In the early 1800s, many were living in poverty. People from the countryside went to towns and cities to try and find work. Many didn’t and, even if they did, they were usually very poorly paid. The book was written to show how bad Victorian times were. It was to show the middle classes how the 1834 poor law affected the lower classes. The middle classes believed the law was good because the poor people were fed, watered and clothed. They believed they were doing them a favour. Dickens shows this wasn’t how it was, people were starving to death and living in poverty and squalor. It shows purity in a corrupt city where everything had to be hard work.
In a borough of Southwark stands Jacob’s Island (a real place), a scruffy, grotty, dingy part of London where the poorest of the poor live. The streets are crowded and bursting with people and the smell of the sewers is everywhere.
Dickens witnessed the problems in Jacob’s Island and tells them in his novel ‘Oliver Twist’. He sets the story in Jacob’s Island to show the upper class people how the lower classes have to live, the conditions of their homes, their dirty streets and to make the wealthy appreciate what they have got. He describes the place as ‘a creek or inlet from the Thames’ with ‘every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage;’.
Mr Chitling, Toby Crackit and Kags are all villains (Kags is a robber and has been for 50 years who is staying with Chitling). Chitling seems to know more about what has gone on with Bet and Fagin. He describes how Bet went mad after seeing Nancy’s body but seems more affected by what has happened to Fagin. When telling the others about how the crowd would have torn Fagin to pieces had the officers not fought them off, and Fagin’s appearance ‘I can see the blood upon his hair and beard, …’, he was so upset by this memory that he tried to block it out by covering his eyes and ears. He was already starting to get upset when talking about Bet ‘… his countenance failing more and more, …’ and was disturbed by the crowd’s behaviour towards Fagin because they wanted to hurt him so much.
Crackit owns the house but is not too pleased that Chitling and Kags have intruded and wishes they’d found somewhere else to go when the police were getting too close. ‘I wish, …that you had picked out some other crib when the two old ones got too warm, and had not come here, …’. Crackit is the one who lets Sikes into the house. He sees him from the window after someone knocks on the door (they are expecting Bates) and decides that he needs to be let in. When Sikes turns up at Crackit’s ‘crib’, he looks dishevelled. ‘Blanched face, sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, beard of three days’ growth, wasted flesh, short thick breath;’ His face is pale, no colour, his eyes have dark circles around them, his face is thin and drawn, he has not shaved for three days, he looks like he hasn’t eaten and is possibly dehydrated. He looks like a ghost. It shows that he has been on the run for a while and hasn’t slept. The words Dickens has used gives you a stronger and more powerful image of Sikes’ appearance.
Charley Bates is a young boy and he arrives at Crackit’s house after Sikes but is annoyed that Crackit hadn’t told him that Sikes was there. ‘‘Toby,’ said the boy, falling back, as Sikes turned towards him, ‘why didn’t you tell me this, down stairs?’’. Sikes needs to win Bates over ‘… the wretched man was willing to propitiate even this lad.’ but Bates stands up to Sikes (and seems to make him feel guilty ‘…, but Sikes’ eyes sunk gradually to the ground.’). Bates appears not to be afraid of Sikes. He fights with him receiving no help from the others who are amazed at what is happening. ‘The three spectators seem quite stupefied. They offered no interference, …’. He is fighting for Nancy and it shows how loved Nancy was by Fagin’s gang of boys and by the mob that wants Sikes’s blood. Would they chase after anyone who had committed a murder or was it just because it was Nancy? Bates is shrieking all the time to the people outside, shouting to them to break the door down. Even when Sikes locks him in a room, he is still shouting.
Sikes is an evil man although he must regret killing Nancy. He is haunted by the memory of her eyes and how he brutally murdered her, the woman he loved and he is worried and maybe scared that the body is still around (‘… is it buried … Wot do they keep such ugly things above the ground for?’).
Bulls Eye is Sikes’ loyal dog, and always will be no matter what happens. When Bulls Eye turns up at Crackit’s ‘crib’, the three are worried that Sikes may be with him and go and check the window, stairs and street. Once they are satisfied that the dog is alone they look after him by giving him water and discuss between them where he could have come from and why Sikes wasn’t with him. They realise the dog must have come a long way ‘Covered with mud – lame – half-blind – he must have come a long way.’ Dickens’ describes the dog in this state as it shows that he has had a long, rough journey. They finally convince themselves that Sikes must have skipped the country and left the dog behind. And they believed the dog came to them because he had been there before, many times.
The crowd of people watching soon become a mob. ‘… a strong struggling current of angry faces, … show them out in all their wrath and passion.’ They have chased after Sikes and want him caught. One shouts that he will offer a reward of £50 to anyone for Sikes to be taken alive. This shows how much they want Sikes caught as this was a massive amount of money in Victorian times. They move from windows to bridges, wherever they can find a space. There were so many people that there were cries and shrieks from those that were being crushed or trampled. Sikes is shocked by the fierceness of the crowd even though he had originally encouraged them, ‘Damn you! … Do your worst!’
The story is written in a Victorian style of writing which is sometimes hard to understand, although it may have been easier to understand at the time it was written! When Sikes wants a rope so he can drop into the ditch to escape, he threatens the villains to get what he wants ‘… or I shall do three more murders …’ rather than just saying he would kill them all and he gets what he wants because the villains believe that Sikes might actually murder them. Especially as he has already murdered before – and someone so close to him. Dickens also writes ‘… it must be a matter of great difficulty to open it from the inside; …’ when he refers to Sikes planting a board firmly against the door rather than just writing ‘it would be difficult to open the door’. He also writes about Bates being locked in the small room and ‘… from this aperture, he had never ceased to call on those without, to guard the back; …’ which means that Bates, through a small, narrow opening, had not stopped shouting to the crowd to get them to go to the back of the house as Sikes tries to escape.
Poor Bulls Eye (who was aware of Sikes’ death) had been hiding, and was running backwards and forwards along the edge of the roof. In his misery, he prepares to jump over to Sikes. Bulls Eye dives out to reach Sikes’ shoulders but he misses and plummets to his death ‘… and striking his head against the stone, dashed out his brains’.
Flash language is used instead of swearing so as not to offend the middle classes. This is because the story was published every month and if it had swearing in, it would not have been suitable for all audiences. Although there is no swearing in the story, you still get the idea of the strength of feeling in what people say.
The purpose of this Chapter is that Dickens needs to finish the story and he rounds everybody up to show how they are feeling and how they are affected by what has happened. He kills off the villain as punishment for his crime and shows how such a clever, cunning thief could die so clumsily. Dickens may have chosen to have Sikes kill himself (although it was an accident) because then the responsibility of his death wouldn’t have fallen to anyone else. So he gets rid of Sikes, and nobody else is to blame.
