OLIVER TWIST – ACTIVITIES

Comprehension

-          They are in the dining hall of the charity institution for orphans. After the meal, they try to obtain another portion of food.

-          They are always hungry because of the little ration of food they give to them. When they finish eating they  “sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed”.

-          When they finish the food they try to ask for more and they cast lots for who has to do it: “it fell to Oliver Twist”. And so he asks for more.

-          Firstly, the master pales and gazes him in a stupefied astonishment. Then, he “aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle and he shrieked aloud for the beadle”. The board stay astonished and the beadle said that the boy will be hung, soon or later

Interpretation

-          I feel surprised because of the reaction the people have when Oliver ask them more food.

-          Hyperbole:

o   “the boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again…”

o    “…suffered the tortures of slow starvation”

o   “the assistants were paralyzed with wonder”

-          Repetition:

o   Ninth birthday (x3)

o   Hungry/hunger

o   Some/for more (x5)

o   The boy will be hung (x2)

-          Probably, the author sympathize for the boys: he underlines the exaggerated reactions of the master and the board for and insignificant action as asking for more food.

-          The narrator is in third person, omniscient: he knows everything, the inner reaction of the characters, their emotions and thoughts and he describes them.

-          Maybe, he want to criticize the way some children has to live in, and so, at the same time report the situation of Victorian society where a lot of children where abandoned in the street or in charity institution and have to live in critique conditions.