CHARLES DICKENS, OLIVER TWIST

 

Oliver Wants Some More!

 

Comprehension

 

1.   The children are in a room described as a large stone hall and they are waiting for food.

2.   After they have finished eating they suck their fingers because they are still hungry; therefore they are not happy with their food.

3.   The children decide to ask the master for more food and Oliver has to ask him.

4.   The master, the beadle and the board are surprised and they cannot believe in what they have just hear.

 

Interpretation

 

1.   When I had finished to read the story I was bored; indeed the story does not draw my attention, maybe because I have never lived Oliver Twist’s bad situation.

2.   The main features of Charles Dickens’ style is:

 

Contrasts: …Please, sir,' replied Oliver, 'I want some more. (…) The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement…

 

Hyperboles: …he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him…

 

Repetition: …I want some more (…) For more! (…) The boy will be hung…

 

3.   The author sympathizes with the boy; indeed right from the start he has described the board using irony.

4.   The narrator is a third person omniscient narrator.

5.   The narrator is omniscient and so he knows everything and he can reveal every little particular about the story and the characters.

6.   The author’s serious aim in telling the episode considered is to underline the problem of the 19^th Century society after the Industrial Revolution.