The text is an extract taken from Victorian novel  Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. I t is set in a workhouse, institution where the people that were no able to support themselves lived and worked. In the first section the writer introduces the character of Oliver using some categories: his age, his body structure and his health. There is also a reference to Darwinism, on of trends of thoughts in Victorian Age: he had very strong will implanted by nature or inheritance (only the fittest survives). The writer uses also irony and grotesque and he tells indirectly some things to the reader. For example he says that his will in his chest had a lot of space for expand, that means that he have not got a lot of food to eat. The writer represents also the hard situation of the children because Oliver was closed in the coal-cellar with other two kids after they were violently punished for complaining that they were hungry.

The second part of th extract introduces the room where the children usually eat. The writer underlines again a scarcity of food and meal given to the children, little of the gruel and he uses irony to express children's hunger because he says that they polished the bowls with their spoons. This underlines their desire and their hunger, but also a cruelty of the master. Therefore, the writer uses exaggerate expression to define children's hunger: they became "voracious and wild with hunger", one child might have eaten another boy. So the children are described as animals. The use of exaggeration and the grotesque is also another characteristic of the Victorian novel. So the boys decided to ask for some more food, and Oliver Twist was chosen. In this way the reader understands that his surname Twist is symbolic because "twist" can also refer to a change in direction, so he is the boy that acts in a different way from the others. There is aso hint to the religious mentality in the Victorian Age. At the end of the second part, the writer represents Oliver when he asks for more food. Even if he asks it nicely the master, the assistants and the children were surprised. The reader saw how the master and directors reacted to the sign of rebellion. Infact, Oliver Twist is called "small rebel". So the master, in the first moment was surprised and afraid, but afterwards he hit him with the ladle.The mast was health and fat so its image is in opposition with the images of children.

In the last part the writer represent the reaction of director that is afraid and surprised. One man said that the Oliver would be hanged. This also demonstrates the cruelty of the rich towards the criminals and the people that do not respect the norms.