The character Mrs. Mann took care of the children but did a terrible job of it. She mistreats the children, Mr. Bumble who is her superior is supposed to check on her but he puts up with her and her wrong doing. I believe that the only reason Mrs. Mann chooses to look after the children is so she can torment and bully them, to feel that she is bigger and better then them. I think that the society and Mr. Bumble should not have let her get away with such savvier wrong doings and should have let her take care of the children. I think Charles dickens chose the name Mrs. Mann because it reflected the characters personality, she is a manly and strong character.
Life in the workhouse was horrible, the conditions where very poor and the children where practically starving. The boys where fed watery gruel three times a day. Oliver along with all the other children was skinny and small. The children chose between themselves who would go up and ask the master for more gruel after supper and in the end it came down to Oliver. So he went and asked, the workhouse governors were horrified at his crime so they locked him in a cell for over a week. Sum one would come in everyday and beat him.
Oliver escaped to London and met a character name Jack Dawkins (AKA the Artful Dodger). He took Oliver to a place were he could stay. We then meet the character “Fagin” who introduced himself to Oliver. Fagin and his gang are thieves, but Oliver realizes this yet. Fagin and his friends started a game, Fagin hid things in his pocket and Oliver had to try and take them without Fagin noticing. I as the reader realized that Fagin and his friends where trying to teach Oliver how to pickpocket, but in the story Oliver himself believed it was just a game. Oliver only realized when he went off on the streets with Fagin and the dodger, he saw the dodger reach into a man’s pocket and run off. Oliver was caught and accused of stealing.
Young Oliver was being taken to court, I imagine he would have been afraid and worried of ending up in prison, he would have felt helpless. But thinking back at his terrible childhood, he may have thought that prison would have been better the going back to the workhouse. Either way, a child in that position would more then likely be afraid, I know I would be.
I think Oliver is a very strong character because he has lived through a terrible childhood but still keeps fighting. After everything he’s been through he still refuses to go back to the workhouse or the undertakers. I personally felt sympathy towards Oliver because I believe that no child should have gone through the kinds of things he did. I think that in the end Oliver got what he disserved, a nice family and home with parents who take good care of him.
In conclusion, Oliver’s life had been completely turned around by the time we reached the end of the novel, he started off in a terrible home and even worse guardians. And in the end he found himself good parents and a nice home. I believe dickens wanted his readers to react with joy after reading the end, I as a reader felt happiness and relief for young Oliver. I think that reading Oliver Twist can be enjoyed as much if not more nowadays then many years ago. I also think that the novel influenced the readers and made them think about how the lifestyle was like many years ago compared to today, it certainly made me appreciate the fact that things aren’t the way they used to be.
