Oliver Twist

“Please, sir, I want some more.” 

This line is undoubtedly the most famous line from the novel. Said by young Oliver to a church workhouse employee, Oliver is not only not given more food, but he is also treated like a dreadful sinner and criminal. Most of the board are unable to believe his audacity in asking for more food. The torture and starvation that Oliver has to overcome is highlighted throughout the novel, a technique that allows Dickens to gain the reader’s ear and actively criticize church and state institutions.  

“Let it not be supposed by the enemies of ‘the system,’ that, during the period of his solitary incarceration, Oliver was denied the benefit of exercise, the pleasure of society, or the advantages of religious consolation. As for exercise, it was nice cold weather, and he was allowed to perform his ablutions every morning under the pump, in a stone yard, in the presence of Mr. Bumble, who prevented his catching cold, and caused a tingling sensation to pervade his frame, by repeated applications of the cane.”

Dickens’s tone is undoubtedly derisive when he speaks of the “system.” By emphasizing and describing the many tortures that Oliver, an innocent child, is forced to overcome, Dickens is able to sway the reader to his point of view. 

“Oliver fell on his knees, and clasping his hands together, prayed that they would order him back to the dark room—that they would starve him—beat him—kill him if they pleased—rather than send him away with that dreadful man.”

Oliver’s character is never truly believable; he is too perfect and good for the average reader to empathize with. However, the reader will undoubtedly pity Oliver and become enraged at the injustices that he faces. The passage likewise establishes Oliver’s faith early in the novel.

“I see no saving in parish children, not I; for they always cost more to keep, than they’re worth. However, men always think they know best. There! Get downstairs, little bag o’ bones.”

Mrs. Sowerberry is an unkind and ornery old woman who despises Oliver. By portraying her in this way, Dickens not only places blame on the shoulders of the church and the government, but also on the shoulders of individual people. Dickens’s message is clear: kindness and empathy are not the duties of large government or parochial bodies, but of singular persons. 

“But his heart was heavy, notwithstanding; and he wished, as he crept into his narrow bed, that that were his coffin, and that he could be lain in a calm and lasting sleep in the churchyard ground, with the tall grass waving gently above his head, and the sound of the old deep bell to soothe him in his sleep.”

It is unnatural for a child so young to not only understand the concept of death, but also crave it. Dickens does not shy away from describing Oliver’s thoughts of death and suicide. This unnerves the reader and allows them to more accurately understand the impossible conditions that Oliver and the other paupers are forced to exist under.  

“It’s Meat […] You’ve over-fed him, ma’am. You’ve raised a [sic] artificial soul and spirit in him, ma’am unbecoming a person of his condition: as the board, Mrs. Sowerberry, who are practical philosophers, will tell you. What have paupers to do with soul or spirit? It’s quite enough that we let ‘em have live bodies. If you had kept the boy on gruel, ma’am, this would never have happened.”

Here, Dickens pokes fun at the illogical and cruel nature of the church, as represented by Mr. Bumble. None of the adults seem to understand why Oliver might be enraged at Noah for insulting his mother. Instead, the adults blame Oliver’s rage and anger on his having too much energy and too much food. It is a moment of dramatic irony, as the reader understands fully that Oliver has been continuously starved not only of food but also of affection, understanding, and empathy. 

“He was a very old shrivelled Jew, whose villainous-looking and repulsive face was obscured by a quantity of matted red hair. He was dressed in a greasy flannel gown, with his throat bare; and seemed to be dividing his attention between the frying-pan and the clothes-horse, over which a great number of silk handkerchiefs were hanging.”

Dickens’s description of Fagin, the primary antagonist of the novel, is anti-Semitic. Fagin is the opposite of Oliver in every way and Dickens seems to place the origin of his villainy on his faith and external appearance. This sets an unfortunate precedence throughout the novel where Dickens refers to Fagin as “the Jew” and continuously alludes to racist and trite stereotypes.

“As he spoke, he pointed hastily to the picture over Oliver’s head, and then to the boy’s face. There was its living copy. The eyes, the head, the mouth; every feature was the same. The expression was, for the instant, so precisely alike, that the minutest line seemed copied with startling accuracy!”

In comparison, Dickens actively seeks to highlight Oliver’s angelic appearance. The external and internal are intimately intertwined in the novel, and directly speaks to a character’s moral alignment. This passage is a vital one, as it is the first to allude to Oliver’s true parentage. 

“It was answered by another Jew: younger than Fagin, but nearly as vile and repulsive in appearance.”

This is yet another example of anti-Semitism within the novel. Though Dickens describes many criminals who are part of the seedy underbelly of the London, the tone of disgust is seemingly only reserved for Fagin and Barney. Their faith becomes a marker of their villainy as opposed to a mere part of their character. 

“‘I should like,’ said the child, ‘to leave my dear love to poor Oliver Twist; and to let him know how often I have sat by myself and cried to think of his wandering about in the dark nights with nobody to help him. And I should like to tell him,’ said the child pressing his small hands together, and speaking with great fervour, ‘that I was glad to die when I was very young; for, perhaps, if I had lived to be a man, and had grown old, my little sister who is in Heaven, might forget me, or be unlike me; and it would be so much happier if we were both children there together.’” 

Dick is yet another example of a “good” character in the novel. Much like Oliver, Dick is less of a believable character and more of a symbol, strategically used to curry favor and sympathy from the readers. 

“‘Oh, come in with you!’ said Mrs. Corney, sharply. ‘Some of the old women dying, I suppose. They always die when I’m at meals.”

Mrs. Corney is a true match for Mr. Bumble. Both characters work for the workhouses and yet they are both utterly uncaring of those in their charge. Instead, their characters are often irritated at the paupers for inconveniencing them. The characters represent the church and government and Dickens is quick to expose their hypocrisies. 

“‘The child,’ said the girl, suddenly looking up, ‘is better where he is, than among us; and if no harm comes to Bill from it, I hope he lies dead in the ditch and that his young bones may rot there.’” 

Nancy’s conviction that Oliver is better off dead than with them is one of the first moments where she actively stands against Bill Sikes and Fagin. She has taken orders from both men all her life, but finally cares for something outside of the life she knows. Despite Nancy’s fear for Oliver’s wellbeing, she continues to be infatuated with Sikes. 

“‘My dear young lady,’ rejoined the surgeon, mournfully shaking his head; ‘crime, like death, is not confined to the old and withered alone. The youngest and fairest are too often its chosen victims.’”

Mr. Losberne says the above to Rose Maylie when they find a wounded Oliver on the property the morning after the attempted break-in. The reader is well aware of the truth in his statement. After being introduced to Fagin’s gang, Charley Bates, the Dodger, and Nancy all spring to mind upon Losberne’s declaration. 

“‘He!’ the other man seemed to answer; ‘could I mistake him, think you? If a crowd of ghosts were to put themselves into his exact shape, and he stood amongst them, there is something that would tell me how to point him out. If you buried him fifty feet deep, and took me across his grave, I fancy I should know, if there wasn’t a mark above it, that he lay buried there?’” 

Monks’s madness is made clear in this passage. Though the man is not yet revealed to be Monks, it is evident that the young man knows Oliver and is haunted by him. This image of Oliver, as someone who plagues and haunts another human being, is opposite of his general characterization. This tells the reader all they have to know about Monks’s personality.

“‘I said the word, ma’am,’ said Mr. Bumble. ‘The prerogative of a man is to command.’” 

Mr. Bumble’s misogyny and obsession with power is evident in this passage. Dickens openly scorns Mr. Bumble’s habit in bullying those with less agency than him and punishes him with one Mrs. Bumble, who takes to bossing him around. 

“‘Cooling yourselves!’ retorted Monks. ‘Not all the rain that ever fell, or ever will fall, will put as much of hell’s fire out, as a man can carry about with him. You won’t cool yourself so easily; don’t think it!’”

Monks’s statement speaks directly to his own guilt and fear that he carries with him. His sins feel like the fires of hell. This is echoed later, after Sikes murders Nancy. Sikes attempts to allay his guilt by putting out the fire that has engulfed a farm, but it only brings him temporary solace. Dickens is keen to emphasize that sins are not so easily washed away. 

“It might be that her tears relieved her, or that she felt the full hopelessness of her condition; but she turned back; and hurrying with nearly as great rapidity in the contrary direction; partly to recover lost time, and partly to keep pace with the violent current of her own thoughts: soon reached the dwelling where she had left the housebreaker.”

Nancy’s wish to run away from Sikes and her life of crime with Fagin precedes this passage. She even goes so far as to begin running in the opposite direction of Sikes’s home. Much like Bill’s dog, Bull’s-eye, however, her life and home is all that she knows. Nancy is lost and has few other options. The fear of the unknown forces her to turn back and Nancy returns to Sikes. Nancy’s fate is sealed. 

“‘I wish to go back,’ said the girl. ‘I must go back, be-cause—how can I tell such things to an innocent lady like you?—because among the men I have told you of, there is one: the most desperate among them all; that I can’t leave: no, not even to be saved from the life I am leading now.’”

Nancy speaks with Rose Maylie and tells her everything that she’s learned about Monks and Oliver. This passage in particular implies that Nancy is more than a pickpocket and is actually a prostitute. Nancy is unwilling to tell “an innocent lady” like Rose all that she has done to survive. Nancy does not believe that she is worthy of saving. 

“‘When such as I, who have no certain roof but the coffin lid, and no friend in sickness or death but the hospital nurse, set our rotten hearts on any man, and let him fill the place that has been a blank through all our wretched lives, who can hope to cure us? Pity us, lady—pity us for having only one feeling of the woman left, and for having that turned, by a heavy judgment, from a comfort and a pride, into a new means of violence and suffering.’”

Nancy’s infatuation for Sikes is a twisted thing, a corruption of the love that Rose shares for Harry. Nancy’s entire life and being has been corrupted and changed into commodity for Fagin, Sikes, and for her own survival. The “only one feeling of the woman left” is that of love, and yet that too has been poisoned by the darkness of criminality and sin. Nancy has little left and yet she wishes to return to what torturous semblance of love she does have.

“‘What!’ repeated the girl. ‘Look before you, lady. Look at that dark water. How many times do you read of such as I who spring into the tide, and leave no living thing, to care for, or bewail them. It may be years hence, or it may be only months, but I shall come to that at last.’”

Nancy contemplates her own death. Nancy is paranoid and worried that she will soon die. Though Rose tries to convince Nancy to accept help, the young woman steadfastly refuses. Nancy wonders at her own demise, but she is ultimately wrong. Nancy dies at the hand of Bill Sikes for betraying them to save Oliver.

“‘The eyes again!’ he cried in an unearthly screech.”

Bill Sikes is haunted and driven to brink of insanity by his guilt. After Sikes kills Nancy, he is unable to turn his back on the corpse. When Bill finally does, however, as he escapes London, he believes that Nancy’s spirit is haunting him. Bill is overcome with guilt and is unable to find a second of peace. Mere moments before hanging himself accidentally in an escape attempt, Bill continues to be plagued by Nancy’s image. 

“I swore to her, if ever it crossed my path, to hunt it down; never to let it rest; to pursue it with the bitterest and most unrelenting animosity; to vent upon it the hatred that I deeply felt, and to spit upon the empty vaunt of that insulting will by dragging it, if I could, to the very gallows-foot. She was right.”

The use of the word “it” in the above passage says leagues about Monks and the late Mrs. Leeford. Both characters are driven to villainy and hatred by their own greed. Their willingness to destroy the lives of innocents fails to result in their own happiness. Rather, Mrs. Leeford dies of illness and Monks dies in jail. Dickens attempts to impart many lessons of morality on his readers.

“Then came the night—dark, dismal, silent night. Other watchers are glad to hear this church-clock strike, for they tell of life and coming day. To him they brought despair. The boom of every iron bell came laden with the one, deep, hollow sound—Death. What availed the noise and bustle of cheerful morning, which penetrated even there, to him? It was another form of knell, with mockery added to the warning.”

Fagin’s end is a spectacle though it happens outside the scope of the novel. Oliver visits Fagin and sees the public gathering to see him hang. Fagin is driven mad by the prospect of his demise.