Now focus on Dickens' realistic view of this scene.

1. which aspects of the scene strike you as being taken from real life?

The poor and hard life conditions of the little boys in the orphanage, the exploitation  and the submission of them strike me.

1. which group of characters do you think the writer sides with? Give reasons for your choice.

The writer sides with Oliver Twist and the other children, as a matter of fact he underlines the hunger they have because of  the shortage of meals, and the bad and strict manners of ‘the master' and Mr. Bumble.

1. what do you think the main target of the writer's criticism is?

The main target of the writer's criticism is to make the public (especially the upper middle class) reflect on the degraded condition of the poor people, in this case the children of the orphanage.

1. can the reader form a different opinion from the narrator's? explain why or why not.

The use of pathos provides the sense of guilty and the partial identification of the public with the pathetic subject, so I think the reader may have the same opinion of the narrator.

Focus on language and style.

1. consider the general condition/feelings before Oliver's request. What detail/s has/have a humorous effect in spite of the tragic condition of the children?

In spite of the tragic condition of the children a detail in the disruption of their hunger have a humorous effect, this detail is: ‘he was  afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age.'

1. make the various characters' reaction after Oliver's request. Which of the devices listed above have been used to describe these reactions?

-          the grotesque

-          hyperbole