“Oliver wants some more” is the second chapter of novel “Oliver twist” written by Charles Dickens, which is  about social problems during the author’s life.

Analysing the title, the only character named is Oliver, so the reader can understand that he is the protagonist, not only of the chapter two but also of the entire novel. Indeed, reading the title, the reader can understand that Oliver needs something but only reading the text you can discover what is it.

Considering the structure, the text is divided into three parts: the narration (v.1-20), the fact (v. 21-36) and the reaction (v.37-52).

The first part, the narration, is about the condition of working children. Oliver and other children are in a “larg stone hall” (probably in a room of a workhouse) and they are obliged to suffer preservation imposed by a “copper”. One night a boy threatened to eat the boy who slept next him. So they decided to hold a council to ask more food to the master. The narration can be divided into two more parts: the first one is the description of boy’s room ("a large stone hall, with a copper at one end", v.1), while the second one is about boys and their condition: they are obliged to a "slow starvation for three months". Dickens makes a detailed description of hunger and anger of children.

The second part, the fact, describes the dinner with all the behaviours and feeling of the children.

The third part, the reaction, is about Oliver’s request to the master for more food that has shocked the master and paralyzed the assistants with wonder.

Considering the characterization, Dickens presents three characters, besides boys: a master and two
assistants. The master is described with a strong tone to make the reader understands  his badness. Children are described for their conditions and for their hunger. To highlight this, the narrator describes the bowls: initially they are full of soup but after the boys have eaten, the blows are shiny and the master doesn’t even need to wash them (“the bowls never wanted washing”). Indeed, children are described through the way they look at bowls. “They would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes” represents their desire and their need for food.

The reader is external to the story, but reading it he makes judgments about what is happening and realizes the condition of the children in the workhouses, understanding that the second chapter is based on a dualism of two figures: the master and children. The master impose his authority and he refuses to accept any request and children all react together. This reminds the difficult situation during the Victorian Age.

Concluding, the overall effects created from the text, highlight children’s terrible condition in the workhouses. This description provocates in the reader pity and pain for children because they have little to eat and when they ask for more they are hunted. So Dickens wants to criticize the situation in the workhouses and the middle classes.