OLIVER WANTS SOME MORE

The text is taken by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist it's from chapter 2. The extract starts with the description in which the scene takes place. Copper refers on what the container of the children is made up. There are people which have to distribute food . The novelist give a name to them, but the I.R. understands that three people follow a typical ritual, that of meal distribution . The ritual of meal distribution it is presented as an extraordinary event. The distribution was an event of great importance . The group of people is described as ridiculous . Each boy was given a porringer. And what matters most is that the narrator adds the expression” and no more” to the word “porringer”. It's made to create the atmosphere of categorical mentality in that place. The idea is reinforced by additional information with through the use of the word “except” . The I.R. can also notice that the master , the servants and the children don't at first show any specific identity. In addition the narrator   focuses on size, quantity, even before talking about the kind of food .It seems that he was more interested in describing the bounds instead of people . It creates a very impressive text. The children were very hungry then the attention focuses on boys actions, the characterization of them is about what they do. In order to reinforce the idea the author uses the word “polish “.The dish is even more clean than before washing it. To convey this idea he uses the expression “shone again”. He uses a high register of language. There's a contradiction between what they do and the language they use. This discrepancy is used to create the grotesque. The narrator is using exaggeration and sarcasm to create a kind irony. If we understand that we know that there's a tragic story. The grotesque is a narrative technique which used the exaggeration of tones and the use of hyperbolic language , and it's a way to make the reader reflect on the situation of children at that time. He criticize the society indirectly. Such a stylistic choice does not prevent the I.R. to be emphatic with the children to feel pathos, its safeguards , the reader's emotion on one side and made the reader understand the problems of the children on the other. So people could gain an alibi from that reading because the situation described is so exaggerated to make them seem unguilty.   All that allowed him to criticize the problems of that time . He seems to suffer with the children. Another important element is also to tell the behaviour of the children. He tell the reader how the children look at the copper . He uses an alliterative sound . All the devices create a very cohesive and compact speech. The well-read reader creates very easily a picture in his mind about Charles Dickens says. The reader becomes also an imaginative one. The images are generally exaggerated created by hyperbolical use of the language . The reason why is to create a reality a bit distant, which allowed the reader to create an alibi. There are repetitions about often habits . In describing the children their eyes are so hungry , here it is expressed the concept of the starvation of the children. The use of the verb to devour refers to the concept of starvation . Taste is the sense he appeals to . Again the register is very high, unsuitable for that situation . It's superb . He create an unbelievable situation . The children are described like animals. They are very hungry. He creates a humour but there's a very tragic situation. The use of the expression “excellent appetites” is used to create irony and it results unsuitable for this situation . This device makes the reader reflect on the problems of children at Dickens time. We know reality only from the third person narrator point of view . He describes the characterization of only one character, that of Oliver Twist. Fiction and novel are forms of entertainment. Hunger makes the children become cruel, aggressive and even potential cannibals. It told us that Oliver was tall for his age because he wasn't used to this lifestyle . He isn't similar to the other children because he could eat better before being there. The narrator does not adopt the language of the children but that of the adults to create an ironic effect. There is a poetical contradiction, a contrast between good and evil. The starving children are so desperate that they decide to cast lots and chose someone who will ask for more food and of course the chosen one is Oliver. The fact that he actually stands up and asks for more is evidenced of is despair, his hunger and his misery, because normally he would have never gathered the necessary courage to do such a thing. The reactions produced by his request are described with intense irony: the master turns pale, the assistants are shocked and Oliver finds himself grabbed by the master, who call the beadle. Dickens underlines that the master is a fat and healthy man, meaning he doesn't know anything of the restrictions that these children have to suffer. The apex of irony , however , is reached by the author in the following scene, which sees Mr. Bumble report the daring request of the child to the board: they all appear horrified, astonished and incredulous and Mr. Limbkins predicts that Oliver will be hung. They decide to confine Oliver and to offer a reward of five pounds to anyone who would take the boy away from the parish.