Oliver Wants Some More, C. Dickens

Second part – Analysis

The presence of "long grace" and "short common" highlights the sense of irony, because grace are often short: the image of "short common" (the small portion of gruel) evoked in reader's mind is an infinitely small portion of poor food. Such situation reflects the sense of grotesque of Victorian Age: the exaggeration of tones allows the narrator to give the middle class an alibi, creating a sense both of pathos and fear.

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

The master is an example of rich society: he is "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. The essential and scarce description provides the reader the sense of grotesque through Dickens' novel. Grotesque elements in the novel gave the middle class the alibi they needed.

The dialogue are very short and very repetitive: the exaggeration created underlines hypocrisy of middle class values, exploitation for earning money. In their words, it sound like something extraordinary and impossible to put into practice and they look both surprised and frightened.

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.

The extract calls the reader's attention to various caricatures of evil, the exploitation of children. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of his time by surrounding the novel's serious themes with sarcasm and irony.