Oliver Twist is a novel written by Charles Dickens.
The protagonist names Oliver, he is a young boy who lives in an orphanage in London and has critical living conditions.
The extract under analysis is “Oliver wants some more” and it underlines the causes of Oliver’s expulsion from the orphanage.
The extract is narrates in third person. It is opened by a descriptive sequence about how the orphans are fed.
The novelist attention is focuses to the living condition of children. The society portrayed by Dickens is a cold and heartless one, not interested in people’s needs but in its image. Oliver Twist appeared as an element of disorder and was immediately expelled.
The children suffer because of starving: they are given very poor meals, each portion carefully calculated. The quantity of food creates a contrast with the number of details provided by the description. Its main function is to emphasize the speed with which the orphans clear their bowls of gruel.
The children’s actions are mentioned as actions that happened everyday in the order suggested by the words “when” or “meanwhile”.
The expression “when they had performed this operation” makes the actions seem mechanical, like a part of an industrial process. This may be a reference to the Industrial Revolution and its consequences, a process which took place just before the novel was written.
The boy chosen to ask for a second portion of food is Oliver Twist. Oliver is convinced by the other children and is also pushed by his own childish naivety. Than there are the description of the reaction to Oliver’s request, marked by the repetition of the sentences “Please, sir, i want some more” and “to ask for more”. The last sequence focuses on the consequences of Oliver’s request: he is immediately expelled from the orphanage.