Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Chapter two

Exercise 1

Oliver twist is a young boy, who lives in a workhouse with some companions; he is orphan and he is forced to live in badly condition, due to starvation. One day Oliver Twist is forced to ask for another past of food for one of his companions, but when he asks for it to the master, Mr Bumble, he is sent to Mr Limbkins, the chairman, who intimates him to being hung.

Exercise 2

1. The setting, that is a workhouse, and children's condition (starvation, badly treatment, orphans) strike me the scene as been taken from real life.
2. For me the writer sides with Oliver Twist and his companions, because there are some textual elements that demonstrate his pity on them: "suffered", "starvation", "afraid", "desperate", "temerity" and some textual references that connote master and Mr Limbkins' nasty: "aimed a blow", "horror", "hung"...
3. I think the main target of the writer's criticism is the children's badly treatment, so their poverty , bad luck and tragic condition.
4. The reader can't form a different opinion from the narrator, because he is a third person intrusive and omniscient narrator, so he guides the reader to follow his moral code and values.

Exercise 3

1. The textual reference that convey the idea of humorous is: "Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery".

1. 3. "He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clug for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear. (...) These was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance. (...) That boy will be hung." They are textual references, that demonstrate the use of hyperbole, in which the writer exaggerates details and character's expressions and reactions, and the repetition of the same concept using different words.