Book Review OIiver Twist by Charles Dickens

 

Charles Dickens is one of the great literary giants of our time. He was also an activist for social justice in the Victorian Era in London, England, which spanned from 1837 to 1901. In the book Oliver Twist, Dickens brings to light the horrible lives and perceptions of children. The rule of thumb of the time was that children should be seen and not heard. Because of this, they were also enslaved, abused, tortured, and forced to work under deadly conditions. Children were sent into the coal mines deep into the ground; many never emerged. Orphanages were full of unwanted children, and cruel businessman had their pick.  If Dicken’s did not write about this, many important details of that time of the treatment of children would be lost.  Dickens was well aware of the importance of being a historian, a sociologist, an economist, and how to weave those elements together into storytelling that will last for ages.

This subject was purposeful. Charles Dicken wanted to reveal the horrors of child abuse so he could initiate change. No question he was an activist writer.

What few know about the enormous volume of works by Charles Dickens is that he is the granddaddy of the soap opera form that we know and love today. And some could argue the comic book form as a pictorial genre. You see, Oliver Twist was not written as one big book. It was distributed over time between 1837 and 1939 in serial book form. Hundreds of people would anxiously wait on the docks of London for a boat carrying the next chapter of Oliver Twist to be delivered.

What will happen next? Will it be dreadful and horrible or loving and kind.

We first meet Oliver in an orphanage run by a vile, abusive woman Mrs. Coenry who soon discovers that the state pays her more to take the dead bodies of children away rather than feed them. This is the place where Oliver starts his operatic soap journey from hopeless and helpless to loved and cherished and back again.  Good and kind, pure of heart and soul, would Oliver be able to navigate his way through this cruel world?

 If it wasn’t for Mr. Gamefield who picked Oliver to become a chimney sweep, he would have most certainly died. Child labor was part of the economy, and the children were grateful to be saved from an orphanage and paid with a little food and water. The chimney sweep was widespread child labor. Our main protagonist Oliver Twist is forced to work in this profession. On a daily bases, he was sent up a chimney full of soot, grease, and charred remains of bones. He was small and could fit, and up he would ascend with a broom and try to sweep the chimney clean, descending again covered in ash unable to breathe.  

Many small children died in that way. Some got stuck. To unstick them, their owners would set the hearth on fire with hopes the boys so terrified by the flames would scurry to the top…it worked some of the time.  But children were considered replaceable, and the orphanage was full of more boys.

And so little Oliver’s adventures begin like a boat tossed in the waves. Good happens than bad and good again. Evil people try to hurt him, and good people fight to help him, and when will it ever end? 

Oliver meets the kind Mr. Brownlow who wants to adopt him. But in a horrible twist of fate, Oliver is kidnapped and made a pickpocket by a dangerous street gang led by the Monstrous  Bill Sikes, who employs unwanted children in his criminal enterprise, and his partner Fagan who converteds the stolen treasures into cash. Here, Oliver meets Nancy, a lady of the night with a kind heart who is murdered for helping Oliver escape.  

And there are more cunning twists and zigzags that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Finally, after an exhausting journey, the stars align. Quite by accident, Oliver finds his way back, Mr. Brownlow, who and with the help daughter beautiful, kind, and innocent Rose, discover a very curious mystery. Who is this, Oliver?  Friend or foe?

What will happen to little Oliver? Will he escape the life of a pocket? Would Mr. Brownlow be able to save him, or would the kind Rose love him? Would he live happily ever after or die a horrible death? Or could it be something in between?

If you want some answers to those questions, I suggest you pick up this Classic, hold on tight, and get ready to ride this rollercoaster.