DOCSLIB.ORG

Oliver Twist in Very Difficult and Painful Situations and Then Save Him

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Oliver Twist in Very Difficult and Painful Situations and Then Save Him South Valley University Faculty of Education Third Year Department of English Course: Novel (3) Lecture V Second Semester (2019-2020) Dear Students, The Chertsey burglary is to be staged two nights later. It is arranged that Nancy should take Oliver to Bill Sikes the following night, and the boy is to be totally under his control. The Jew leaves Sikes's house, satisfied that Nancy can be trusted again, in spite of her impetuous partisanship for Oliver. Thus, Nancy succeeded in regaining Fagin's trust. When Fagin reaches his den, he intends to speak to Oliver at once, but changes his mind when he finds the careworn child asleep. Fagin prepares Oliver for the Chertsey burglary by giving him a book to read in which famous crimes and trials are recounted. When Oliver wakens the following morning, he finds a pair of shoes by his bed. The Jew tells Oliver that he is to be taken to Bill Sikes. Fagin does not tell Oliver the reasons for his removal to Sikes's house. Sikes has already told Fagin that if Oliver does not obey him when they are out, he will kill him. Before leaving the house, Fagin tells Oliver to obey Sikes unquestionably because he is a ruthless person. It is time for Nancy to take Oliver to Sikes's quarters. She comes to take him away. She is upset, and Oliver senses that something harmful or injurious is in store for him. He considers briefly appealing to Nancy for aid, as he can see that he has "some power over the girl's better feelings." After a moment of hesitation, he changes his mind. Nancy reads the boy's mind. Of course, Nancy cannot tell Oliver anything about the reason for which she will take him to Bill Sikes. However, she advises him to be obedient and submissive. With earnestness, she says: "I have saved you from being ill- used once, and I will again, and I do now... for those who would have fetched you, if I had not, would have been far more rough than me. I have promised for your being quiet and silent; if you are not, you will only do harm to yourself and me too, and perhaps be my death. See here! I have born all this for you already, as true as God sees me show it." Nancy has already tried to help Oliver, and she promises to help him another time if she can. At this time, she can do nothing. She tells him that he must keep silent and help Bill for her sake. Now Oliver is truly in a very difficult situation. He is in a dilemma. Nancy is appealing to his compassion. If he refuses, he is ungrateful and even heartless. If he complies, he is in real trouble. When Nancy and Oliver arrive before Sikes's house, Oliver is tempted to cry for help but desists for Nancy's sake. Bill Sikes represents the ultimate outcome of a brutalizing existence. He has almost completely lost any sign of human sensitivity or tenderness. He grants little value to any human life, his own not excluded. Regardless of what he has done or is about to do, he always sleeps easily. His fearless disposition is more a manifestation of stupidity than real courage. Sikes's aggressive and evil nature is the result of a mixture of low intelligence and brute strength. This is the criminal to whom poor Oliver is delivered. Grasping Oliver's wrist tightly and putting the barrel of the pistol so close to Oliver's temple that they touched, the robber warns Oliver: "If you speak a word when you are out o' doors with me, except when I speak to you, that loading will be in your head without notice. So, if you do make up your mind to speak without leave, say your prayers first." Thus, one mistake may cause the end of the boy's life. The housebreaker is savage and ferocious. The boy's life means nothing to him. Every now and then, Dickens puts his hero in a terrible and devastating situation. Now Oliver is left one choice; complete obedience to the criminal. The ringleader, Fagin, has already sent Oliver out with the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates to work without telling him anything about the nature of the work he was to do. In that situation, Oliver was accompanied by two boys. After committing their crime, the two boys vanished leaving Oliver by himself in the scene of the crime. Although Oliver was just an eyewitness, he was horrified. Then the innocent boy was caught and taken a suspect to a police station. At the moment, Oliver is about to share in a more serious crime, a housebreaking. Earlier he was accompanied by two young criminals. At present, he is accompanied by two adult criminals. One more time, he is on his way to an unknown destination without having any idea about the purpose of the expedition. The more time passes, the harder Oliver's life becomes. This is Dickens's plan for his child hero. The plan is to put poor Oliver Twist in very difficult and painful situations and then save him. Let me remind you that the child hero, Oliver, is a living symbol for the suffering of Victorian children. He embodies Dickens's strong urge to show natural goodness surviving all adverse circumstances in the environment. Oliver's flawless innocence, inborn gentleness and apparent courage stand out incorruptible. As a rule, environmental evils usually affect adult characters and harm the personalities of children. Yet Oliver Twist remains untainted and incorruptible. To some modern readers, Oliver's goodness and purity seem unreal. But to the Victorian readers, Oliver's goodness was not empty, as it seems today. Oliver, the ill-used orphan, was born to make his way to the gentility which was his birthright. He is more a symbol than a boy. He stands for the triumph of inborn goodness over two strong forms of evil: the workhouse Poor Laws together with their appalling administration (the workhouse board, Mr. Bumble, Mrs. Mann... etc.), and the wicked underworld of crime (Fagin, Bill Sikes. Jack Dawkins, Charley Bates... etc.). Oliver is born in a corrupt society, but real virtue can still win through. What will happen to poor Oliver in his new expedition? This is our stating point next week. This is the end of lecture V. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Oliver Twist
    APPENDIX B Summary of Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist In a parish workhouse, a nameless young woman dies after giving birth. Her son, Oliver Twist—as named by the beadle, Mr. Bumble—is sent to a separate branch of the workhouse with other orphaned infants and raised by the monstrous Mrs. Mann. Oliver miraculously survives the horrors of the “baby farm,” and, on his ninth birthday, is transferred to the central workhouse. After three months of slow starvation, the boys draw lots to see who will ask for more gruel; Oliver draws the long straw and carries out this unenviable task. Bumble and the board of directors severely punish Oliver and plan to turn him out of the workhouse. After a failed attempt to apprentice him to a brutal chimney sweep, Bumble eventually manages to unload Oliver on Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker. On top of his depressing new trade, Oliver must deal with the bullying of his fel- low apprentice, Noah Claypole. Oliver finally fights back against Noah when his rival taunts him about his deceased mother. This second “rebellion” earns Oliver a stern rebuke from Bumble and a brutal beating from Sowerberry. Consumed by the misery of his life, Oliver decides to run away, though he first returns to the baby farm to bid goodbye to his friend, Dick. Oliver barely survives the seventy-five mile walk to London. On arriving at Barnett, he encounters a strangely attired cockney boy who introduces himself as Jack Dawkins (though he goes by the name of the Artful Dodger). The Dodger invites Oliver to come and lodge with a respectable old gentleman, and he conducts a wary Oliver through the slums of London to a dilapidated flat.
    [Show full text]
  • Hunger for Life in Oliver Twist Novel
    www.ijcrt.org © 2018 IJCRT | Volume 6, Issue 4 October 2018 | ISSN: 2320-2882 HUNGER FOR LIFE IN OLIVER TWIST NOVEL Karabasappa Channappa Nandihally Assistant Professor Of English Government First Grade College, U.G.&P.G.Centre Dental College Road,Vidyanagar,Davanagere. Abstract This novel focusing on Poverty is a prominent concern in Oliver Twist. Throughout the novel, Dickens enlarged on this theme, describing slums so decrepit that whole rows of houses are on the point of ruin. In an early chapter, Oliver attends a pauper's funeral with Mr. Sowerberry and sees a whole family crowded together in one miserable room.This prevalent misery makes Oliver's encounters with charity and love more poignant. Oliver owes his life several times over to kindness both large and small.[14] The apparent plague of poverty that Dickens describes also conveyed to his middle-class readers how much of the London population was stricken with poverty and disease. Nonetheless, in Oliver Twist, he delivers a somewhat mixed message about social caste and social injustice. Oliver's illegitimate workhouse origins place him at the nadir of society; as an orphan without friends, he is routinely despised. His "sturdy spirit" keeps him alive despite the torment he must endure. Most of his associates, however, deserve their place among society's dregs and seem very much at home in the depths. Noah Claypole, a charity boy like Oliver, is idle, stupid, and cowardly; Sikes is a thug; Fagin lives by corrupting children, and the Artful Dodger seems born for a life of crime. Many of the middle-class people Oliver encounters—Mrs.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Identification of Form of the Exploitation of Children
    TABLE OF IDENTIFICATION OF FORM OF THE EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN Child Sexual Exploitation Exploitative NO. Oliver Twist Novel Interpretation Child Labor Child Child Child Trafficking Prostitution Pornography The bold words and phrases show the readers that since Oliver Twist was But now that he was enveloped in the born, he is exploited by people, in this case were Parish authorities, who old calico robes which had grown represent the dominant class or superstructure of the society. As an infant, yellow in the same service, he was Oliver should be taken care since his mother was died but no one want to badged and ticketed , and fell into his take care of him. He is sent to the orphan workhouse where children of the 1. place at once - a parish child - the √ poor, as a lower class or based structure in society, forced to work and orphan of a workhouse - the humble, have a little food. The sentence show the readers that as a child of lower half-starved drudge - to be cuffed and class who don't have any power, Oliver is exploited through child buffeted through the world - despised trafficking. This is shown by the label given to him as enveloped, badged, by all, and pitied by none. (Ch. 1, p. 3) and ticketed child. In addition, another evidence reveals that Oliver is exploited through child Oliver should be 'farmed', or, in other trafficking. He is moved from the workhouse to a branch-workhouse, words, that he should be despatched to where is full of juvenile offenders. Child trafficking happens when a branch-workhouse some three miles someone is moved from one place to another within a country or across a off, where twenty or thirty other border, and by someone or a group, into a situation in which they are 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Oliver Twist Photocopiable
    LEVEL 6 Activity worksheets Teacher Support Programme Oliver Twist Photocopiable While reading c …………………… pretends to be asleep EASYSTARTS Chapters 1–5, pages 1–16 while Fagin is counting his collection of 1 Are these sentences true (T) or not true (NT)? treasure. a Oliver’s mother dies very soon after he is d …………………… has a very noisy laugh. born. c e …………………… suspects Oliver Twist of LEVEL 2 b Mrs Mann takes for herself some of the pickpocketing his handkerchief. money from the weekly allowance for the f …………………… sentences Oliver to children. c three months in prison. LEVEL 3 c Mr Bumble takes Oliver to the large g …………………… tells the magistrate who workhouse when Oliver is ten. c the real thieves were. d At the large workhouse, the boys receive Chapters 11–15, pages 36–61 LEVEL 4 three bowls of soup and three pieces of 4 Put the following events in the order of the bread per day. c time at which they occurred. Write 1–7. e The officials decide to send Oliver away a c Bill Sikes and Toby Crackit attempt to rob LEVEL 5 from the workhouse because he asked for a house in Chertsey. more food. c b c Nancy takes Oliver from Fagin’s house to f The magistrate doesn’t allow Oliver to Bill Sikes’ house. go away with Mr Gamfield because he LEVEL 6 c c Fagin meets Monks on the corner of the can see that the chimney sweep looks street. cruel. c d c Toby Crackit goes to Fagin’s house to give 2 Complete the following sentences with the him some bad news.
    [Show full text]
  • Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
    School Radio Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens EPISODE THREE NARRATOR Mr Fang, the police magistrate, sits at one end of the room and at the other, in a sort of wooden pen, Oliver stands, trembling. The old gentlemen, whose pocket had been picked by the Dodger and Charley Bates, stands before the magistrate’s desk, looking anxiously towards the trembling boy. Mr Fang is looking sternly at the gentleman. FANG Who are you? BROWNLOW My name sir, is Brownlow. FANG Officer! What's he charged with? OFFICER He's not charged at all, your worship. He appears against the boy. FANG The charge? OFFICER Stealing a handkerchief. Though upon careful examination, I have found nothing on the boy’s person. BROWNLOW I saw him running away - though I do not believe him to be the actual thief, but perhaps connected with the thieves. I ask that you deal as leniently with him as justice will allow. The poor boy has been hurt already. And I fear that he is ill. FANG Come, none of your tricks here, you young vagabond. What's your name? Eh? OFFICER He looks like he’s a’ goin to faint, sir. FANG Stuff and nonsense! BROWNLOW Take care of him, officer he'll fall down. FANG Stand away, officer; let him fall, if he likes. OFFICER He’s availed himself of your permission, sir. 1 School Radio www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio © BBC 2013 School Radio FANG He’s shamming. Let him lie there; he'll soon be tired of it. Clerk of the court! The boy is sentenced to three months - hard labour! Clear the office! BOOK-SELLER Stop, stop! Don't take him away! For Heaven's sake stop a moment! FANG Who is this? Turn this man out.
    [Show full text]
  • Crime and Punishment W6
    Crime and Punishment Worksheet 6A Name: _____________________________ Date: ____________________ Read the extract from ‘Oliver Twist’ then think about these questions... Do you believe that Olive Why do you think Do you believe that Oliver, the Dodger and Oliver really had no idea Charley Bates were what his friends were watching the old doing? Why? gentleman? What aspects of older What aspects of new crime and punishment crime prevention traditions are there in measures are there in this extract? this extract? What do you think How do you think this would happen to Oliver scene would be different if Twist once he was brought this happened today? before the judge? Copyright © PlanBee Resources Ltd 2013 www.planbee.com Crime and Punishment Worksheet 6B Name: _____________________________ Date: ____________________ Read the extract from ‘Oliver Twist’. Use what you find out to write a diary entry for a child criminal in Victorian Britain. Think about what crime you will commit and why, as well as what happens afterwards. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • 'Oliver' Play Rehearsal Schedule Autumn Term (2 Half)
    ‘Oliver’ Play Rehearsal Schedule Autumn Term (2nd half) DATE SCENES / SONGS PARTS NEEDED Thursday 15th Act 2, scene 1 Sykes, Nancy, Fagin, November ‘Oom-pah-pah’, ‘My name’, Dodger, Fagin’s gang. (4.15-5.15pm) ‘As long as he needs me’ Saturday 17th Act 2, scenes 1, 2 &3 Sykes, Nancy, Fagin, November ‘Oom-pah-pah’, ‘My name’, Dodger, Fagin’s gang, (9.30-12.30) ‘As long as he needs me’ Oliver, Mrs Bedwin, Rose ‘Where is love?’, ‘Who will Seller, Mr Brownlow, buy’, ‘It’s a fine life’, Dr. Grimwig ‘Reviewing the situation’ Thursday 22nd Act 2, scenes 2 & 3 Sykes, Nancy, Fagin, November ‘Where is love?’, ‘Who will Dodger, Fagin’s gang, (4.15-5.15pm) buy’, ‘It’s a fine life’, Oliver, Mrs Bedwin, Rose ‘Reviewing the situation’ Seller, Mr Brownlow, Dr. Grimwig Saturday 24th Act 2, scenes 4, 5 & 6 Mr Bumble, Widow November ‘Oliver’ reprise, ‘As long as he Corney, Old Sally, Old (9.30-12.30) needs me’ reprise, ‘Reviewing Lady, Mr Brownlow, Mrs the situation’ reprise Bedwin, Nancy, Sykes, Dodger, Fagin, Londoners Thursday 29th Act 2, scenes 4, 5 & 6 Mr Bumble, Widow November ‘Oliver’ reprise, ‘As long as he Corney, Old Sally, Old (4.15-5.15pm) needs me’ reprise, ‘Reviewing Lady, Mr Brownlow, Mrs the situation’ reprise Bedwin, Nancy, Sykes, Dodger, Fagin, Londoners Saturday 1st Act 1, scenes 1, 2, 3 & 4 Orphans (girls and boys), December ‘Food glorious food’, ‘Oliver’, Mr Bumble, Oliver, (9.30-12.30) ‘Boy for sale’, ‘That’s your Widow Corney, funeral’, ‘Where is love?’ Mr Sowerberry, Mrs Sowerberry, Charlie, Noah Claypole Thursday 6th Act 1, scenes
    [Show full text]
  • The Criminal Type of Oliver Twist
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Theses Department of English Summer 8-2013 'This World of Sorrow and Trouble': The Criminal Type of Oliver Twist Megan N. Samples Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_theses Recommended Citation Samples, Megan N., "'This World of Sorrow and Trouble': The Criminal Type of Oliver Twist." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2013. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_theses/156 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "THIS WORLD OF SORROW AND TROUBLE": THE CRIMINAL TYPE OF OLIVER TWIST by MEGAN SAMPLES Under the Direction of Dr. Paul Schmidt ABSTRACT This thesis looks at the criminals of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist as a criminal type: im- poverished, unattractive people who lack family roots. It establishes connections between the criminal characters themselves as well as the real-world conditions which inspired their stereo- types. The conditions of poverty and a lack of family being tied to criminality is founded in real- ity, while the tendency for criminals to be unattractive is based on social bias and prejudice. It also identifies conflicting ideologies in the prevailing Victorian mindset that begins to emerge as a result of research
    [Show full text]
  • Oliver Twist
    Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens 1/36 Contents Chapter One: The Workhouse.....................................................................3 Chapter Two: Mr Sowerberry's Shop.........................................................6 Chapter Three: On the road to London......................................................9 Chapter Four: Fagin's Game..................................................................... 12 Chapter Five: Mr Brownlow......................................................................15 Chapter Six: The Crime..............................................................................17 Chapter Seven: A New Home.....................................................................20 Chapter Eight: Nancy's Secret...................................................................23 Chapter Nine: Old Friends Meet............................................................... 26 Chapter Ten: Monks...................................................................................29 Chapter Eleven: The End of Our Story.................................................... 32 Track 1: Chapter One Exercise 3........................................................... 34 Track 2: Chapter Four Exercise 1.......................................................... 35 Track 3: Chapter Nine Exercise 1...........................................................36 2/36 Chapter One: The Workhouse A long time ago every town in England had a workhouse. This was a house for very poor people. Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse.
    [Show full text]
  • Oliver Learns the Trade
    English Lesson 3: Oliver Heads to London Oliver Learns the Trade Mr Johnston Mr Arscott It was late next morning when Oliver awoke, from a sound, long sleep. There was no other person in the room but the old Jew, who was boiling some coffee in a saucepan for breakfast, and whistling softly to himself as he stirred it round and round, with an iron spoon. He would stop every now and then to listen when there was the least noise below: and when he had satisfied himself, he would go on whistling and stirring again, as before. (Oliver) saw the Jew with his half-closed eyes; heard his low whistling; and recognised the sound of the spoon grating against the saucepan’s sides: and yet the self-same senses were mentally engaged, at the same time, in busy action with almost everybody he had ever known. When the coffee was done, the Jew drew the saucepan to the hob. Standing, then in an irresolute attitude for a few minutes, as if he did not well know how to employ himself, he turned round and looked at Oliver, and called him by his name. He did not answer, and was to all appearances asleep. Credit: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens 1838 (Project Gutenberg) 2 After satisfying himself upon this head, the Jew stepped gently to the door: which he fastened. He then drew forth: as it seemed to Oliver, from some trap in the floor: a small box, which he placed carefully on the table. His eyes glistened as he raised the lid, and looked in.
    [Show full text]
  • PLOT SYNOPSIS Book, Music and Lyrics by Lionel Bart
    PLOT SYNOPSIS Book, Music and Lyrics by Lionel Bart TIME PERIOD: Early 1800s PLACE: London CAST OF CHARACTERS: in order of appearance Oliver Twist Mr. Bumble Mrs. Corney Mr. Sowerberry Mrs. Sowerberry Charlotte Noah Dodger Charley Bates Fagin Nipper Bill Sikes Nancy Bet Mrs. Bedwin Mr. Brownlow Dr. Grimwig Old Sally ACT 1 SCENE 1: The Workhouse, Early Evening SCENE 5: Paddington Green, A Week Later A woman stumbles onto stage, quickly giving birth Oliver sits on a bench and meets the Artful Dodger. before passing away. The orphans living in the Dodger asks him if he’d want to live with Mr. Fagin, workhouse lament their constant hunger. and Oliver is hesitant. Dodger insists he should Song: “Food, Glorious Food” LISTEN consider himself family, as they meet more of Dodger’s friends. The group walks through town, Oliver asks for more food and gets reprimanded where Dodger and his friends pull antics on the by Mr. Bumble, Mrs. Corney, their workers, and the townspeople. We transition to Fagin’s lair, meeting other children. Song: “Oliver!” LISTEN Nipper as she sweeps. Song: “Consider Yourself” LISTEN Watch For: A storm, actors in the aisle, a chase, loud yelling Watch For: Actors in the audience SCENE 2: The Workhouse Parlor, Later SCENE 6: The Thieves’ Kitchen, Later Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Corney discuss the scene that Oliver is introduced to Mr. Fagin. Fagin and his gang Oliver just caused. Mr. Bumble kisses Mrs. Corney, explain how they pickpocket in town, teaching Oliver and she responds with a kiss before debating as well.
    [Show full text]
  • Oliver Twist (2005), Polanski
    OLIVER TWIST (2005), POLANSKI (Include some examples) Describe how the novel depicts: Poverty The City The Law “Looks” vs. Character What is the relationship between charity and thieving in the story? What are some of the prophesies that characters state throughout the movie? Do they come true? Vocab: Oakum—l oose fiber obtained by untwisting and picking apart old ropes Snuff—inhaled tobacco Identure—contract, promising labor to be performed for x years. Mute-- mourner Magistrate—an officer who administers the law Physic-- medicine Characters: Oliver Twist - The novel’s protagonist. Oliver is an orphan born in a workhouse, and Dickens uses his situation to criticize public policy toward the poor in 1830s England. Oliver is between nine and twelve years old when the main action of the novel occurs. Though treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, he is a pious, innocent child, and his charms draw the attention of several wealthy benefactors. His true identity is the central mystery of the novel. Fagin - A conniving career criminal. Fagin takes in homeless children and trains them to pick pockets for him. He is also a buyer of other people’s stolen goods. He rarely commits crimes himself, preferring to employ others to commit them—nd often suffer legal retribution—in his place. Dickens’s portrait of Fagin displays the influence of anti-Semitic stereotypes. Nancy - A young prostitute and one of Fagin’s former child pickpockets. Nancy is also Bill Sikes’s lover. Her love for Sikes and her sense of moral decency come into conflict when Sikes abuses Oliver.
    [Show full text]