A review of Oliver Twist essays

A review of Oliver Twist essays A review of Charles Dickens` Oliver Twist Published (this edition): 1994 Published by (this edition): Penguin Books Length (this edition): 346 pages This story takes place in the streets of London, in a small town not mentioned by name, and in a holiday-house in the countryside at some distance away from London in the first half of the 19th century. Characters worth mentioning are: Oliver Twist (the main character)- a young boy with a big heart who is born into poverty, Fagin- a middle-aged jew who makes a living as a thief, Mr. Brownlow- an extremely kind middle-aged man whose occupation is not mentioned, and Mrs. Maylie- an unbelievably warm and kind-hearted old woman who is probably in possession of quite a large amount of money. The theme of the story may be the result of poverty in our society. The story starts in a workhouse in a town not mentioned by name, where a woman is giving birth to a child, who is later to be known as Oliver Twist. The beginning is sort of dramatical, because there is a lot of action taking place. However one does not understand the importance of its detailed description until one reaches the end of the novel. And this is a good example of the composition of the whole novel. One meets people in different occations and surroundings and sees them from different points of view all through the story. For example the nurse being involved in the birth of Oliver, then later dying in the very same bed in which the birth took place. The end of the novel is sort of a happily ever after-ending. Oliver reunites with his first saviour from poverty, Mr. Brownlow, and receives his entitled heritidge, and the evil Sikes receives his deserved punishment when being mistakingly responsible for h ...