Oliver Twist: a tale best summarized as “Please sir, I want some more”

Oliver Twist (1838)- Charles Dickens (398 pages)

Oliver Twist surrounds the life of an unwanted orphan of the same name and his adventures through his early childhood. The tale begins at Oliver’s birth, following him through his trials and tribulations as he attempts to survive and discover his identity. Oliver’s life is one of independence, grief, and oppression yet also wonderful optimism as he bounces around from one home to another.

Charles Dickens’ work is not a difficult read, especially when compared to his other novels. Once you move past the first couple days of reading, which I think are always the hardest regardless of the book, Oliver Twist reads very smoothly led on by an action-filled story. This adventure is definitely not an easy read overall but I think it is much easier than David Copperfield or a Tale of Two Cities, both by Dickens. The subject matter itself, surrounding a young boy, I think also lends itself to easier readability.

Social class and specifically poverty are by far the most poignant themes in Oliver Twist. Dickens provides an incredible critique of the injustices forced upon young children in this time period. Oliver is treated horribly, starved, beaten, and worked almost to death in his early years and Dickens takes an aim at this unjust behavior. He ridicules characters like the beadle, exalts Oliver’s kind pseudo-family, and makes it very clear where each character sits, on the side of unjust manipulation or purity. Sometimes Dickens uses irony to offer his critique on class structure, while other times Dickens forces his opinion with incredible ferocity.

One additional theme involves the importance of knowing who you are. Oliver enters the world as an orphan with no family and no knowledge of who or where his family is. Instead of focusing on blood relations, Oliver becomes his own person as he is passed along from group to group. By the time he finds out who his family is Oliver is already secure in who he is, a grateful, optimistic person happy to find where he belongs. In this narrative, Dickens provides a brief analysis of nature versus nurture as Oliver lacks a consistent substantial parental figure for large portions of the work.

I really enjoyed this novel. I entered into Oliver Twist thinking it would be like another Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn, not to trivialize those works as they are great but they have simplistic plots. Oliver Twist begins as a simple plot and transforms into a web of narratives all to be aligned by stories end, something I really enjoyed. Dickens creates an incredibly impactful social work matched with a fantastic story that displays the power and determination of Oliver. It is one matter to write a critique on society and it is another completely to critique society in the form of a novel as interesting as this one.

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone trying to read Dickens. As mentioned above, I believe it has the easiest readability of any of the Dickens I have read thus far (David Copperfield, a Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and now Oliver Twist). While I enjoyed David Copperfield more overall, this is a great place to start. Lastly, Dicken’s work is best summarized with a quote from Oliver: “Please sir, I want some more” but not just food as the immediate context suggests. Oliver wants food, rights, love, knowledge, and meaning all the items that Dickens is fighting for in this work. Fighting for their recognition in the public sphere.

As always, my scoring breakdown is below. Thanks for reading!

Score: 7.3/10- A tale that provides incredible commentary on the poor rights of children in this time period while also providing a compelling and exciting narrative.

Readability: 6- An easy read as far as Dickens goes.

Thematic Questions: 8- A powerful and consistent discourse on social rights and nature versus nurture.

Enjoyment: 8- An enjoyable adventure that wraps many compelling narratives together.