How Are ‘A Safe Place’ by Lorenzo Carcaterra And ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens Similar And Different?

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How Are 'A Safe Place' by Lorenzo Carcaterra

And 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens Similar

And Different?

'A Safe Place' by Lorenzo Carcaterra and 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens both have similar characters, being Oliver Twist and Lorenzo Carcaterra. They also have similar themes of poverty and childhood. Yet they were set in very different places at very different times. 'Oliver Twist' is the story of an orphaned boy and his struggle to survive in Victorian London. 'A Safe Place' is an autobiographical account of Lorenzo Carcaterra's childhood in 1940's Hells Kitchen, New York. It tells of how his father beat him and how his family was always trying to escape poverty. Therefore both books tell of a lonely and poverty-ridden childhood filled with abuse and false hope.

The first chapter of 'Oliver Twist' describes his birth. The way this event is described gives you an idea of his destiny. It writes him off from the beginning.

"He was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once - a parish child - the orphan of a workhouse - the humble, half-starved drudge - to be cuffed and buffeted through the world - despised by all". This quote sums up the mood of the entire first chapter. There is no hope for Oliver. Before Oliver runs away to London he is subjected to the labours of being an orphan in Victorian times. Charles Dickens manages to make the reader feel sorry for Oliver by condemning the way he is brought up and describing all the bad events in Oliver's life in great detail, "It was his ninth birth-day; and he was keeping it in the coal cellar". There are no references to anything good happening to Oliver in his early years. Similarly Lorenzo Carcaterra makes us feel sorry for him in his early life by describing the beatings he and his mother received and his fathers schemes to make money, "My father took a deep breath and hit my mother in the face, his closed fist landing just below her right eye".
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However, later in the book Lorenzo Carcaterra almost justifies these acts by saying they helped him to grow up. Although we all know that beating your son is wrong in 'A Safe Place' it appears as just a regular part of New York family life. You are also made to feel sorry for both characters from their physical appearance. Oliver Twist is described as "A pale and thin child" and Lorenzo Carcaterra, although never described by himself, is referred to by others as being "small" and "weak".

'A Safe Place' is a modern novel about 1940's New ...

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