Mrs Mann is the boss of the workhouse that Oliver was farmed to a little after his birth. When she sees Mr Bumble at the gate she realises that he wants to see Oliver because it is his 9th birthday today so she immediately reacts: ‘Susan, take Oliver and them two brats upstairs and wash them directly’ She referrers to them as ‘dear children’ when speaking to Bumble which is obviously not what she really thinks because she previously called them brats. Mrs Mann goes on to try to convince Mr Bumble that the children are all treated well when she says that she gives the children ‘Daffy when they ain’t well’ Daffy is gin which costs quite a lot of money and it is not really feasible that she gives it to the children, it is more likely to be there for her own consumption. Charles Dickens is trying to explain to his readers why nothing is done about the way the poor were treated in the workhouse because when a member of the board comes along everything is ‘hushed up.’
The workhouse staff were allowed to get away with taking money for themselves that was supposed to be spent on the children. ‘Seven pence-halfpenny’ was the sum given per head to feed and cloth them for a week. The trouble was that the workhouse staff were taking the larger part of this and feeding the children on virtually nothing; ‘The smallest possible portion of the weakest possible food’ ‘Seven pence half-penny is quite enough to overload it’s stomach.’ This tells us that if the children had the correct amount of money spent on them they would be a lot better off.
Children were locked up for ‘atrociously presuming to be hungry’ This shows that the workhouse had a zero tolerance policy on food which is a little unreasonable as anyone would be hungry with the little food that they got. Further proof that any requests for food were dealt with severely is when Oliver asks for more. The master can’t believe what he has heard: ‘What! said the master in a faint voice.’ One of the gentlemen thinks that Oliver ‘will be come to be hung’ but in fact all that happens is that he is put into solitary confinement and the workhouse tries to get rid of him by offering five pounds to anyone that will take Oliver off their hands. I think that Charles Dickens over-dramatised the ‘come to be hung piece’ but this was done for effect and to ridicule the workhouse.
Charles Dickens emphasises the poor standard of the gruel when Mr Bumble says: ‘Don’t cry into your gruel, that’s a very foolish action.’ What this means is that the gruel is very watered down and by crying (adding extra water) the gruel is becoming even weaker.
Five pounds is offered to the person who can take Oliver as an apprentice. Mr Gamfield; a chimney sweep thinks that the money will help pay his rent so he tries to take Oliver. When he is being interviewed the board make various comments about his ‘nasty trade:’ ‘boys have been smothered in chimneys before now.’ Charles Dickens is pointing out to the reader what went on when people like Mr Gamfield apprenticed young boys.
What happened to some workhouse boys like Oliver was that they were sent to sea on some ‘small trading vessel’ and on these ships it was ‘probable that the skipper would flog them to death in a playful mood’ or ‘knock his brains out with an iron bar’ This is Charles Dickens exposing the awful things that were quite likely to happen to a workhouse boy. He says ‘playful’ to highlight that the workhouse kids were abused just for a bit of fun.
An undertaker called Mr Sowerberry eventually employs Oliver. Although Oliver is probably better off at the undertakers than being sent to sea, he still gets treated badly. ‘Cold bits that were put out for Trip’ Oliver eats the cold pieces of meat that were put out for the dog. Charles Dickens emphasises that employers gave their apprentices the bare minimum by saying that the meat was for the dog and that the dog hasn’t come back since the morning so that is the reason that Oliver even got the dog’s food.
When Oliver gets fed up with the abuse from Noah Claypole and Mr Sowerberry he makes a decision to run away to London. On his way he passes his old workhouse and sees his friend Dick working in the garden Charles Dickens writes: ‘he raised his pale face’ Dickens is dropping a hint that Dick is in a poor state of health. In the next paragraph Oliver repeats that Dick is very pale: ‘How pale you are’ this is exposing what the workhouse does to little children- brings them ‘close to death’
Dickens tries to horrify the reader on how depressed that Oliver’s friend Dick is: ‘I dream so much about heaven and angels… kind faces that I never see when I am awake.’ Dick is only about seven or eight years old but he is talking about going to heaven whereas if he were a normal happy child he would be thinking about living.
When Oliver reaches London the Artful Dodger mixes him up with Fagin’s gang. Fagin’s job is to turn the children into pickpockets to earn him a living. In return he feeds them and lets them stay at his room. He has successfully corrupted the Dodger and Charley Bates and intends to corrupt Oliver. However he has trouble in doing this because Oliver is naturally ‘good.’ Oliver doesn’t really catch on to the real meaning of what the Dodger and Charley Bates do for a living. He thinks that they make the things that they bring home: ‘wondered how they would possibly have had time to be so very industrious’ Dickens is trying to point out to his readers that the poor can still be good; Oliver doesn’t even think about criminal actions. It backs up his ‘nature v nurture’ argument (Nature v nurture is the argument on whether a person is naturally good or if it is the upbringing that they receive that determines if they are good or bad.). When Oliver first goes out with the Dodger and Charley: ‘the whole mystery of the pocket-handkerchiefs was revealed in an instant.’ ‘And draw from the old gentleman’s pocket a handkerchief!’ Charles Dickens describes Oliver’s reaction to this: ‘he felt as if he were in a burning fire.’ Charles Dickens exaggerates a little bit but he is just strengthening his argument on ‘nature v nurture’ Later on in the book the Artful Dodger says to Oliver: ‘You will be the first that he ever had that turned out unprofitable. Dickens is telling the reader that Fagin has a powerful influence on his ‘pupils’ but Oliver is strong and does not succumb to it. Oliver makes a dramatic speech to Bill Sikes about being made to steal. He says that he would rather ‘go away and die in the fields’ and begs for Sikes to let him do so. Charles Dickens was a great believer in that if a person was naturally good they would remain good all of their life. How ever Oliver seems a little too good for a boy who has been brought up harshly in the workhouse living on the bare minimum.
Throughout Oliver Twist Charles Dickens emphasises the conditions in which the poor live: ‘the kennel was stagnant and filthy. The very rats which lay there putrefying in its rottenness were hideous with famine’ This tells the reader a lot about the conditions in which the poor lived; they lived among vermin, not in proper houses and these houses were also filthy. Charles Dickens obviously thinks that it is awful that people have to live in those sort of conditions because of the way he describes the rats: ‘Putrefying’ and ‘famine’ this tells the reader that there is not even enough food around to sustain the rats. Further proof of Charles Dickens exposure of the poor conditions of the poor is his description of Oliver’s journey to Fagin’s. Some quotes are ‘wallowing in filth’ ‘dirtier or more wretched’ ‘filthy odours’ this is describing the area in which Fagin lives so before Oliver even gets there there is a hint of what it is going to be like.
When Oliver is arrested for the supposed theft of a handkerchief, Charles Dickens uses the court case to highlight the plight of young criminals who often had to steal just to survive. Oliver would have had Three months hard labour if the bookseller had not intervened. Three months hard labour is a harsh penalty for stealing a pocket-handkerchief and would probably kill a boy like Oliver who is in a poor state of health. Other punishments for young criminals were transportation that was dished out to offenders who had perhaps stolen a wallet. Transportation was when offenders were put onto ships and transported to Australia to start a new life. A lot of these offenders would just carry on stealing out in Australia because it was the only way they could survive.
People who ere rich (like Mr Brownlow) get treated differently in court than the poor people do (like Oliver) Mr Brownlow was reading a book when his handkerchief was stolen and he forgot to put the book down when he was chasing Oliver. When the bookseller comes in to intervene with the court case he mentions that the book is not paid for: ‘No it is not said the gentleman with a smile.’ Fang then says: ‘A nice man to prefer a charge against a poor boy,’ and then, ‘Think yourself lucky that the owner of the bookstall declines to prosecute’ The last quote is probably correct because the bookstall man would probably not prosecute because Mr Brownlow had made a mistake but it is an example of the hypocrisy of the Victorians. They are willing to prosecute Oliver but when it comes to someone rich like Mr Brownlow is let off free. Mr Fang the Judge automatically says that the bookseller ‘declines to prosecute’ because Mr Brownlow is obviously richer than the bookseller. When Mr Brownlow tries to speak in favour of Oliver’s release he is told to ‘hold his tongue’ Mr Fang says hold your tongue several more times until Mr Brownlow is forced to be quiet. This is Charles Dickens putting the point across to his readers the idea of hypocrisy. I think that Charles Dickens used the name ‘Fang’ to say a little about the judge’s character.
The main theme of Oliver Twist is Good v. Evil. The ‘good’ characters are Oliver, Mr Brownlow and Nancy (To an extent.) Nancy is represented to be a bit good and a bit evil because she is with Bill Sikes who is a robber and has a lot of dealings with Fagin. Fagin, Monks, Bill Sikes, Artful Dodger and Charley Bates are the bad characters. When Oliver first sees Fagin for the first time he is described using images of the devil: ‘repulsive face’ ‘matted red hair.’ This tells the reader something about Fagin’s character even before he speaks. The Victorians were very religious people and would have picked up on that point immediately. However the first thing that Fagin is described as is ‘a Jew.’ The Victorians were all Christians apart from very few, and they would probably of hated Fagin because he was a Jew. Bill Sikes is described as ‘dirty’ and ‘bulky’ and is dressed in dark clothes. All of these create images of evil and of a nasty man who you would not want to cross. Charles Dickens is informing the reader further on members of Fagin’s gang.
Overall I think that Charles Dickens does a good job of informing his readers what went on in Victorian society. He has used a variety of methods including the themes of the book (good v. evil, nature v. nurture.) and using typical Victorian characters (Mr Bumble, Mrs Mann, Mr Gamfield ect.)
