Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist
57 chapters
3.88from 436,965 ratingson Goodreads
A boy born in a workhouse asks for more, is sold to an undertaker, runs away to London, and falls in with a gang of child pickpockets kept by an old man named Fagin. Between them and the respectable household that takes him in stands Bill Sikes, and a woman called Nancy who has to decide which of them she belongs to.
About the book
Published in serial form from 1837 to 1839, Oliver Twist follows an orphan whose early life is governed by the workhouse and parish authorities. After running away to London, Oliver is taken in by the Artful Dodger and introduced to Fagin’s household, where children are trained as pickpockets. Oliver’s innocence leaves him vulnerable to people whose motives he barely understands. Charles Dickens combines melodrama, crime and social satire to attack the treatment of the poor under the workhouse system. London appears as a network of streets, institutions and hidden relationships, while Oliver moves between exploitation and kindness without possessing the power to determine where he belongs.
Characters
Oliver Twist — Protagonist
An orphan raised by the parish whose innocence survives the harsh institutions and criminals around him.
Fagin — Criminal organiser
An elderly criminal who shelters a group of boys and trains them to steal in the streets of London.
Nancy — Fagin’s associate
A young woman connected to Fagin’s circle who shows Oliver sympathy despite her dangerous circumstances.
Bill Sikes — Criminal
A violent thief associated with Fagin, feared by those around him and accompanied by his dog.
Jack Dawkins — Artful Dodger
A confident young pickpocket known as the Artful Dodger who first introduces Oliver to Fagin.
Mr Brownlow — Gentleman
A compassionate gentleman who takes an interest in Oliver after encountering him in troubling circumstances.
Mr Bumble — Parish beadle
A pompous parish official whose treatment of workhouse children embodies the system Dickens satirises.
About the author
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was the defining English novelist of the Victorian age and, in his own lifetime, its most famous writer. When his father was imprisoned for debt the twelve-year-old Dickens was sent to work in a blacking factory, and the experience runs under everything he wrote about childhood, poverty and institutions that fail the people in them. Publishing in monthly instalments, he wrote for an audience that read each part as it appeared, which is part of why his books are built of cliffhangers and crowds of minor characters nobody forgets. His novels include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol.