Setting
1830s in London and a small seaside town as well as Pentonville, and Chertsy (sp?).
Characters (look them up, these are the most important)
*Agnes Flemming- Oliver's mother
*Edwin Leeford- Oliver's father
*Edward Leeford, a.k.a. Monks- son of Edwin and Elizabeth Leeford; Oliver's half brother, tries to rob him of his fortune
*Oliver Twist- the title character, an orphan raised in a workhouse by Mrs. Corney and in a home with Mrs. Mann
*Mr. Bumble- the parochial beadle, names Oliver alphabetically
*Sowerberry- the coffin maker/undertaker with whom Oliver stays for a short time after leaving the workhouse because he asked for more
*Noah Claypole- worked for the above; follows Nancy and is responsible for her death
*Jack Dawkins, a.k.a the Artful Dodger- one of Fagin's boys, a pickpocket, he finds Oliver and takes him to Fagin, he is deported for taking a snuff box
*Charlie Bates- another of Fagin's boys who is constantly laughing
*Fagin- a fence and the head of a group of pickpockets, he teaches them to steal, he is hanged for his part in Nancy's death
*Bill Sikes- he has a dog named Bullseye, he is a robber and Fagin fences his goods for him, Nancy's mate, when he learns that Nancy went to see Brownlow he murders her in a fit of rage, an angry crowd follows his dog to Jacob's Island where he accidentally hangs trying to get away
*Nancy- a prostitute, she is Sikes' girl, she also takes a shine to Oliver, Sikes forces here to kidnap Oliver from Brownlow, she tries to rescue him by telling Brownlow and Rose his identity but she is followed by Noah Claypole and when he tells Sikes he murders her
*Brownlow- a kindly gentleman who stands against Oliver for robbing him at the bookshop, when Oliver is released he sees that the boy is sick and takes him home, saying "I will never dessert you"; he is instrumental in finding Oliver's true identity and apprehending Monks, he adopts Oliver
*Mrs. Bedwin- Brownlow's housekeeper, she takes care of him during his fever, she's nearly blind
*Mr. Grimwig- a lawyer, he'll "eat his head" if Oliver is not a thief, he's Mr. Brownlow's friend
*Toby Crackit- part of Fagin's gang, lives on Jacob's Island, helps Sikes break into the Maylie's house
*Barney- (a real person, he is actually the original for Fagin) in the book, a waiter at the three cripples, he planned the robbery
*Rose- Oliver's aunt, Agnes Flemming's younger sister, marries Harry Maylie
*Mrs. Maylie- takes rose in and raises her like a daughter
*Dr. Losburne- takes care of Oliver after Giles shoots him at the Maylies (Giles is one of the servants)
Theme
This is a different book, it actually has a main theme. It is the triumph of good over evil. There are other themes buried in there- the Poor Laws, the justice system, poverty, crime, prostitution, economic disparity, but overall it's an allegory with Oliver representing good and his environment and various unseemly characters representing evil.
The theme of Oliver Twist is that goodness will always win, and poetic justice will occur to those who are not good. Oliver Twist is an allegory, or a progress note the subtitle "The Parish Boy's Progress". It was written to attack the Poor Laws and to get people to sympathize with the poor.
Plot
The plot of Oliver Twist is incredibly complex. Mainly, it involves Oliver's quest to learn who he is and the quest of others (i.e. Leeford) to keep him from finding out that he was supposed to inherit money. The general storyline goes like this- a young girl shows up at a poorhouse (Agnes Flemming) and has a baby named Oliver Twist by the beadle (Mr. Bumble). He is raised by Mrs. Mann and then at age 9 or so sent to the workhouse headed by Madame Corney. He is then promptly kicked out for asking for more gruel and sent to be apprenticed to a mortician. There, he gets into a fight with a servant and runs away to London where he is accosted by the Artful Dodger (Jack Dawkins) and taken to Fagin, a fence and general head of a ring of pickpockets. Fagin teaches him to steal, but he gets caught when the boys (Dodger and another, Charlie Bates) pick the pocket of a man at a bookshop. The shopkeeper notes that it was not Oliver that stole the handkerchief, etc. and he is released. Mr. Brownlow then takes him to his house but he is kidnapped by two of Fagin's associates, a prostitute (Nancy) and a robber/murderer (Bill Sikes). Oliver is confined until he is taken by Sikes to Rob a house. There he is shot by one of the servants and taken in by a young woman (Rose) and her aunt. He is then well taken care of, but Fagin attempts to steal him back with the help of his newly discovered half brother, Monks (a.k.a. Edward Leeford). Leeford has sought out a locket identifying the boy as a relative of Rose, the son of Agnes Flemming and Edwin Leeford. Nancy goes to talk to Brownlow to inform him of Oliver's condition. She is followed by Noah Claypole (the servant that Oliver fought with at the mortician's house). Who tells Fagin who tells Sikes who kills Nancy. Oliver is then reunited with the Brownlows. Dodger is transported for stealing a snuff box. Bill Sikes accidentally hangs himself and Fagin is jailed and then hung. Oliver gets his money, knows his newly married aunt Rose Maylay and lives happily ever after. I may have left some things out and condensed some things, but I told you it was long!
As for setting, by the above you should have gathered that there are several. Mostly, England in the 1830s. There are several locations: the small seaside village where Oliver is born (look the name up, I can't remember but its made up), a small town next to London where Dodger finds Oliver, London at Fagin's place and Brownlows, and in the country will Rose.
The atmosphere of the story is incredibly dark and surly. There are thieves, prostitutes, pickpockets, burglars and overall mean people in the true sense of the word. There are some periods of fleeting happiness: Brownlows place, Rose's house. But in the end, I would say there is a happy ending.
Did that help? Good luck!
THEMES AND DEVICES
Family and Social Class
Family is important in Oliver Twist because Oliver doesn't have any at first, and some members of his family are out to destroy him (Edward!) while others are kind and loaded with money. Family is an important theme because Oliver is on a sort of search for his family, although not really. He is mistreated by many people who are not his family- like Bumble and Sowerberry- or only pretend to be-Fagin and Dodger. Rose being his long-lost aunt treats him well even before their relation is known, and Monks treats him the way he does (i.e. paying Fagin to make him a crook) because he is family and he will get an inheritance.
Oliver has no name because his mother (Agnes Flemming) did not marry his father (Edwin Leeford) and was not alive long enough to give him a Christian (first) name- thus leaving him subject to Bumble's awful alphabetical naming system and a name like Oliver Twist! Edward got the name, because his father was actually married to his mother (Elizabeth) but he kept it from Oliver in order to keep the money from him.
Class is important to the plot because the book was intended to be an expose of the squalid conditions of the poor, both in workhouses and slums. Oliver is obviously of a low class, even though he is from the blood of rather wealthy people, which I guess is intended to be ironic! Brownlow treats Oliver well in spite of his class (so too do the Maylies) while Grimwig doubts him and Fagin harnesses him because of it.
Allegory and Melodrama
Oliver Twist is a natural for melodrama. It is an allegory, which is why the character of Oliver is much less developed than the others. You'll note that the subtitle is "The Parish Boy's Progress". A progress, like an allegory (think "The Pilgrim's Progress") exaggerates plot to meet a greater theme. In this case, Dickens was shocking people into remembering the plight of the poor. Besides the horrid slum conditions in London, he also wanted to show what workhouses are like and spark an interest to ban England's horrible Poor Laws (he eventually succeeded). Thus, the plot came later.
Think about little Oliver's plight. Good triumphs over evil eventually, but he is abandoned, raised in a workhouse, runs away, ends up in a strange city with a vile old man that beats him and sends him to rob a house with a murder, all the time helping his half-brother steal his inheritance by framing him! Oliver is in the worst situation he could be in, and that is what enhances the social message. Do you know that people were so repulsed by what they read that they could not believe that Dickens made the story up? Worse yet are the parts that are not fictional- he got people's attention. The extended metaphor I would go with is good vs. evil. Oliver is good and pure, and evil (Bumble, Mann, Corney, Claypole, Fagin, Sikes) fights him and tries to turn him. While the evil is characterized, notice that Oliver is really not- he never fights back, he is timid and unreal. The language in Oliver is definite romantic- think of that quote when Nancy talks to Rose ("you don't know how I live", etc.), and when Brownlow says to Oliver "I will never desert you".
Further Information
Cite this page in MLA
Tracy, Trinity. "Notes on Oliver Twist." Dickens Made Simple. 2002. http://www.dickensmadesimple.com (date of access).
