ANALYSIS CHAPTER 2 “OLIVER TWIST”

The extract is taken from “Oliver Twist” chapter II by Charles Dickens written in 1837-1839.

The text reveals Dickens’s awareness of the social problems of his time and also the situation of the population in the workhouses.

In  the first part of the text the narrator describes the situation of the boys when they were fed, the intelligent reader could notice that the situation was not a very good one because the narrator reveals that the children were very hungry.

Furthermore the narrator says that “the boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation, they would sit starring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed” thanks to this words the intelligent reader could notice that the children were not fed good and for this reason they were hungry.

Another information given by the writer about the situation of the boys is that one of them hinted his companions that he ate the boy who slept next him and this sentence could be understood as a hyperbole, which is very often used by Dickens in his texts.

Going on reading the narrator presents the main character of the extract “Oliver Twist”, who is a boy that eats at the workhouse and who has “heroic” qualities because he asks to the master more to eat for him and his companions.

The intelligent reader could also notice the hungry state of the children thanks to the words “over the short commons” and “he was desperate with hunger” furthermore the reader could understand how was the situation in the workhouse thanks to the words “horror was despiced on every countenance”, so the reader could notice that it was not a good situation.

The narrator is a third person, omniscient and intrusive narrator who knows all about the situation in the workhouse and about the main character Oliver Twist, the narrative technique used is telling because it is a description but in the extract the reader could notice a direct form of speech between the master and the main character and thanks to this he could know something about the way of thinking of the master.

The extract concludes with the selling of the main character for this reason the reader could understand that the situation is one in which the poor people is subjected to the master, so the richest and powerful ones.

The ideal reader is the massified population because the narrator would inform the people about the state of the social problems of his time.