Oliver Twist's analysis

The extract is taken from “Oliver Twist”. It was written by Charles Dickens during the 1837 and the 1838. It is a victorian novel and portrayed the ill-treatment of children in the workhouses.

STORYLINE: Oliver Twist and his companions were very hungry. One of his companions said that he was too hungry and he might eat one of them while they were sleeping. So they decided to ask more food to the their master and raffled Oliver to do it. During the dinner, Oliver went to his master, Mr. Bumble, saying that he wanted some more supper, and his master, angry about the request, ran screaming to his superior: Mr. Limbkins.

SETTING: The extract is set in the dining hall of a workhouse during the dinner. The room is not directly described but the reader can understand how the room is made from the narration of the events. As a matter of fact the writer, describing the little food portions that were served to the boys, tried to convey the conditions of children abuse and the suffering from hunger. For example he repeated more times words that refers to hunger: “starvation”, “hunger”, “basin”, “gruel”, “eat”, “supper”, “copper”, “basin”, “spoon”, “laddle” and “dietary”; and words that refers to ill-treatment: “suffered”, “weakly”, “tender” and “fear”.

CHARACTERS: In the extract two characters are presented: Oliver is one and his master is the other. They are presented through a comparison. As a matter of fact, reading the extract, the reader quickly realizes that there are two groups of people: the first formed by children and the second formed by Oliver's master, his assistants and his superior.

In a part of the text the comparison is made explicit. As a matter of fact terms referred to Oliver are approached to terms referred to Mr. Bumble. They are “fat” (term that described Oliver's master) and “small” (term, referred to Oliver). It is the typical comparison used by victorian writers to portray the relation ship between the rich and the poor, the villain and the virtuous.

So, in conclusion, Charles Dickens used the pathos, the grotesque and irony to create situations that helps him to make up a criticism to the victorian society: the aim of all victorian novelists.