Two chapters of "Oliver Twist" examine how Charles Dickens criticises Victorian society for its hypocrisy and the way in which it allowed poverty-stricken children, like Oliver, to be the victims of adult cruelty, neglect and exploitation.
"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was originally called "the Parish Boy's Progress" and is the earliest English novel to have a child as it's main character.
In this novel I have found several examples of Oliver being mistreated, neglected and exploited, by the adults around him.
The way, in which Dickens makes Oliver look like the victim on numerous occasions throughout the book, makes it clear that Dickens is emphasising the cruelty and callousness of the Victorians, towards paupers.
Dickens uses irony and makes acidic authorial comments throughout the novel, to highlight the hypocrisy and pomposity of the adult characters.
With particular reference to Chapter Two and Chapter Four of the novel, I am going to explore how Dickens criticises Victorian society for its hypocrisy and ill treatment of children, such as Oliver.
For parts of my exploration of the question, I will comment upon Dickens's skilful character descriptions, his use of irony, his use of emotive language and his open criticisms of the cruelties inflicted upon young Oliver, by the adults in his life.
The first extract from "Oliver Twist" which I am going to explore, is entitled "Chapter II. Treats of Oliver Twist's growth, education and board."
It tells us of Oliver's life from just after his birth to his ninth birthday. At which point, he is taken from the orphanage, to the parish workhouse. At this age Dickens describes Oliver as "a pale thin child, somewhat diminutive in stature and decidedly small in circumference."
Firstly, I am going to concentrate on the character of Mrs. Mann, within this extract.
Mrs. Mann is Oliver's "foster mother", along with many other young children. She does not treat the children well, and as such, when Mr. Bumble calls "he [Oliver] was keeping it [his ninth birthday] in the coal cellar with a select party of two other gentlemen, who, after participating in a sound thrashing, had been locked up for presuming to be hungry." This explains to us that Mrs. Mann half starves her children as well as physically abusing and beating them.
We can see that she beats the children often in the following quotation -
"the fist had been too often impressed upon his body."
She also admits to Mr. Bumble that she drugs the children with gin, or "Daffy" as she calls it. She gives the excuse that she "couldn't see 'em suffer before me very eyes." The gin would subdue the children's spirits and they would be easier to quieten down and keep in line.
Oliver seems to be afraid of Mrs. Mann, as seen when she is stood behind Mr. Bumble "shaking her fist at him with a furious countenance." At this Oliver "took the hint" and pretended to be upset at leaving her.
Mrs. Mann is very false and pretends to be very upset when Oliver is leaving. An example of this is when she dabs the corner of her eye. She isn't really upset but she wants to convey that impression to Mr. Bumble. For example - "Mrs. Mann gave him [Oliver] a thousand embraces."
She is incredibly complimentary towards Mr. Bumble and Dickens describes her manner as one of "captivating sweetness". She even, at one point, calls Mr. Bumble "quite a literary character" when all he'd done was name a few children with names in alphabetical order. Dickens calls Mrs. Mann, Oliver's "benevolent protectress". He is most certainly being ironic, to emphasise that she is the exact opposite of this. She is not kind towards Oliver in any way and she doesn't protect him from harm. In fact, she is the one who inflicts harm upon him.
Another example of cruelty and neglect inflicted upon the children by the adults whose care they are in is the treatment given to them by the gentlemen of the Board. As Oliver enters the room to go before the Board, he is distraught and not at ease. He stutters when asked his name, at which point "a gentleman in a white waistcoat said he was a fool."
Dickens makes an ironic authorial comment wherein he says that that "was a capital way of raising his spirits and putting him quite at his ease."
This quotation is ...
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Another example of cruelty and neglect inflicted upon the children by the adults whose care they are in is the treatment given to them by the gentlemen of the Board. As Oliver enters the room to go before the Board, he is distraught and not at ease. He stutters when asked his name, at which point "a gentleman in a white waistcoat said he was a fool."
Dickens makes an ironic authorial comment wherein he says that that "was a capital way of raising his spirits and putting him quite at his ease."
This quotation is a prime example of how Dickens criticises Victorian society.
From the moment Oliver goes before the Board, Dickens emphasises that they are "fat gentlemen" and refers to them individually as " the red-faced gentleman" and "the surly one".
Then, at the other end of the scale, the boys in the workhouse "suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months". Dickens pontificates at length as to the fact that they are "so voracious and wild with hunger" and "had a wild, hungry eye." This is to further emphasise the difference between the Board and the people they were supposed to be looking after and helping.
When Oliver has he audacity to "ask for more." chaos is unleashed. The reaction of the master and the assistants is quite extreme and ridiculous. The master "gazed in stupefied astonishment" and the assistants "were paralysed with wonder". There seems to be an air of the ridiculous about their reactions.
The Board's reaction is one of utter outrage and "horror was depicted on every countenance". The gentleman in the white waistcoat at that point declared, "That boy will be hung" - which gives the reader the impression that these people are extremely hypocritical, in that they spend hours filling their stomachs, yet a young child isn't allowed to have enough to keep him alive for longer than three months. An impression of greediness is developed. The Board is starving their workers, yet they have more than enough food to eat themselves.
They show a callous attitude, which is very unpleasant, yet displayed often in their society.
"The boy is a fool - I thought he was" - this quote is directed at Oliver, a nine year old boy.
Dickens concentrates on using emotive language throughout this chapter. He does this to encourage the reader to empathise and sympathise with Oliver. For example, "wretched.... little companions in misery.... the only friends he had ever known." And also "reckless with misery" these quotations emphasise just how wretched and awful Oliver's childhood must have been.
Throughout this chapter, Dickens challenges the charitable organisations run by the church and government. The people who ran these institutions believed that poverty is the consequence of laziness and that the dreadful conditions in which they were forced to live would inspire them to better themselves. Through this novel, Dickens tries to get across that that is not true and that poor people are real people, with real feeling and real aspirations to better themselves.
Dickens concentrates on criticising Mrs. Mann, Mr. Bumble and the Board members to emphasise exactly how cruel, neglectful and hypocritical they are. He is showing Oliver to be half-starved and exploited, yet still pure at heart, to get across the point that poor people aren't born with the will to be criminals, but the environments, and adverse situations, are what cause criminal behaviour.
He is continually criticising these characters because he has very strong views about the neglect and exploitation of children in the society of the Victorian period.
The second extract which I am going to explore, with reference to the question, is Chapter Four, entitled -
"Chapter IV. Oliver, being offered another place, makes his first entry into public life."
This chapter tells us of how Oliver is dispatched to Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker, and how he is greeted there.
The arrangements made to dispose of Oliver were that, if a tradesman, approved by the Board, was to request Oliver as an apprentice, then he should receive the boy and a sum of five pounds.
At the onset of the chapter, when the Board are discussing whether or not to send Oliver to sea or not, they make a very interesting conclusion -
"The probability being, that the skipper would flog him to death, in a playful mood...or would knock his brains out with an iron bar; both pastimes being as is pretty generally known, very favourite and common recreations among gentlemen of that class."
This shows us their ignorance and misunderstanding of human nature. Also, it reveals how unfeeling and malicious those "gentlemen" are, because they decide that sending Oliver to sea would be a very advantageous way of "providing for Oliver effectually."
However, when Mr. Bumble brings Mr. Sowerberry in front of the Board, Oliver's fate was changed. He was to be dispatched to Mr. Sowerberry's "upon liking". This means that if the boys master can get enough work out of him without giving him too much food, then "he shall have the boy for a term of years to do what he likes with."
That evening Oliver was taken before the Board and informed of his fate. He was also told that if he complained or was sent back to the parish, then he was to be sent to sea, "there to be drowned, or knocked on the head."
This is a cruel way to threaten a young boy and just goes to show how malicious and heartless these characters are. Dickens is continuing to develop a feeling of detestation towards the Board and he criticises its members relentlessly throughout this section of the chapter. He clearly displays his dislike of this aspect of Victorian society, which allows such acts of cruelty to go unchecked
Dickens's character descriptions are renowned for their effectiveness and accuracy. In this chapter, he describes Mrs. Sowerberry as a "short, thin squeezed up woman with a vixenish countenance". This gives the impression of slyness and unpleasantness, which is further enforced by her pettish behaviour and also by her telling Oliver "You don't mind sleeping among the coffins, I suppose...you can't sleep anywhere else".
It is well known that children have very active imaginations; so sleeping among coffins wouldn't inspire many pleasant thoughts into a child's mind. Yet Mrs. Sowerberry show no understanding of this and just leaves Oliver alone in a room full of coffins.
This highlights the fact that the Victorians had no concept or knowledge of child development and psychology. For instance, there was no awareness of adolescence. They thought that people changed directly from children to adults. There was no understanding of the teenage years, so people were either treated as children or as adults, never teenagers.
A small, quite discreet bit of Dickensian irony in this chapter is the matter of the parochial seal. It is Mr. Bumble who sheds light upon this matter. He say ".... the parochial seal - the Good Samaritan healing the sick and bruised man."
The irony meant here is very clear. Oliver symbolises the sick and bruised man yet the parish did nothing for him but make his situation worse. They didn't do anything to heal him after his traumatic childhood at the hands of Mrs. Mann. If anything they treated him even more appallingly.
Dickens's use of emotive language in this chapter is for much the same purpose as in the last chapter. He aims to create an even greater feeling of sympathy towards Oliver. Quotations such as "with tears of real agony" and " Oliver piteous and helpless look" increase the readers' sympathetic feeling towards him.
In this extract I think Dickens was concentrating on making the reader see how badly Oliver is neglected and mistreated by adults. He also uses this chapter to further criticise the behaviour of the Board members and also the behaviour of Mrs. Sowerberry.
Dickens is again demonstrating how he detests the ways in which the adults inflict cruelty and neglect upon their young charges, and are allowed to get away with it because of the state of society at that time.
Charles Dickens was only twenty-four years old when he wrote "Oliver Twist". Yet in it, he effectively and comprehensively criticises Victorian society for its hypocrisy and the way in which it allowed poverty-stricken children, like Oliver, to be the victims of adult cruelty, neglect and exploitation.
To do this, he uses his skilful character descriptions throughout the novel. For example, in Chapter Two, the Board members are described as "the fat gentlemen" and Oliver and his companions are described as suffering "the slow tortures of slow starvation". This is implicitly emphasises to show the greed of the gentlemen, to the point where they have twice as much food as they need and their workers have less than half of what they need.
He also uses ironic authorial comments throughout the novel, which are an effective way of emphasising his own views on Victorian society. Examples of this can be found throughout the book and Dickens has made his views perfectly clear to his readers.
Another way in which he criticises Victorian society is in his direct, open criticisms of the unpleasant ways in which the adult characters treat Oliver. In Chapter Two, Oliver is asked if he said his prayers every night "-like a Christian". And Dickens says, at length, that it would have been "marvellously good" if he had done so "but he hadn't, because nobody had taught him".
Other more discreet techniques of communicating his criticisms can be found throughout the novel.
Firstly, the titles of the chapters display ironic tendencies. For example, Chapter two is entitled "Treats of Oliver Twist's growth, education and board." Yet from reading the chapter, anyone can tell that his childhood was far from a "treat", unless being locked in a cupboard on your ninth birthday for being hungry could be considered a "treat". Thus it can be assumed that Dickens was being ironic when naming the chapter.
Secondly, the names of the characters portray their characters and their lives.
Regarding "Oliver Twist". Twist implies that Oliver's life takes many twists and turns, which, by reading the novel, I can say that it does.
"Mr. Bumble". Bumble implies a certain bumbling ignorance to all that is going on around him, such as in Chapter 38. Mrs. Bumble is trying to sell the gold locket stolen from Oliver's mother at her death and he seems oblivious to all that is going on around him.
In the instance of "Mrs. Mann", the word "Mann" seems to imply a certain lack of maternal, feminine feeling. As in Chapter Two, when it is said, "the fist had been too often impressed upon his body". This tells us that she physically abuses the children in her care.
Charles Dickens uses various techniques to criticise the aspects of Victorian society of which he disapproves. Such as the hypocritical nature of society, which allows children to be subjected to cruelty, neglect and exploitation.
He uses ironic, authorial comments, character descriptions (which he is renowned for), emotive language and open criticisms of what he disapproves of.
He is very inventive, and in my mind, insightful writer, as he writes of how things should be, as they are now.
His aim in "Oliver Twist" was to convey his opinions on hypocrisy, child neglect, cruelty and exploitation. I think he has achieved this goal, and with it he has created an enthralling story, which is still widely read over one hundred and sixty years after it was written.
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