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A review by beaconatnight
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
4.0
Oliver Twist deals one emotional blow after the other. In beautiful prose, Charles Dickens portrays the world of the English lower classes of the mid-19th century. The life of Oliver Twist is representative for the cruel treatment that orphans endured during those days. The story is very dark throughout, although the rather ironic tone of the narration lightens up the mood. So, the novel tells not only a sad but also a surprisingly entertaining tale.
Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse. He becomes an orphan, because his mother died after giving birth and his father is unknown. He spends his early years as part of a group of boys in the care of Mrs Mann. Although the Poor Law guarantees him subsistence rights, Mrs Mann uses some money paid for the boys for purposes of her own and the boys barely survive on the food provided for them. When he is nine, Oliver has to start working at the workhouse. His superiors, among them the parish beadle Mr Bumble, are dissatisfied with Oliver and they want to get rid of him by apprenticing him to an undertaker. At first, his situation somewhat improves and his foreman respects his work. However, he gets into trouble again and runs off to London.
On his way there, he meets the so-called Artful Dodger, a boy who offers Oliver his help and becomes something like a friend to him. He introduces Oliver to Fagin. Among the most controversial characters in the history of literature, Fagin is a jew (not that his religion matters) of an hideously ugly appearance who gathers around him a group of orphan boys for which he provides shelter and that he teaches the arts of pickpocketing. The boys in turn give away their stolen goods to him.
The other boys play a dirty trick on Oliver and he is arrested for a theft he didn't commit. However, his would-be victim really has a heart of gold and he takes Oliver in, not the least because Oliver reminds him of someone. These allusions hint at a mystery that is pursued for the rest of the story. Unfortunately for him, Oliver knows about Fagin and his criminal activities, so he cannot let him off the hook so easily.
I think what impressed me the most about Oliver Twist, are its rich characters (in detail, not in property). While you rightly take offense at the character of Fagin, I cannot but admit that he had the intended effect on me. He comes across all sleazy, making his living through dubious activities and treating other people purely as means for his own ends. Still, he is not unambiguously evil. What I find most interesting, he talks about Oliver as if he honestly cares about him, at least in some twisted way. While this care is obviously limited, life with him may have worked out for Oliver (sadly).
There are so many great characters. There is the totally evil Mr Bumble who takes every opportunity to make Oliver's life even the more difficult and whose fate throughout the story is quite interesting. There is the generous Mr Brownlow, who takes Oliver in and who puts all his trust into the boy, no matter how much his old friend Mr Grimwig ("I'll eat my head!") tries to convince him otherwise. There is the troubled Nancy, who a member of Fagin's gang, but who is having doubt about her life. There are the boys of the gang. There is the man called "Monks", who has many mysterious revolving around him. The list really goes on and on.
I was very impressed by the way that social classes, and the relationships between their members, are captured in the story. Oliver soon has to realize that even among the poor he can have his superiors. The more privileged advocate the idea that you are the master of your own destiny. However, the poor are clearly not given the means to realize this ideal degree of agency. The fate of the orphans is completely determined by others. In the light of this, it's really outrageous how they look upon Oliver and his fellows with aversion and talk about his fate as if it's the result of his own shortcomings rather than terrible starting conditions. It's also acknowledged how these circumstances are solidified by other practices. The importance of physical symbols to manifest your social status is emphasizes and it's also said how they even employ other forms of harassment, like the signs that point out that begging is prohibited.
At its core, it's a novel about criminals. I thought their distant relationships were very interesting. They are not nice to each other, but they are not completely indifferent, either. For the most part, their life and relationships are not romanticized. It acknowledges the mechanisms that prevent them from living better lives. There was one speech that I thought was particularly interesting, though. One character suffered much under Fagin and she is offered the opportunity to take revenge by delivering him to the authorities. However, she declines:
Oliver's fate genuinely moved me. He is such an innocent kid, probably too nice to maintain his ground in the world that he grows up in. He suffers from not having any relatives or friends. Wherever he goes, he is bullied around by others. In the light of this, even the mildest forms of goodwill towards him have the power to reach your heart. Like when Oliver is given a meal that otherwise would have went to the dogs. Or when a former fellow in misery is giving him his blessings.
Later in the book, people establish real relationships with him and you feel so relieved that he finally arrived somewhere. However, I think it's these early moments that make you truly understand the adapted desires of the "lower classes" (or the abused wife, for instance) and how deprivations of fundamental rights may make you content and grateful even for the little that every human being deserves.
During this emotional rollercoaster ride, there are many scenes of note. After arriving at his patron, Oliver experiences the best months of his life. He is eager to repay the trust invested in him and his benefactor gives him an assignment. He is to return books to the book store as well as to pay for the books kept. A new suit, a box full of books, five dollars in his pocket - will he really return? Of course, it's then that Fagan strikes and Oliver is abducted. No chance to get back to him, his patron must think that he conned him, and the reader suffers as much as poor Oliver from the disappointment that must ensue.
There was another sequence that surprised me, mainly by how dark it was. I already said that there was one member of Fagin's group who decided to do the right thing. Still, she remained loyal to her people and declines the offers of a better life. Tragically, this is the reason why she is murdered (by the man she loves, actually). This gruesome act is described uncommonly disturbing. Afterwards, her murderer fevery walks around the poor quarters, tormented by guilt. Tonally, these passages much reminded me of Dostoevsky, and I wasn't surprised to find that the Russian master admired DIckens's work.
I have to admit that it came with satisfying gratification when his tormentors find justice in the end. This is made the more effective by the lengthy scheming that precedes the eventual payoff. Then there is the reunion with his benefactors, Oliver (as well as the reader) was longing for every since the fateful trip to the bookstore and it ended up being a truly heartwarming moment.
Finally, there is the conspiracy that is hinted at throught the story. It becomes increasingly important towards the end. While I have to admit that I wasn't too invested in the subplot itself, I appreciated the added complexity and different angle on characters (such as Mr Bumble, Rose Maylie, or Noah Claypole) that came with it. It also lead to the finale in a way that I found fully satisfying. Great ending to a wonderful book.
Rating: 4/5
Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse. He becomes an orphan, because his mother died after giving birth and his father is unknown. He spends his early years as part of a group of boys in the care of Mrs Mann. Although the Poor Law guarantees him subsistence rights, Mrs Mann uses some money paid for the boys for purposes of her own and the boys barely survive on the food provided for them. When he is nine, Oliver has to start working at the workhouse. His superiors, among them the parish beadle Mr Bumble, are dissatisfied with Oliver and they want to get rid of him by apprenticing him to an undertaker. At first, his situation somewhat improves and his foreman respects his work. However, he gets into trouble again and runs off to London.
On his way there, he meets the so-called Artful Dodger, a boy who offers Oliver his help and becomes something like a friend to him. He introduces Oliver to Fagin. Among the most controversial characters in the history of literature, Fagin is a jew (not that his religion matters) of an hideously ugly appearance who gathers around him a group of orphan boys for which he provides shelter and that he teaches the arts of pickpocketing. The boys in turn give away their stolen goods to him.
The other boys play a dirty trick on Oliver and he is arrested for a theft he didn't commit. However, his would-be victim really has a heart of gold and he takes Oliver in, not the least because Oliver reminds him of someone. These allusions hint at a mystery that is pursued for the rest of the story. Unfortunately for him, Oliver knows about Fagin and his criminal activities, so he cannot let him off the hook so easily.
I think what impressed me the most about Oliver Twist, are its rich characters (in detail, not in property). While you rightly take offense at the character of Fagin, I cannot but admit that he had the intended effect on me. He comes across all sleazy, making his living through dubious activities and treating other people purely as means for his own ends. Still, he is not unambiguously evil. What I find most interesting, he talks about Oliver as if he honestly cares about him, at least in some twisted way. While this care is obviously limited, life with him may have worked out for Oliver (sadly).
There are so many great characters. There is the totally evil Mr Bumble who takes every opportunity to make Oliver's life even the more difficult and whose fate throughout the story is quite interesting. There is the generous Mr Brownlow, who takes Oliver in and who puts all his trust into the boy, no matter how much his old friend Mr Grimwig ("I'll eat my head!") tries to convince him otherwise. There is the troubled Nancy, who a member of Fagin's gang, but who is having doubt about her life. There are the boys of the gang. There is the man called "Monks", who has many mysterious revolving around him. The list really goes on and on.
I was very impressed by the way that social classes, and the relationships between their members, are captured in the story. Oliver soon has to realize that even among the poor he can have his superiors. The more privileged advocate the idea that you are the master of your own destiny. However, the poor are clearly not given the means to realize this ideal degree of agency. The fate of the orphans is completely determined by others. In the light of this, it's really outrageous how they look upon Oliver and his fellows with aversion and talk about his fate as if it's the result of his own shortcomings rather than terrible starting conditions. It's also acknowledged how these circumstances are solidified by other practices. The importance of physical symbols to manifest your social status is emphasizes and it's also said how they even employ other forms of harassment, like the signs that point out that begging is prohibited.
At its core, it's a novel about criminals. I thought their distant relationships were very interesting. They are not nice to each other, but they are not completely indifferent, either. For the most part, their life and relationships are not romanticized. It acknowledges the mechanisms that prevent them from living better lives. There was one speech that I thought was particularly interesting, though. One character suffered much under Fagin and she is offered the opportunity to take revenge by delivering him to the authorities. However, she declines:
[...] [B]ad life as he has led, I have led a bad life too; there are many of us who have kept the same courses together, and I'll not turn upon them, who might - any of them - have turned upon me, but didn't, bad as they are.
Oliver's fate genuinely moved me. He is such an innocent kid, probably too nice to maintain his ground in the world that he grows up in. He suffers from not having any relatives or friends. Wherever he goes, he is bullied around by others. In the light of this, even the mildest forms of goodwill towards him have the power to reach your heart. Like when Oliver is given a meal that otherwise would have went to the dogs. Or when a former fellow in misery is giving him his blessings.
The blessing was from a young child's lips, but it was the first that Oliver had ever heard invoked upon his head; and through the struggles and sufferings, and troubles and changes, of his after life, he never once forgot it.
Later in the book, people establish real relationships with him and you feel so relieved that he finally arrived somewhere. However, I think it's these early moments that make you truly understand the adapted desires of the "lower classes" (or the abused wife, for instance) and how deprivations of fundamental rights may make you content and grateful even for the little that every human being deserves.
During this emotional rollercoaster ride, there are many scenes of note. After arriving at his patron, Oliver experiences the best months of his life. He is eager to repay the trust invested in him and his benefactor gives him an assignment. He is to return books to the book store as well as to pay for the books kept. A new suit, a box full of books, five dollars in his pocket - will he really return? Of course, it's then that Fagan strikes and Oliver is abducted. No chance to get back to him, his patron must think that he conned him, and the reader suffers as much as poor Oliver from the disappointment that must ensue.
There was another sequence that surprised me, mainly by how dark it was. I already said that there was one member of Fagin's group who decided to do the right thing. Still, she remained loyal to her people and declines the offers of a better life. Tragically, this is the reason why she is murdered (by the man she loves, actually). This gruesome act is described uncommonly disturbing. Afterwards, her murderer fevery walks around the poor quarters, tormented by guilt. Tonally, these passages much reminded me of Dostoevsky, and I wasn't surprised to find that the Russian master admired DIckens's work.
I have to admit that it came with satisfying gratification when his tormentors find justice in the end. This is made the more effective by the lengthy scheming that precedes the eventual payoff. Then there is the reunion with his benefactors, Oliver (as well as the reader) was longing for every since the fateful trip to the bookstore and it ended up being a truly heartwarming moment.
Finally, there is the conspiracy that is hinted at throught the story. It becomes increasingly important towards the end. While I have to admit that I wasn't too invested in the subplot itself, I appreciated the added complexity and different angle on characters (such as Mr Bumble, Rose Maylie, or Noah Claypole) that came with it. It also lead to the finale in a way that I found fully satisfying. Great ending to a wonderful book.
Rating: 4/5