Review of ‘Oliver Twist'
Oliver Twist, one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens', is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in Britain in 18th century.
The author’s background:
Oliver Twist provides insight into the experience of the poor in 1830s England. Beneath the novel’s raucous humor and flights of fancy runs an undertone of bitter criticism of the Victorian middle class's attitudes toward the poor. Oliver is a near perfect example of the hypocrisy and venality of the legal system, workhouses, and middle class moral values and marriage practices of 1830s England.
As a child, Dickens endured the harsh conditions of poverty. His family was imprisoned for debt, and Dickens was forced to work in a factory at age twelve. These experiences haunted him for the rest of his life. The misery of his childhood is a recurrent theme in his novels. Oliver Twist expresses the unfortunate situation of the orphaned child. Oliver suffers the cruelty of hypocritical workhouse officials, prejudiced judges, and hardened criminals. Throughout the novel, his virtuous nature survives the unbelievable misery of his situation.
The feeling from these characters:
The hero of this novel was Oliver Twist, an orphan, who was thrown into a world full of poverty and crime. He suffered enormous pain, such as hunger, thirst, beating and abuse. While reading the tragic experiences of the little
Oliver, I was shocked by his sufferings. I felt for the poor boy, but at the same time I detested the evil Fagin and the brutal Bill. To my relief, as was written in all the best stories, the goodness eventually conquered devil and Oliver lived a happy life in the end. One of the plots that attracted me most is that after the theft, little Oliver was allowed to recover in the kind care of Mrs. Maylie and Rose and began a new life. He went for walks with them, or Rose read to him, and he worked hard at his lessons. He felt as if he had left behind forever the world of crime and hardship and poverty.
Those charitable figures whom Dickens created in the novel are really what we need in life. They showed love and care to others, just as the gentle rain from the sky fell upon the earth, which was carved into my heart deeply.
Mr. Brownlow is one such person.
The other day he had one of his elaborate watches stolen by two skilled teenage thieves, Artful Dodger and Charley Bates, and thought naturally it was Oliver, who was an orphan and forced to live with a gang of thieves, that had done it because he was the only one near by after the theft had taken place. Being wrathful, he caught Oliver, and sent him to the police station where the ill-tempered, unfair magistrates worked. Fortunately for him,
Oliver was proved innocent by one onlooker afterwards. With sympathy, Mr. Brownlow took the injured, poor Oliver to his own home. There Oliver lived freely and gleefully for some months as if he were Mr. Brownlow’s own son. One day, however, Mr. Brownlow asked Oliver to return some books to the
bookseller and to send some money for the new books that he had already collected. The thief Oliver once stayed with kidnapped him. After that he disappeared in Mr. Brownlow’s life. Searching for a while, Mr. Brownlow had to believe the fact that he had run away with his money. But dramatically, they came across each other again a few years later. Without hesitation, Mr. Brownlow took Oliver home for the second time not caring if he had done something evil.
Perhaps most of us would feel confused about Mr. Brownlow’s reaction. But as a matter of fact, this is just the lesson we should learn from him. Jesus said in the Bible. “Forgive not seven times, but seventy-times seven.” Why is that? Because forgiveness is our ability to remove negative thoughts and neutralize them so our energy may be spent on doing what we came here for. We cannot move forward in our future if past issues cloud our thinking. Stop put Mr. Brownlow into the list of your models. Always give people a second chance no matter what they might have done. That’s also a substantial part of loving and caring others.
Then there are Mrs. Maylie and Rose, Oliver’s other benefactors. Maybe the reason they loved and cared Oliver was not because of forgiveness. In my point of view, it was trust. They had faith in Oliver when he was considered to be a filthy burglar who tried to break the front door of Maylie’s at midnight. But this wasn’t how these two ladies saw the whole thing. They denied
Oliver’s crime immediately and listened attentively to Oliver’s own description
of his miserable life. They were deeply touched by Oliver’s strong
perseverance and astonishing vitality. Accordingly, they remedied Oliver’s body and heart and turned him into a different boy. He began to wear appropriate and clean suits which were tailor-made for him and receive education.
Plot summary:
Oliver Twist is born into a life of hardship and misfortune. Orphaned from the onset of his life due to his mother’s death in child-birth and his father’s conspicuous absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law. Thus, Oliver spends the first nine years of his life within a
branch-workhouse of the one in which he had the misfortune to be born. Along with other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws, Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts.
Around the time of the orphan’s ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle, removes Oliver from the branch-workhouse and puts him to work in the main facility. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the
workhouse for six months. After that period, Oliver breeches regulations by requesting, on behalf of another boy, that he receive another portion of gruel. The board of gentlemen who administer the workhouse are outraged by Oliver’s request, perceiving him as ungrateful. Desiring to get rid of Oliver, the board offers a sum of money to any person wishing to take on the boy as
an apprentice. Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, eventually takes Oliver into his service.
While in the service of the undertaker, Oliver is abused by Noah Claypole, a charity boy and apprentice of Mr. Sowerberry. On one particularly occasion, in an attempt to bait a reaction out of Oliver, Noah insults the orphan’s late mother. Oliver takes great offense to Noah’s words and proceeds to attack the boy. The disagreement between the two is heightened when Mrs.
Sowerberry, who dislikes Oliver, is summoned. Following an administration of punishment for attacking Noah, for the charity boy twists the
circumstances of the fight to make Oliver seem like an unprovoked murderer, the orphan decides to flee from the undertaker. Leaving during the night, he wanders aimlessly at first. However, he soon sets his destination as London.
During his journey to London, Oliver encounters Jack Dawkins, who is also known as the Artful Dodger. Dawkins provides Oliver with a free meal and tells him of a gentleman in London who will aid him in becoming established. Grateful for the assistance he has been given, Oliver follows Dawkins to the gentleman’s residence. Thus, Oliver unwittingly stumbles into the association of a Jewish criminal named Fagin, the gentleman of whom Dawkins spoke. Oliver resides with Fagin and his criminal associates for some time, unaware that of their unlawful occupations.
With time, Oliver goes out upon a pick-pocketing expedition with two of Fagin’s underlings: Dawkins and a boy named Charlie Bates. Though he is
unaware of the criminal intentions of the other boys until a robbery actual takes place and does not participate, Oliver finds himself accused of stealing. He is eventually freed from accusation and put under the nurturing custody of an old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow, who he was previously thought to have robbed, after falling ill in court. Oliver resides with Mr. Brownlow for a while, living in great happiness as a result of being treated well. His bliss, however, is interrupted when Fagin orchestrates the kidnapping of Oliver back to his haven of thieves. This is done for Fagin fears that Oliver will tell the authories of his criminal operations.
After being captured by Fagin and abused for some time, Oliver is again employed in an illegal operation. Bill Sikes, a violent thief who had helped kidnap Oliver away from Mr. Brownlow, uses the boy to break into a house via a small window. The robbery goes wrong, however, and Oliver is shot. After being abandoned by Sikes, a wounded Oliver ends up under the care of the people he had attempted to rob: Rose Maylie and the elderly Mrs. Maylie. Convinced of Oliver’s innocence, Rose Maylie take the boy in and nurses him back to health.
Meanwhile, a mysterious man named Monks has found Fagin and is plotting with him to destroy Oliver's reputation. Nancy, fearing their intentions, goes to Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow to reveal their plot. She manages to keep her meetings secret until Noah Claypole (he had fallen out with the undertaker and moved to London to seek his fortune) agrees to spy on Nancy
and then tells Fagin. Angry at the notion of his plot being foiled, Fagin passes it on to Sikes, twisting the story just enough to make it sound as if Nancy had informed on him. (In actuality, she had shielded Sikes, whom she loves despite his occasional ill-treatment, as much as possible.) Believing that she has betrayed him, Sikes murders Nancy in a fit of rage, and is
himself killed when he accidentally hangs himself while being pursued by an angry mob. Monks is forced by Mr. Brownlow (an old friend of Oliver's father) to divulge his secrets and give half of his inheritance to Oliver. Then Monks moves to America, where he quickly spends his money, reverts to crime, and ultimately dies in prison. Fagin is arrested and hanged for his misdeeds. Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Oliver's mother Agnes; she is therefore Oliver's aunt. She marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, and Oliver lives happily with his saviour, Mr. Brownlow.
My opinion:
The nature of goodness is one of the most necessary character for a person. Goodness is to humans what water is to fish. He who is without goodness is an utterly worthless person. On the contrary, as the famous saying goes, ‘The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose', he who is with goodness undoubtedly is a happy and useful person. People receiving his help are grateful to him and he also gets gratified from what he has done, and thus he can do good to both the people he has helped and himself.
To my disappointment, nowadays some people seem to doubt the existence of the goodness in humanity. They look down on people's honesty and kindness, thinking it foolish of people to be warm-hearted. As a result, they show no sympathy to those who are in trouble and seldom offer to help others. On the other hand, they attach importance to money and benefit. In their opinion, money is the only real object while emotions and morality are nihility. If they cannot get profit from showing their ‘kindness', they draw back when others are faced with trouble and even hit a man when he is down. They are one of the sorts that I really detest.
Francis Bacon said in his essay, ‘Goodness, of all virtues and dignities of the mind, is the greatest, being the character of the Deity, and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin.'
That is to say a person without goodness is destined to lose everything. Therefore, I, a kind person, want to tell those 'vermin-to-be' to learn from the kind Oliver and regain the nature of goodness.
Charles Dickens said:“Love makes the world go around.” So,let us enjoy life and treat other people lovingly!
英语二班：王蓟萱
学号：10571211