Class and Escape in Dickens: Oliver Twist vs Great Expectations

Introduction: Two Stories of Escape

Both Great Expectations and Oliver Twist are stories of escape. For Oliver, it is escape from starvation and bondage. For Pip, it is escape from poverty and illiteracy. Both characters escape into another world — the world of the upper class. Each novel shares a large number of similarities as well as significant differences. Their greatest similarity is that both describe the miseries of an abused, orphaned, penniless waif growing up in poor surroundings, Oliver more so than Pip.

The key distinction between the two is that while Oliver Twist is a description and rendering of poverty and the abuse of class discrimination at its worst, Great Expectations journeys beyond that, allowing its mature protagonist to reflect on his experiences and discover that the poor man is no worse off — and often better — than the wealthy. In Great Expectations, it is Pip and the convict who emerge as heroes, while the upper-class gentlemen are parodied. Great Expectations is, therefore, a parody of genteel British society.

Both books decry the abuse and injustice of a so-called "civilized" class system, particularly the injustice meted out to the most vulnerable members of society. Great Expectations, however, goes further by questioning whether the wealthy are truly of better character than the poor, simple, and illiterate — and it concludes with a determined "no."

Oliver Twist: Poverty and the Parish System

Oliver Twist, also known as The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. It is the story of a waif in Victorian England whose mother died in the poorhouse, leaving her son at the mercy of the British social system. The British social system in the nineteenth century was no friend of the poor and vulnerable, and its workhouses — where the poor, orphans, and the downtrodden of society were kept — gave as little as possible to their inhabitants while making their lives as miserable as possible.

Oliver gradually comes to meet other outcasts of society: hooligans and ragamuffins like himself who resort to burglary and petty theft as means of survival. During one of these escapades, he falls in with Fagin and his crew of professional thieves. At the same time, through a serendipitous series of events, Oliver becomes acquainted with a wealthy gentleman who eventually adopts him.

Unfortunately, Fagin tracks Oliver down and kidnaps him. The gentleman pursues them, discovers the thieves' haunt, Fagin meets his end, and Oliver and his friends are liberated in a hair-raising sequence of events.

Oliver Twist has deservedly become one of the classics of British literature. Its enduring status may be attributed to its psychological insight, rich vocabulary and style, historical value, and its significant contribution to social change. The novel was instrumental in driving radical reform of Britain's poor welfare system in general and the care of poor children in particular. It is a sad but liberating story with a poignancy that has seen it adapted into subsequent films and stage productions.

Great Expectations: Wealth, Class, and Moral Complexity

Great Expectations, written in 1860–1861, is the story of another orphan, Pip, who was brought up by his devoted but simple uncle Joe Gargery and a cruel aunt. Both are comparatively poor and illiterate people who live in the country. Pip saves the life of an escaped convict. Almost simultaneously, he is adopted as a playmate for a beautiful girl living with a wealthy, morose woman who, embittered by being jilted on her wedding day, remains fixated in her wedding finery and frozen environment. What Pip does not know — and only discovers much later — is that Miss Havisham's intention and revenge upon men is to have Pip fall in love with Estella so that she can break his heart.

Pip does fall in love with Estella and is heartbroken when she persistently and callously rejects him. As a strange turn of fortune, Pip receives a large sum of money that enables him to go to London, enroll in law school, and enter wealthy society. Believing this money to come from Miss Havisham, he eagerly affiliates himself with the snobbish upper class while distancing himself as far as possible from his humble background and relatives — especially Joe.

In London, he becomes reacquainted with Magwitch, the convict, who reveals that the fortune was his own hard-earned money. A repentant and remorseful Pip endeavors to comfort the convict in his remaining days. The book ends on an unresolved note, with Pip meeting Estella in a cemetery, where she informs him of her unhappy marriage to a wealthy man.

Similarities Between the Two Novels

Both novels deal with poor orphans who have been abandoned by their parents and by society, and who are used as pawns in the schemes of others. Both also show their characters battling against great odds and, in sharp contrast to the reality of the time, emerging victorious. Both protagonists find themselves connected to great wealth by the novel's end, and in both cases that wealth arrives in an unexpected manner.

Both books are sympathetic to the waif, although Dickens appears more sympathetic toward Oliver than toward Pip. Both books also detail the abuse their characters suffered. Pip, for instance, endured tremendous mistreatment from his aunt and from figures such as Miss Havisham, who viewed him as a pawn and, evaluating him solely on his external circumstances and finding him a penniless waif, deemed him unworthy of respect.

Pip himself observes:

"I soon found myself getting heavily bumped from behind in the nape of the neck and the small of the back, and having my face ignominiously shoved against the wall, because I did not answer those questions at sufficient length." (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, p. 69)

Oliver, too, suffered because of his deprivation. He was abused because he was born without the means to make his way in the world. In both instances, society evaluated the child according to his material circumstances and, finding him lacking, ridiculed and disparaged him. Oliver experienced abuse from the moment of his birth until his rescue. Suffering grueling malnutrition and starvation in the orphanage, the boys choose Oliver to request more gruel. He does so, with the following result:

"the master (at the orphanage) aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle." (Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, pp. 16–17)

Both novels also depict oppressively gloomy atmospheres. Oliver's saga unfolds against the backdrop of the slums of a dismal city; the bars, the pickpockets' hideouts, and the thieves' lairs are all portrayed as dark, gloomy, ominous, and bleak. Miss Havisham's house in Great Expectations is similarly rendered as depressing, decayed, and lonely — as is London itself.

Against these backdrops, in both novels, of thieves, schemers, and a callous wider society divided into distinct classes — where the wealthy scorn (in Great Expectations) and misuse (in Oliver Twist) the poor — both Pip and Oliver are portrayed as honest, sincere, and well-intentioned lads who are manipulated by the society around them. Pip only wants to please his aunt and Miss Havisham and to make his way in the world so that he can support his uncle. Oliver, meanwhile, is the very epitome of innocence and childlikeness.

It is remarkable that both boys maintain their innocence, naivety, and strength of character despite the sordid backgrounds in which they were raised. Yet they do, serving — as Dickens may have intended — as a magnifying lens through which the contrivances and corruptions swirling around them are thrown into sharper relief. Finally, both novels show their characters associating with thieves and convicts: Oliver with Fagin and other pickpockets of London's underworld, and Pip through his assistance to the convict Magwitch.

Conclusion

Both Great Expectations and Oliver Twist are stories of escape — for Oliver from starvation and bondage, and for Pip from poverty and illiteracy. Each character escapes into another world: the world of the upper class. Each novel shares a great number of similarities alongside significant differences. Their greatest similarity is that both describe the miseries of the abused, orphaned, penniless waif growing up in poor surroundings, Oliver more profoundly so than Pip.

The key distinction is that while Oliver Twist is a description and rendering of poverty and class discrimination at its worst, Great Expectations journeys further, allowing its protagonist to reflect on his experiences and discover that the poor man is no worse off — and often better — than the wealthy. In Great Expectations, it is Pip and the convict who turn out to be the true heroes, while the upper-class figures are parodied. Great Expectations is, therefore, a sustained parody of genteel British society.

Both books decry the abuse and injustice of a so-called "civilized" class system, particularly the cruelty meted out to society's most vulnerable members. Great Expectations, however, goes further by questioning whether the wealthy are truly of better character than the poor, simple, and illiterate — and it answers that question with a determined "no."

Sources

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: The Heritage Club, 1939.

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1949.