Oliver Twist Presentation

I want to present the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. It was published in 1837. Referring to the kind of book you can say that it is a children’s story, a detective story or a novel of social protest.
At first I want to say something about the author.
1. Charles Dickens: A Brief Biography
Charles Dickens, the English novelist, is considered the greatest one of the Victorian period. In his works Dickens has attacked social evils and injustice. This he had experienced in his own youth, especially when he was forced to end school in early teens and work in a factory. Dickens's characters, such as the cruel Ebenezer Scrooge of the famous “Christmas Story” fascinated generations.

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. His family moved very often because of the fathers employments. Dickens's family was a middle class one; however, his father had difficult time managing money. His extravagant spending habits brought the family to a financial disaster and in 1824 John Dickens was imprisoned for debts.
Charles was the eldest of the Dickens’s children. As his father was in prison, he had to leave school to work in a shoe-dye factory. (It’s a factor where leather for shoes is dyed [gefärbt] ).During this time Dickens lived alone in a house in North London where the living conditions were very terrible. These experiences influenced him very much in his future writing.
In 1833 Dickens began to write short stories and essays for periodicals. Some of these stories were published in Pickwick Papers in 1836. Within several months Dickens became internationally popular. He resigned from his position as a newspaper reporter and became an editor of a monthly magazine entitled “Bentley's Miscellany”.
Dickens's career continued for the next several years. “Oliver Twist” was serialized in “Bentley's Miscellany” beginning in 1837.
In the years from 1850 to 1865 he wrote his most famous works like “Hard Times” (1854), “A Tale of Two Cities” (1859), “Great Expectations” (1860-61), “Little Dorrit” and others.
During these times Dickens had several love affairs and unhappy marriages which influenced his writing.
In 1869 his health began to decline. He died suddenly at home on June 9, 1870 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

Now I want to say something about the Plot of “Oliver Twist”

2. Plot and Structure

Exposition: The exposition starts with Oliver Twist born into a life of poverty and misfortune, in a workhouse in England in 1830. His mother, whose name no one knows, is found on the street and dies just after Oliver’s birth. Nobody knows anything about his father.
Rising action: After Oliver’s birth a Rising Action takes place : Oliver spends the first nine years of his life in a badly run home for young orphans (foster home). There he is in the care of a woman named Mrs. Mann and is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of the orphan’s ninth birthday, Mr Bumble, a parish beadle, (person who is responsible for running a foster home) removes Oliver from the orphan’s home and puts him to a workhouse for adults where he stays for six months. There some boys bully Oliver to ask for more food during a meal. This has been enough for Mr.Bumble so he offers five pounds to any person who wishes to take on the boy as an apprentice. Mr. Sowerberry a local undertaker takes Oliver into his service. While working for the undertaker, Oliver has to suffer torments through Noah Claypole, a charity boy and fellow apprentice. Noah makes humiliating comments about Oliver’s mother and therefore Oliver attacks him. Mrs. Sowerberry, who dislikes Oliver, punishes him. That night he runs away and travels towards London. During his journey to London, Oliver, starved and exhausted, meets Jack Dawkins, who is also known as the Artful Dodger. Dawkins gives Oliver something to eat and promises to give him shelter. Oliver follows Dawkins and it turns out that he can stay with a Jewish criminal named Fagin who trains orphan boys to pick pockets for him. He was the ringleader of a London gang of criminals.
Oliver lives with Fagin and his criminal members like Charley Bates, Nancy, Bet … for some time. After a few days of training Oliver is sent on a pick pocketing mission with two boys of Fagin’s gang: Dawkins and Charley Bates. The members of the criminal gang pick an old gentleman’s pocket and flee. Although Oliver hasn’t participated, he is hunted down and arrested for their offence. At the police station Oliver is discharged from a witness account and collapses. Then Mr. Brownlow, the victim of the crime, takes him to his home and nurses him with the help of a doctor and his housekeeper Mrs. Bedwin back to health. Mr. Brownlow is struck by Oliver’s resemblance to a portrait of a young woman that hangs in his house. Mr. Grimwig, Brownlow’s friend, doesn’t believe in Oliver and suggests Mr. Brownlow to test Oliver’s honesty. So Mr. Brownlow sends Oliver to pay for some books. But two members of Fagin’s gang, Bill Sikes and his lover Nancy, capture Oliver and return him to Fagin, because the gang wants to avoid that Oliver betrays them. In the meantime Mr. Bumble answers Mr. Brownlow’s advertisement inquiring about Oliver. Mr. Bumble doesn’t speak well about Oliver’s history and character.
Fagin wants Oliver to take part in a burglary.
Bill Sikes, a violent thief who helps in the kidnapping, and Toby Crackit, an associate of Fagin, too, send Oliver into the house. The robbery fails and Oliver is hurt in a shooting by a servant of the house. Sikes escapes and Oliver is taken into the care of Rose Maylie and the elderly Mrs. Maylie he should rob. They take Oliver in and protect him with the help of the doctor, Mr. Losberne. Meanwhile a mysterious man named Monks, has found Fagin and is planning with him the destruction of Oliver's reputation. Nancy, ashamed of her role in Oliver's kidnapping, meets secretly Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow to warn them. But a member of Fagin’s gang named Noah Claypole overhears the conversation.
Climax: Then the climax starts: Nancy’s traitor reaches Sikes and tells him about Nancy. So Sikes murders Nancy, flees to London and kills himself.
Turning point: Now a turning point begins. Monks is forced by Mr. Brownlow (an old friend of Oliver's father) to tell him his secrets and to find the truth about Oliver’s parentage.
Falling Action: Now the Falling Action continues. It is revealed that Monks is Oliver’s paternal half brother. Monks is the legitimate son of a loveless marriage. Oliver’s and Monk’s father, Mr. Leeford, was unhappily married to a wealthy woman and had an affair with his true love Oliver’s mother, Agnes Fleming. Monks has spent many years searching for his father's bastard child to destroy him in the hopes to get his share of the family inheritance. Mr. Brownlow forces Monks to give half of his inheritance to Oliver.
Denouement (open end): The end is an open end. Monks moves to America, where he quickly spends his money, commits crime, and dies in prison. Moreover, it is discovered that Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Oliver's mother Agnes. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow and lives happily with the Maylies in the countryside.
The Artful Dodger is caught later. Mr. Bumble loses his job and becomes very poor. Charley Bates, horrified by Sike´s murder of Nancy, changes into an honest citizen. In the end Fagin is arrested, condemned and hung for his crime.

3. Characters
The main character in the book is Oliver Twist. Therefore I want to introduce him and some other important characters.

Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist is the protagonist of the novel. He is an orphan born in a workhouse and the son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming. Oliver is between nine and twelve years old when the main action of the novel starts. Dickens uses his situation to criticize public policy towards the poor in 1830s England. Oliver can be characterized directly and indirectly. He is a “flat” character characterized by several character traits. In the course of the novel he doesn’t change through the different circumstances he is in.
Oliver Twist is treated with cruelty for most of his life. He is an innocent child, but his charms draw the attention of several wealthy benefactors (p.53 “There is something in that boy’s face that touches and interests me. Can he be innocent? He looked like…”). His true identity is the central mystery of the novel.
Oliver seems to be a believable character although he is raised in corrupt surroundings. Throughout the novel, Dickens uses Oliver’s character to show the people of Victorian England that criminals aren’t evil at birth. A corrupt environment can be the reason for people’s development. Oliver can show feelings of being shocked and horrified when he sees the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates picking pockets or being forced to take part in a burglary. Although Oliver doesn’t have a proper education he is able to speak good English and knows how to react on people in a friendly way (e.g. ““I beg your pardon, sir” said Oliver” p. 21). Even when he is abused, Oliver does not become angry or abusive. He is also very respectable and polite against other persons e.g. “”Yes, sir“, said Oliver” (p.19).
When Sikes forces him to assist in a robbery, Oliver begs to be allowed to …run away… (p.105). This shows that he isn’t a bad criminal but a considerate character and he can distinguish between that what is good and what is bad. He has experienced on his own how it is like to be hurt so he doesn’t want to hurt other people. Therefore Oliver Twist is a dear, grateful, gentle and friendly child.

Fagin
Fagin is a master criminal, the head of a gang of child thieves, whom he trains and uses for theft as Oliver. He is a very old and strange Jew. He takes homeless children and trains them for theft. By selling other people’s stolen goods he earns lots of money. He rarely commits crimes himself and prefers to employ the trained children for theft. His outward appearance is a terrible one: red hair, an ugly face and a matted red beard. He is eventually caught and sentenced to death.

Nancy
Nancy, a member of Fagin’s gang, might have been pretty once, but her rough life has made her untidy and bad looking. In the course of the novel she feels sad for Oliver this you can see when she regrets bringing Oliver back to the gang and later tries to help him get free of them. She does this although she knows that the gang will kill her if they find out. Nancy is Bill Sikes’s girl friend. Despite her criminal lifestyle, she is among the noblest characters in the novel. She gives her life for Oliver when Sikes murders her. Nancy was a child of the streets, became a thief and could drink to excess. Maybe she is a prostitute.

Mr. Brownlow
He is a kindly, old, well-off, educated gentleman. He is Oliver’s first benefactor. Mr. Brownlow owns a portrait of Agnes Fleming, Oliver’s mother and was engaged to Mr. Leeford’s sister when she died.

Now something about setting and atmosphere and the themes.

The novel is set in the area of London in the 1830s. It’s Victorian time. In Charles Dickens’s novel there are described the bad living conditions of the poor people. When you read you can feel a dismal atmosphere: bitterly cold weather, rain, fog and characters in dark and gloomy rooms.
Criminals often act at night, that’s why a large amount of action that takes place after dark. There is seldom sunlight.
The novel deals mainly with poverty and crime. The criminals in the story represent the outcast of society who mostly live in ruins

In the novel the topic of poverty is the main one. People suffer from hunger, homelessness and terrible social conditions. A lot of attention is paid to the topic of crime which Dickens sees as a result of poverty.
The good characters in his novel are alienated from their society. Oliver is an orphan and an outcast. The people of his childhood are selfish ones and mistrustful. They are only interested in there own welfare.
The pattern of good versus evil runs through the book. People like Oliver, Mr. Brownlow and the Maylies are very good and the bad people such as Fagin, Monks and Sikes are bad.
An exception is Nancy, who has led a corrupt life but who nevertheless tries to protect Oliver and do some good.
Other characters such as Mr. Bumble are corrupt ones, often in high positions in the public.

Referring stylistic devices I have analysed the narrator, tone, mode of presentation and the language.

Firstly I want to say something about the N / T.
Narrator/ Tone
“Oliver Twist” is original written in English and in the past tense. The narrator is anonymous and speaks as a third person narrator because he often changes the points of view of various characters. He has an unlimited point of view and is a reliable one. The narrator’s tone is sympathetic to the protagonist and less to the novel’s other characters. Therefore it is a subjective narrator.
The narrator is often ironic or sarcastic. In general the tone of the book is sentimental (p. 8/9 “he was afraid he would wake up so hungry some night that he would eat the boy that slept next him”), sometimes ironic (e.g. p.67 Fagin said: “”Nancy, my dear,… what do you say?”” and exaggeratory (e.g. p.39 “very shrivelled old man with a villainous face… was toasting sausages over the fire.”).

Secondly the Mode of Presentation.
Mode of presentation
There is panoramic and scenic presentation in the chapters as well. The author shows scenes in detail (e.g. the time Oliver spent at a fosters home) and presents events over a long period of time (e.g. the time with Fagin and the criminals).
Dickens uses foreshadowing through the portrait in Mr. Brownlow’s house which foreshadows the truth about Oliver’s parentage (p.59 “as Oliver was staring hard at the portrait of a lady on the wall.”).

Thirdly something about the language.
Language
Dickens often uses a sarcastic and ironic language e.g. p.43 Fagin: “Ha, Ha! You’re a brave boy, Oliver.” or p.45 “I hope you’ve been at work this morning, my dears?”.
Often you can read repetitions like p. 43 “Quick-quick! ...”. Although Oliver doesn’t have good school education he knows how to address people in a friendly way by saying “Please” and “Thank you”. The criminals use slang words like Noah Claypole says: “Open the door, will yeh?”(p.19). The author uses rhetorical questions, too: Fagin says: “”that’s a pleasant life, isn’t it? They have gone out for the day””(p. 47).

The following aspects I think are important to mention.
(Dark Humour)
The novel is filled with dark humour. Mr. Bumble and Mr. Sowerberry laugh about the small children's coffins. Noah and Charlotte laugh about the Artful Dodger when he is put on trial.

(Symbolism)
Setting and characters have a symbolic meaning. Dim rooms, smoke, fog, and pitch-black nights describe the setting. They create a gloomy atmosphere. The character Oliver Twist is a symbol for poor children and their suffering in Dickens’s times. Oliver is a small and thin boy, whereas characters like Mr. Bumble, the workhouse master, or the parish board is made up of “fat gentlemen” (p.7).

In the end let me say that I …
9. Recommendation

I have enjoyed reading the book and I would recommend it to friends. It has helped me to get an understanding of what life was like at Dickens’s times. It expressed the feelings of the characters very well. In general it was for me a touching and exciting reading, but I was also shocked about the circumstances people of that time had to get along with.
Overall I think it’s a great book that really makes you think.

Thank you for your attention.