1. The well-regarded Canadian literary critic E. K. Brown defined theme as “an author’s whole way of looking at the general area that he is treating.” What do you regard the theme of Oliver Twist to be and why? 2. Compare Oliver Twist with some other boy in fiction of […]

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A novel may have many levels of symbolism. Setting and characters may convey symbolic meaning aside from their plot functions. Some trait or gesture of a person may symbolize an aspect of his character, as Bumble’s fondness for his three-cornered hat serves to illuminate his devotion to a tradition of […]

Read more Critical Essays Symbolism in Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist is a novel teeming with many closely interrelated ideas. There is preoccupation with the miseries of poverty and the spread of its degrading effects through society. With poverty comes hunger, another theme that is raised throughout the book, along with Dickens’s notion that a misguided approach to the […]

Read more Critical Essays Themes of Oliver Twist

The plot of a novel is a synthesis of all elements that make up the material. It is not the same as the story, although story is an essential component of plot. The story provides the framework in the form of a sequence of events related by the forces that […]

Read more Critical Essays Plot and Structure of Oliver Twist

The story of Oliver Twist is a dark tale of corruption, degrading living conditions, and the terror of unanticipated violence. The novel takes place against a background that is by degrees appropriately sinister. Slime and filth seem inescapable. Even the elements conspire to accentuate the dismal atmosphere; the weather is […]

Read more Critical Essays Setting of Oliver Twist

During much of the long period beginning with the French Revolution (1789-92) and the following Napoleonic era, which lasted until 1815, England was caught up in the swirl of events on the continent of Europe, with resultant conflict at home. Early in the French Revolution, many Englishmen enthusiastically welcomed the […]

Read more Critical Essays Early 19th-Century England

Charles Dickens was born February 7, 1812, in Portsea, on the south coast of England, while his father was stationed nearby at Portsmouth. Although the Dickens family was from the lower middle class, it tried to maintain an air of respectability. The father, John Dickens, was a clerk in the […]

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Brownlow’s character is a admixture of the many traits normally found in people. Basically kind and generous, he has some common, questionable characteristics. He is often impatient and curt. At times, he cannot resist teasing his dutiful housekeeper. In the pursuit of his objectives, he is not always governed by […]

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Rose Maylie is admirable Dickensian womanhood in all its glory. She is good for propaganda, but terrible for story. Being a person of sterling worth, incorruptible by human complexity and inconsistency, she is correspondingly uninteresting, particularly in contrast with Nancy. In fiction, as in life, angels tend to be less […]

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While Sikes may be looked upon as representative of the lowest depths of criminal society, Nancy finds her place near the upper fringe. Her tendency toward goodness has not been totally extinguished in her but still lies dormant. When put to a test, her better nature asserts itself on Oliver’s […]

Read more Character Analysis Nancy