“Oliver Twist as a TwistedHistory of the victorian age.” Name :- Neelamba R Sarvaiya.

M. A. Sem-2Roll no – 21

Paper no-6 The Victorian Literature. S.B.Gardi English department

M.K. Bhavnagar University.Year-2013-2014

“Oliver Twist as aTwisted History In Victorian Literature.”

Oliver Twist by Charles dickens

Oliver Twist, subtitled The Parish Boy's Progress.It is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. Oliver Twist is notable for Dickens's unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives

“Oliver Twist as a Twisted

History”

Child labour

Oliver Twist to Fagin

The Workhou

se

Child Pickpock

et

“CHILD LABOR in Oliver Twist.”

“CHILD LABOR in Oliver Twist.”

•Oliver Twist who had been orphan.• who sold out a child labor.• the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children.•The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of hardships as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own early youth as a child labourer contributed to the story's development.

“Oliver Twist to FAGIN.”

• Orphan fell into bad company.•Oliver follows Dodger to the "old gentleman's" residence. In this way, Oliver unwittingly falls in with an infamous Jewish criminal known as Fagin.

“THE WORKHOUSE in the Oliver Twist.”

“THE WORKHOUSE in the Oliver Twist.”

The budgets allocated to the workhouses were very small and there was a great deal of corruption among the people who ran them.Many in the workhouses went hungry, while the managers grew fat on the money they received.People of all ages, including children as young as four or five years old, had to work long hours twisting rope or breaking rocks. The dreaded workhouses were more like prisons and labor camps than any form of social care.

“CHILD PICK-POCKETING.”

“CHILD PICK-POCKETING.”

In Oliver Twist the sly character known as The Artful Dodger, who introduces him to an old man by name of Fagin. There were adult criminals who organized gangs of children to work for them as 'pick-pockets.' Pick-pockets were people who by cunning and guile, stole small goods - coins, jewellary, watches and so on - literally from the pockets and purses of people on the crowded London streets.

These pick-pockets would share their earnings with the gang leader in exchange for food, shelter and other protection.

Conclusion:-

In Oliver Twist, Dickens mixes grim realism with merciless satire to describe the effects of industrialism on 19th-century England and to criticize the harsh new Poor Laws.

Oliver, an innocent child, is trapped in a world where his only options seem to be the workhouse, Fagin's gang, a prison, or an early grave.

In the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive Oliver remains pure-hearted, he steers away from evil when those around him give in it In the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive Oliver remains pure-hearted, he steers away from evil when those around him give in to it, and in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward – leaving for a peaceful life in the country, surrounded by kind friends. On the way to this happy ending, Dickens explores the kind of life an outcast, orphan boy could expect to lead in 1830s London.

In this way we can say that ‘Oliver Twist’ has Twisted History of the Victorian literature.

Thank You.