|
| |
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens
Born into an English workhouse for children, Oliver's life is not an easy one.
Oliver Twist is an orphan born into an England workhouse in the 1830s. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he spends his first nine years in a poorly run workhouse for children before being relocated to one for adults. After he is bullied into asking for seconds at the end of his meal, the angry parish Beadle offers five pounds to anyone who will take Oliver away. He is eventually apprenticed to a local undertaker, but after another apprentice makes comments about his mother, Oliver attacks him and is then forced to run away.
He meets Jack, a boy his age who offers him shelter at the house of his boss, Fagin. Fagin trains boys to pick pockets, which is what Oliver learns to do. During a pick pocketing assignment young Oliver is sickened when the boys steal from an elderly man and again attempts to run away. He is caught, but then saved by the same elderly man who nurses him back to health.
But Fagin’s gang do not give up easily, and they eventually recapture Oliver. During a series of escapes and captures it is revealed that Oliver’s mother was, in life, a wealthy woman who left her son a great inheritance. Those who were aware of his birthright tried to keep him from receiving it all along.
Originally published in monthly installments between 1837 and 1839 Oliver Twist is the second novel of the late Charles Dickens. The first English novel with a child protagonist it was a revolutionary example of the social narrative. The first to uncover such evils as child labor, thievery, and a criminal life Oliver Twist has been a highly renowned subject of countless play and screen adaptations, including the British musical Oliver! Also modern in its use of sarcasm and dark humor this tale is an intimate reflection of child corruption and lost youth in a morally questionable society.
Title: Oliver Twist
Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Tor Classics; New edition
ISBN: 0812580036
Review written by: Jennifer Kneisley
Reviewer's Rating:10
Reader's Rating: 6.00
Reader's Votes: 3
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
