OLIVER TWIST - EXERCISES ON PAGE 13

2. now focus on Dickens' realistic view of this scene.

1. which aspects of the scene strike you as being taken from real life? the aspects are: the fact that also in real life are there orfans that live in workhouses or something like these, the problem of ill-treatment and starvation, the fear towards adults, the arrogant behavior of adults towards children.

2. which group of characters do you think the writer sides with? give reasons for your choice. He sides with Oliver Twist and other children, because he describes adults' reactions and behavior in a way that let readers think that they are strange, domineering, arrogant and self-fish.  (adults = the master, the beadle, the chairman of the board).

3. What do you think the main target of the writer's criticism is? I think his aim is to underline the adullts' bad behavior, towards poor children. Dickens wants to let society realize how things go, and to highlight what were problems in the 19^th century.

4. can the reader form a different opinion from the narrator's? explain why or why not. I think he or she can't, because Dickens is able to ridicule the workhouse's owners, even by the use of irony.

Exercise 3.

a) consider the general condition/feelings before Oliver's request. what detail/s has/have a humorous effect in spite of the tragic condition of the children? The fact that a child is so hungry that he could eat his company, who sleep near his bed.

b) mark the various characters' reactions after Oliver's request. Which of the devices listed above have been used to describe these reactions? The master was shocked and surprised by Oliver's request; the boys, Oliver's companious, were afraid; Mr Limbkins' reaction was the one to ask if he had understand correctly. Then he said that Oliver would be hung. Therefore he reacts in a bad and aggressive way, considering Oliver's request as a crime or an inexpressible request. Dickens uses the device of irony, exaggeration and nonsenses.

c) find some more examples from the text for the other features listed above. Exaggeraions: "he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him" , "he gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder, the boys with fear" , " there was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance."          Irony: "the gruel disappeared"