Oliver wants some more, C. Dickens – Analysis

The story is about an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London. Naïvely unaware of unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of an elderly criminal trainer Fagin.

One day, the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes up forward, bowl in hand, and begs Mr. Bumble for gruel with his famous request: "Please, sir, I want some more".

The request triggers an exaggerated chain reaction, that brought Oliver down to the street.

In this extract, secondary characters are notable for Dickens' ironic portrayal of rich people and their sordid lives. The extract exposed the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London during the Victorian era.

The master is an example of rich society: they were "fat", a sign for opulence and selfishness, and "wealth". Other secondary characters, such as Mr Limbkins, are flat people: they are defined by only one aspect and they are built around a single social trait.

In addition, the narrator accuses directly the situation of poor children and the idea to use them as object and to throw them away when they'll become useless. In some way, the narrator calls for political action to bring justice and order into industrialized society.

An early example of the social novel, the extract calls the reader's attention to various contemporary evils, including child labour, the recruitment of children as criminals in factories. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of his time by surrounding the novel's serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour.