Oliver Wants Some More!

The first excerpt has an introductory function: it is aimed at characterizing Oliver. Oliver Twist is the main character but also the title of the novel: the name of a child in the title suggests the poverty of his condition.

Oliver is not described in details, but his physical appearance is just sketched. Hints are given through adverbs (atrociously) and adjectives (pale, thin) that convey the idea of an unhealthy boy. Adverbs and adjectives have an important role in the developing of the characterization because they give no freedom to the reader to find his own meaning, but they provide a judgement. In addition Dickens displays the contrast inside Oliver: he is an unhealthy boy, but he has a strong spirit.

Then the description focuses on the setting: the scene takes place in a coal-cellar. It represents the new industrialized world that grows up, but that becomes a prison for weaker people.

The second excerpt represents a dinner in the workhouse where Oliver lives. The language used by Dickens is the one commonly used in a religious situation: the master seems to be the priest, while Oliver represents the victim to be sacrificed. The situation is described through the contrast between poverty and richness (poor quantity of food-large stone hall).

Dickens uses irony to judge indirectly the condition in which children have to live: they eat their food, as they had to polish the spoon like people who polish shoes.

In addition rhetorical language creates pathos that involves reader’s emotions and judges workhouses because it creates children who look like cannibals. To reinforce the concept he describe using a caricatural language a child who menaces to eat the boy who sleeps next to him. Therefore children seem to become animals, they return to animal instincts because only the most suitable survives.

The scene ends when Oliver goes to the master to ask more food: everything seems to be motionless (thanks to the careful description of the body-language) and solemn (thanks to the use of religious symbols and references once again). The master is afraid of losing his power and control therefore he reacts using violence towards Oliver and menacing to hung him.