multilingual Nations


Vernacular Language: used in number of ways, generally refer to language which has not been standardized and which does not have official status. Ex; in multilingual speech community, the many different ethnic or tribal language used by different groups are referred to as vernacular language (ragam bahasa yang tidak resmi/lambing solidaritas)


Vernacular language: uncodified or unstandardised variety, the way it is acquired- in the home as the first variety, used for relatively circumscribed function (fungsi terbatas)


Standard Language: generally one which is written and have some degree of regularization, recognized as a prestigious variety or code by a community


Lingua Franca: is a language used for communication between people whose first languages differ. In some countries the most useful and widely used lingua franca is an official language or the national language


A simplified language derived from two or more languages is called a pidgin. It is a contact language developed and used by people who do not share a common language in a given geographical area. It is used in a limited way and the structure is very simplistic. Since they serve a single simplistic purpose, they usually die out. However, if the pidgin is used long enough, it begins to evolve into a more rich language with a more complex structure and richer vocabulary. Once the pidgin has evolved and has acquired native speakers ( the children learn the pidgin as their first language), it is then called a Creole. An example of this is the Creole above from Papua New Guinea, Tok Pisin, which has become a National language.


Reasons for the development of Pidgins


In the nineteenth century, when slaves from Africa were brought over to North America to work on the plantations, they were separated from the people of their community and mixed with people of various other communities, therefore they were unable to communicate with each other. The strategy behind this was so they couldn't come up with a plot to escape back to their land. Therefore, in order to finally communicate with their peers on the plantations, and with their bosses, they needed to form a language in which they could communicate. Pidgins also arose because of colonization. Prominent languages such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch were the languages of the coloni zers. They traveled, and set up ports in coastal towns where shipping and trading routes were accessible.


There is always a dominant language which contributes most of the vocabulary of the pidgin, this is called the superstrate language. The superstrate language from the Papua New Guinea Creole example above is English. The other minority languages that contribute to the pidgin are called the substrate languages.


V. National Languages and Language Planning


National language: language of a political, cultural, and social unit and developed and used as a symbol of national unity, the function is to identify the nation and unite its people


Official Language: simply language which may used for government business, the function is primarily utilitarian rather than symbolic


In multilingual countries, government often declares a particular language to be the national language for political reasons. The declaration may be a step in the process of asserting the nationhood of a newly independent or established nation. Ex: Swahili in Tanzania, Hebrew in Israel, Indonesian in Indonesia


Official Status and Minority Language: because of its colonial history, English is an official language in many countries throughout the world, such as Pakistan Fiji Jamaica and Bahamas, but English is not legally an official language in New Zealand


Price of National Language: “one nation, one language” has been a popular and effective slogan, in Indonesia the government did not select the language of political and social elite, the Javanese as the national language. Instead they developed and standardized a variety of malay which was widely used in Indonesia as a trade language


Javanese has a complex linguistically marked politeness system based on assessments of relative status


Planning For a National Official Language: 4 steps in developing language

· Selection: choosing the variety or code to be developed

· Codification: standardising its structural or linguistic features (corpus planning)

· Elaboration: extending its function for use in new domains. This involves developing the necessary linguistic resources for handling new concepts and contexts

· Securing its Acceptance; status of new variety is important and also people attitudes to the variety being developed must be considered. Steps may be needed to enhance its prestige, to encourage people to develop pride in the language or loyalty towards it

April 11, 2010

Editing Mid

PENGERTIAN NASKAH

Menurut KBBI, Naskah : 1. Karangan yang masih di tulis dengan tangan, 2. Karangan seseorang yang belum di terbitkan, 3. Bahan bahan berita yang siap untuk di set, dan 4. Rancangan.

Sumber naskah bagi penerbit : 1). Naskah spontan, 2) Naskah pesanan , 3) naskah yang di cari editor, 4) naskah terjemahan, 5) naskah hasil sayembara, dan 6) naskah kerjasama.

TIGA MACAM TIPE PENULIS

Penulis Profesional (PP)

- Biasanya sudah berpengalaman menulis naskah sehingga naskahnya dapat dikatakan matang.

- Penyunting naskah sudah jarang menemukan kejanggalan atau kesalahan dalam naskah.

- Tingkat kesulitan dpt dikatakan ringan.

Penulis Semi – Profesional (PSP)

- Lebih sedikit pengalamannya dibandingkan PP

- Mungkin masih ditemukn kesalahan atau kekurangan dalam naskah sehingga di perlukan usaha penyuntingan naskah guna membenahi naskah.

- Tingkat kesulitan dapat dikatakan sedang

Penulis amatir (PA)

- Memiliki tingkat kemampuan paling rendah

- Ada kemungkinan PA baru pertama kali menulis naskah, jadi mirip penulis pemula. Akibatnya, terlihat banyak kelemahan dan kekurangan naskah.

- Tingkat kesulitan berat, diperlukan banyak campur tangan penyunting naskah. Penyunting layak dicantumkan namanya pada buku sebagai penulis juga (co- author).

SYARAT MENJADI PENYUNTING NASKAH

1. Menguasai Ejaan

- Seorang penyunting naskah harus menguasai kaidaah ejaanbhs Indonesia yang baku saat ini.

- Harus paham benar penggunaan huruf kecil & capital, pemenggalan kata, dan penggunaan tanda baca(titik, koma, dll)

2. Menguasai Tata Bahasa

- Seorang penyunting naskah harus mengerti susunan kalimat bahasa Indonesia yang baik, kata kata yang baku, bentuk bentuk yang salah kaprah, pilihan kata yang pas, dsb.

3. Bersahabat Dengan Kamus

- Seorang penyunting naskah perlu akrab dengan kamus, entah kamus 1 bahasa atau 2 bahasa, termasuk pula kamus istilah, leksikon dan ensiklopedia.

4. Memiliki Kepekaan Bahasa

- Karena selalu berhubungan dengan ejaan, tata bahasa dan kamus, seorang penyunting naskah dituntut mempunyai kepekaan bahasa.

- Untuk itu, seorang penyunting naskah perlu mengikuti

· Tulisan pakar bahasa di media cetak

· Kolom bahasa yang ada di sejumlah media cetak

· Perkembangan bahasa Indonesia dari hari ke hari

5. Memiliki Pengetahuan Luas

- Artinya harus banyak membaca buku, majalah, Koran dan menyerap informasi melalui media audiovisual. Penyuntingan naskah tidak ketinggalan info.

6. Memiliki Ketelitian dan Kesabaran

- Seorang penyunting naskah harus sabar dan teliti menghadapi naskah. Seorang penyunting naskah harus bolak balik memeriksa naskah.

- Seudah menjadi pruf(cetak coba) pun, seorang penyunting naskah masih berurusan dengaan kalimat kalimat dan kata kata. Penyunting naskah baru bisa lepas dari kalimat2 dan kata kata kalau naskah/pruf itu sudah di setujui untuk di cetak.

7. Memiliki Kepekaan Terhadap Sara dan Pornografi

- Sorang penyunting naskah harus mempunyai kepekaan terhadap hal hal yang berbau suku, agama, ras, dan antar golongan. Kalau tidak peka, penerbit bisa rugi di kemudian hari, karena buku yang di terbitkan bisa dilarang beredar oleh yang berwenang, atau penerbitnya di tuntut oleh pihak tertentu ke pengadilan.

- Seorang penyunting naskah harus peka terhadap hal hal yang berbau pornografi. Seorang penyunting naskah harus mempertimbangkan apakah kalimat tertentu layak cetak atau tidak, dan apakah gambar atau ilustrasi tertentu layak siar atau tidak.

8. Memiliki Keluwesan

- Penyunting naskah sering berhubungan dgn orang lain, minimal penulis naskah. Penyunting naskah bertindak sebagai duta /wakil penerbit. Oleh karena itu harus menjaga citra dan namabaik penerbit.

- Dalam hubungannya dengan penulis naskah, seorang penyunting naskah:

· Harus bersedia mendengarkan berbagai pertanyaan, saran dan keluhan.

· Tidak menggurui, apalagi kalau penulisnya seorang pakar atau berkedudukan tinggi.

9. Memiliki Kemampuan Menulis

- Seorang penyunting naskah pada suatu saat harus menulis surat atau email kepada penulis atau calon penulis naskah, menulis ringkasan isi buku atau menulis biodata penulis.

- Kemampuan menulis berguna dalam penyuntingan naskah. Kalau tidak tidak tahu menulis kalimat yang benar tentu tidak dapat membetulkan atau memperbaiki tulisan orang lain.

10. Menguasai Bidang Tertentu

- Alangkah baiknya kalau seorang penyunting naskah menguasai salah satu bidang keilmuan tertentu, misalnya ilmu bahasa, sastra, jurnalistik, dan teknologi. Hal ini tentu membantu penyunting naskah dalam tugasnya sehari hari.

11. Menguasai Bahasa Asing

- Seorang penyunting naskah perlu menguasai bahasa asing yang paling banyak di gunakan di dunia internasional, yakni bahasa inggris(minimal pasif). Alasannya:

· Penyunting naskah akan banyak berhadapan dengan istilah istilah bahasa inggris atau istilah istilah yang berasal dari bahasa inggris.

· Buku terjemahan yang paling banyak diterjemahkan di Indonesia adalah buku buku yang berasal dari bahasa inggris.

· Makin banyak bahasa asing yang di kuasai penyunting naskah makin baik.

12. Memahami Kode Etik Penyunting Naskah

- Penyunting naskah harus tahu mana yang boleh dan mana yang tidak boleh dilakukan dalam penyuntingan naskah.

- Jika penyunting naskah tidak memahami kode etik penyuntingan naskah, ada kemungkinan ia akan salah langkah atau salah sunting. Hal ini bisa berakibat buruk di kemudian hari.


KODE ETIK PENYUNTINGAN NASKAH


1. Penyunting naskah wajib mencari informasi mengenai penulis naskah sebelum mulai menyunting naskah.

2. Penyunting naskah bukanlah penulis naskah.

3. Penyunting naskah wajib menghormati gaya penulis naskah.

4. Penyunting naskah wajib merahasiakan informasi yang terdapat dalam naskah yang disuntingnya.

5. Penyunting naskah wajib mengkonsultasikan hal hal yang mungkin di ubahnya dalam naskah.

6. Penyunting naskah tidak boleh menghilangkan naskah yang akan, sedang atau telah disuntingnya.


TAHAPAN PRAPENYUNTINGAN NASKAH


- KELENGKAPAN NASKAH

· Sebelum menyuntng naskah penulis harus memeriksa lebih dahulu kelengkapan naskah. Tujuannya untuk mengetahui seluruh unsure naskah sudah lengkap atau belum.

· Kelengkapan naskah yang dimaksud meliputi halaman judul, daftar isi, prakata, kata pengantar, daftar gb/ilustrasi/table, gb/ilustrasi, keterangan gb/ilustrasi/table, judul bab, sub judul, sub sub judul bab, catatan kaki, kepustakaan, daftar istilah, lampiran, indeks, biografi singkat, no. halaman, foto penulis, disket, cd/electronic file.

- RAGAM NASKAH

· Sebelum menyunting naskah, penyunting naskah harus memastikan ragam naskah yang di hadapinya. Ada beberapa ragam naskah.

1. Fiksi X Nonfiksi

2. Populer X ilmiah

3. Anak – anak X Dewasa

4. Sekolah X Nonsekolah ( Umum)

5. Jenjang pendidikan

6. Bidang Keilmuan

- DAFTAR ISI

· Setelah memeriksa kelengkapan naskah dari depan hingga belakang dan dari belakang hingga kedepan(bila dianggap perlu), barulah penyunting memeriksa isi naskah. Dalam hal ini, ada sejumlah pertanyaan yang harus di jawab.

1. Apakah daftar isi sudah sesuai dengan naskah?

2. Bagaimana sistematika atau susunan naskah?

3. Apakah penulis menggunakan kata bab atau tidak?

4. Apakah sitematika pada daftar isi sesuai dengan sitematika pada naskah?

- SUBBAB DAN SUB SUBBAB

· Seorang penyunting naskah perlu memeriksa apakah dlam bab bab naskah digunakan subbab dan sub-subbab. Penyunting naskah pun harus memeriksa apakah subbab dan sub subbab dari bab yang satu sama dengan yang ada pada bab bab lain.

· Setelah itu, penyunting naskah perlu memeriksa apakah penomoran subbab dan sub subbab sudah seragam atau belum. Dalam hal ini, ada beberapa kemungkinan yang di terapkan penulis, misalnya

a. Angka Romawi (I,II,III,IV, dst),

b. Angka Arab (1,2,3,4, dst), dan

c. Huruf Latin(A,B,C, dst)

- ILUSTRASI/TABEL/GAMBAR.

· Seorang penunting naskah perlu memeriksa apakah naskah yang akan ditangani memuat table, ilustrasi, atau gb.sekiranya ada, pada naskah tentu perlu diberi tanda atau disiapkan ruangan untuk itu.

· Sekiranya sudah tersedia table/ilus/gb, perlu diperiksa apakah sudah ada teksnya (caption). Seandainya belum ada teksnya , hal ini perlu dicatat untuk dimintakan ke penulis nanti.

· Adakalanya table/ilus/gb naskah akan disusulkan kemudian, artinya ketika menawarkan atau memasukan naskah ke penerbit, penulis belum menyertakannya. Hal ini perlu perlu dicatat penyunting naskah dan tentunya perlu diberikan batas waktu kapan table/ilus/gb itu harus diserahkan ke penerbit.

- CATATAN KAKI

· Tidak setiap naskah memiliki catatan kaki

· Buku dari TK-SMA tidak ada footnote

· Bahan acuan biasanya ditempatkan di daftar pustaka.

· Buku buku referensi PT biasanya ada è perlu diperhatikan cara penempatannya(penyunting harus tahu)

- INFORMASI MENGENAI PENULIS

· Info mengenai pendidikan, latar belakang, & wataknya.

· Dalam berhubungan dengan penerbit dikenal 3 tipe penulis

1. Penulis yang gampang : tidak rewel, menyerahkan sepenuhnya cara penyuntingan kepada penerbit, yang penting bagaimana baiknya saja.

2. Penulis yang sulit : mirip kebalikan dari tipe 1, maunya menang sendiri dan enerbit harus mengikuti kemauannya. Penyunting naskah perlu ekstra hati hati, agar tidak terjadi hal hal yang tidak diinginkan sebaiknya penyunting naskah mengikuti semua kemauannya, tentu dengan catatan lain kali penerbit perlu berpikir 2x sebelum menyetujui naskah dari penulis yang sama.

3. Penulis yang sulit sulit gampang : berbeda dengan tipe 1 & 2. Tetap diperlukan kehati hatian. Jangan sampai penyunting naskah mengubah kata atau kalimat tanpa berkonsultsi dengan penulis.

- MEMBACA NASKAH SECARA KESELURUHAN

· Memperoleh gmbaran tentang apa dan bagaimana kira kira naskah yang akan disunting

· Akan terlihat apakah bahasa yang dipakai cukup baik/masih jelek

Sebaiknya penyuntng naskah menyiapkan pensil, karena jika ada hal hal yang janggal(kata, istilah, kalimat) bisa melingkarinya & pada saat menyunting naskah tinggal memperbaiki atau menanyakan kepada penulis. Manfaat membaca secara keseluruhan

1. Untuk mengetahui apakah naskah sudah sitematis atau belum.

2. Untuk mengetahui sistematika naskah.

3. Untuk mengetahui apakah ada kata2 atau istilah yang asing bagi penyunting naskah

4. Untuk mengetahui apakah istilah istilah yang digunakan konsisten atau tidak.

5. Untuk mengetahui apakah dalam naskah ada hal hal yang berbau SARA & pornografi

January 6, 2010

"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.