I think at first, Victorians treated Nancy as a dirty prostitute and a thief. They would have thought that she was a beggar and a woman who is desperately in need of money, but Oliver does not think of her like that, he respects her, treats her as his own blood and he also thinks that she is a heart-warming and caring person. It says in this quote, “Nancy wore a good deal of hair, not very neatly turned up behind and were rather untidy about the shoes and stockings. She was not exactly pretty, perhaps; but she had a great deal of colour in her face, and looked quite stout and hearty. Being remarkably free and agreeable in her manners, Oliver thought she was a very nice girl indeed”. Nancy is a paradoxical character.
When Oliver is living with Fagin, Nancy looks after the young boy a lot. She cares for him and keeps him out of harms way. She shows him respect and he shows some back. She cares for Oliver, because she does not want him to go to the, “dark side” and enter a life of crime. Nancy and Oliver have grown a strong bond between each other and Nancy treats the orphan as her younger brother.
At her young age, Nancy who was like Oliver was an orphan. She was found by, Bill Sikes and Fagin. They took her in and introduced her to a life of crime. She was great at it and loved doing the job. In the quote it says, “Fagin, who had led her, step by step, deeper and deeper down into an abyss of crime and misery, whence was no escape”.
This shows that Nancy was brought up by Fagin and was taught bad things. When Nancy was growing up, she was starting to fall for Bill, this is because he was the only person who looked after her properly and let no danger come to her. She fell in love with him, but drastic things happen at the end, involving those two… Nancy is a prostitute, because she had no life, her life was over she just wanted to make the money and all she thought about was herself, until Oliver came along. Nancy is a paradoxical character, this means that she is a prostitute and also she is caring.
The time that Nancy arrives at Mr Brownlow’s home, she is treated like a guest. She is treated acceptably and nicely. Nancy cries because she has never been treated, fairly and nicely and she is so shocked that the rich are even talking to her, because most other people, who are rich, would just ignore her completely. This has completely touched Nancy’s heart and she is so grateful. Here is a quote showing this, “the kind tone of this answer, the sweet voice, the gentle manner, the absence of any accent of haughtiness or displeasure, took the girl completely by surprise, and she burst into tears”.
The rich people have treated her fairly, like any other ordinary human being. They have nothing against her and they have treated her superbly and sensibly.
Usually rich people just ignore the poor and have no respect for them whatsoever. I think it is right that the rich people should treat the poor people the same, because they are same species, they are human beings; they all have feelings and emotions. Rich people should help the poor, by lending them money, opening charities, or they can do another good deed for instance. The thing is that, all human beings are the exactly the same, no more and no less.
Nancy meets Mr Brownlow and Rose on the bridge at dark, she has a bad feeling that someone is following her, but she knows that she must carry on and complete her task, which is to help Oliver. Nancy is very brave for doing this even though she knows that her life could be in danger and she is sticking her neck out for Oliver, this shows how much she cares about Oliver and she just wants him to have a better life. Nancy does know that someone is following her because she can feel their presence in the surroundings. In the quote Nancy says, “But I have such a fear and dread upon me tonight that I can hardly stand”.
This quotation shows that, Nancy can feel someone is watching her and she is very worried and has a great fear of dread that something bad might happen.
The next quote, that Nancy speaks of is, “I wish I did. Horrible thoughts of death, and shrouds with blood upon them, and a fear that has made me burn as if I was on fire, have been upon me all day”.
This quotation shows that Nancy could feel her future and what was going to happen. If someone saw her, they would report it and then that would be the end for her. The heart-warming prostitute had dreams of death and her burning alive. She has a strange feeling that she should have not come here, but she does know that it was worth it, to save Oliver from the bad people.
Nancy, who was innocent and asleep, was murdered by Bill. This is because, someone did spy on Nancy and it was reported to the tough nut, Sikes. This made him go nuts and completely mad, he went over the top. He could not believe that Nancy had snitched him up, after all what they have been through. This angered him a lot and he wanted vengeance. Nancy was quiet and sleeping, unaware that Sikes had a bat in his hand. He approached her and hit her with the bat around 15 times, she was pouring down with tears and begging forgiveness and finally she knew her time had come, she steadily raised her white handkerchief, (the one that Mr Brownlow gave her as a reward at his home, when she came to visit) and signalled a sign to, “give up”. The out of control Sikes, struck her again and she was finally dead. Blood was all over the place, it was like someone was being slaughtered. I think that Nancy did not deserve that beating, because she was only doing the right for Oliver and that was to keep him safe. She was fast asleep, and was probably happy, after confessing to, Brownlow, but she did not know what danger and suffering laid ahead in her path.
In my opinion, I think that Nancy was a nice person, who cared for Oliver. She was heart-warming and calm. I think she did have a heart, because she had the guts to go to Brownlow and tell him everything, even though she knew that she was being followed and she knew that Oliver would have a better life if he was with the good people and not the bad. Nancy did not want Oliver, going on the same tracks as she did, because she knew that Oliver could do something for his life, instead of stealing and begging.
Nancy is a lovely and caring character who risked her life for Oliver, she was determined and sensible. She was the only true person who looked after Oliver at Fagin’s place and she was their whenever he needed her. She was like a big sister to Oliver.
I think that Charles Dickens is trying to say, that some poor people can be very nice and caring, like Nancy. He is also trying to say that, the rich should treat the poor as the same way they do to their fellow friends and relatives. All the rich people and all the poor people are exactly the same human beings. There is no difference. Poor people should be treated equally, because they have got a right and if that does not work, then the only other option that the poor have is to enter the criminal world. So that’s why the rich and the poor should be treated with the same amount of respect.