OLIVER WANTS SOME MORE

Oliver Twist is a novel written by Charles Dickens, published in 1838. The novel narrates the deeds of Oliver Twist, a poor child who lives in an orphanage and is forced to face critical conditions at the workhouse. The extract "Oliver wants some more", taken from chapter 2, narrates the event that brought to Oliver's banishment from the orphanage.

The narrator is a third-person narrator . At first, the third-person narrator informs the reader about how the young boys are fed at the workhouse. The narrator highlights children's problematic condition with particular expressions, such as "they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes,as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed", "Oliver Twist suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger". Then, the narrator focuses on the fact that leads to Oliver's ejection from the orphanage: Oliver is the boy selected to ask one more portion of food. He refers to the master with such words:"Please, sir, I want some more". Oliver was instantly sent into confinement and a bill was pasted outside the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver off the hands of the parish.

The extract reveals Dickens awareness of the difficult conditions faced by many children during the Victorian Age. Dickens' attention towards children's condition was  due to his own experience: during his childhood he was forced to leave school and to work 10 hours a day in a work-house, earning only six shillings a week.

ROSSO MALPELO

Rosso Malpelo is a novel written by Giovanni Verga, published in 1880. The present extract narrates the disappearance of Malpelo, visiting an unexplored part of the pit. Malpelo's death is due to the fact that he is left without everyone who cares for him: his father died in a sand mine and his friend Ranocchio dies because of an illness.  Malpelo's death and his father death's are similar but they have one major difference: Malpelo's body was never found. The fact is highlighted at the beginning of the extract, with the use of the adversative "invece". Verga's protagonist is similar to Dicken's protagonist Oliver Twist. In addition, the intelligent reader notices that both Verga and Dickens seem perceptible to the theme of child labour.