Oliver Twist Essays (Examples)

Private charities, such as the philanthropists who begged Mr. Scrooge for donations in one of Dickens' other novels, a Christmas Carol, could, quite simply, not keep up with the demand for charity.

The more effective solution Victorian England found to the problem of child hunger was linked with education -- namely that of the school lunch. In the 1870s, local philanthropic school meals services began to emerge in Britain. "By promising a scientific mechanism for identifying hungry children and calculating the minimum quantities of food required to satiate them, social and nutritional scientists provided ways of translating and depoliticizing the new social ethics of hunger into practical administrative techniques for the provision of school meals by the state"(Vernon 3). The institution of the school lunch effectively linked social betterment with good nutrition, acknowledging that a hungry child was more likely to commit crimes, while a better-fed child was less likely…

ith Nancy, Dickens provides us answer. Nancy, the harlot, might be perceived as a weak character but something about her emerges strong and indelible. She is like Laura in the Glass Menagerie, who appears to be the weakest character only to materialize as one with superior strength. Nancy makes the greatest sacrifice yet she does give herself enough credit. She is convinced her fate is sealed. hen the gentleman at London Bridge offers her any help, she refuses, stating she is "chained to my own life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leave it" (Dickens 406). Nancy buys into the belief that she cannot change but this does not prevent her from making moral decisions. She accepts the concept that people cannot rise above their environment while she masterfully illustrates it is not true. Her sacrifice remains the true testament to this. att writes Nancy challenges the…

Victorian Literature: omen's Nature In Oliver Twist

Martyrs and whores: omen's true nature in Oliver Twist

The women of Oliver Twist play an important function in the novel, both symbolically as well as in terms of the plot. The novel begins with the title boy being given birth to by a women in poverty and is subsequently consigned to a workhouse. Later, as a result of a series of strange circumstances, he is found to be of noble birth. Nancy, a 'whore with a heart of gold' sacrifices herself so Oliver can move on to a new life. omen in the novel are primarily seen as nurturers, and that nurturing function enables Oliver to survive. hen that nurturing function is perverted, as in the case of prostitution or the scheming Mrs. Mann, Dickens uses this as evidence of the corruption of larger society. Similarly, when male figures like Fagin attempt…

people of different social classes are viewed in each novel, how they treat one another, what assumptions they make about their worth, how they view themselves, and how Dickens's view changed between one novel and the other

Both stories, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, are one of escape for their characters. For Oliver, it is escape form his starvation and bondage. For Pip is it escape from his poverty and illiteracy. Both escape into another world. The world of an 'upper class'. Each has a huge number of similitudes as they have dissimilarity. Their greatest similarity is that both describe the miseries of the abused orphaned penniless waif growing up in poor surrounding, Oliver more than Pip. The distinction between both is that whilst Oliver is a description and rendering o poverty and the abuse of societal class discrimination at its worst, Great Expectations journeys beyond that and has the…

If the villain of Oliver Twist is the meta-character of urban setting, then the protagonist must be the meta-character of country setting, of which Oliver is as much a chief as Fagin is of the urban setting. The principle characteristic of the country setting is its goodness, in direct opposition to the corruption of the urban setting. The incorruptible goodness, which Oliver bears, is that which permits him to remain unchanged and moral despite his deep immersion in the urban setting.

In many ways Oliver Twist might be read as a refutation of Dickens's contemporary, Leo Tolstoy, who asserted that destiny is the product of historical forces driving each from his birthing station to an unavoidable end. Oliver Twist, rather, presumes that despite the terrible circumstances in which Oliver is reared, goodness prevails in his character and actions. So can we read the character of Nancy, who though corrupted by…

Charles Dickens

As the Child Is Brought Up

Charles Dickens wrote tens of thousands of words in his life on a handful of subjects, returning again and again to the questions that first compelled him to write. These subjects -- primarily poverty and the ways in which its tentacles spread injustice through all levels of society -- are taken up in both Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. The two novels run in parallel lines in terms of theme and symbolism, but diverge as well in terms of their structure and some of the more technical devices. The overall effect of this combination of similarity and dissimilarity leave the reader with the sense of having read the same tale told in two distinct dialects.

As is the case in every novel written by Dickens, the plot of Oliver Twist is so highly complex that any summary of it is (to reference…

omen's Nature In Oliver Twist

hen assessing women's original nature and how it is manifested and displayed in Oliver Twist, it becomes clear that the three main female characters all portray a different version of how women can be perceived and render themselves. Rose, Agnes and Nancy. However, the exploration of women's nature and how it was defined in the Victorian age need not be limited to those three. It is illuminating and revealing how Dickens poses and presents the women of Oliver Twist and the reactions that tend to be elicited by those that read and review this work. On the whole, it is obvious and clear that Dickens levied a full-frontal assault against the system and regimentation that were held against women, the poor and the ruffians of society. As it pertains to women, this obviously included the concept and idea that woman that keep themselves virginal, prim…

Oliver went home with the elderly gentleman and his family and for the first time in his life, Oliver found himself in a situation where someone cared for him.

Oliver's moral character was somewhat better than Moll's. Despite the fact that he had no moral guidance, he recognized that stealing was wrong. Dickens writes,

hat was Oliver's horror and alarm as he stood a few paces off, looking on with his eyelids as wide open as they would possibly go, to see the Dodger plunge his hand into the old gentleman's pocket, and draw from thence a handkerchief…in an instant, the whole mystery of the handkerchief, and the watches, and the jewels, and the Jew, rushed upon the boy's mind (82).

Moll, on the other hand, turned to theft deliberately when she was too old to turn the heads of men. Unlike the young Oliver who was too young to…

One cannot build the right sort of house -- the houses are not really adequate, "Blinds, shutter, curtains, awnings, were all closed and drawn to keep out the star. Grant it but a chink or keyhole, and it shot in like a white-hot arrow." The stare here is the metonymic device -- we assume it is stranger, the outside vs. The inside, but for some reason, it is also the authority involved, and one that is able to ensure adequacy. In a similar vein, the "churches were freest from it," but they offer only an homage' to safety, and use their power to shut people out from the light that "made the eyes ache" and had been inhumanly oppressive. The prison, though, is "so repulsive a place that even the obtrusive star blinked at it and left it to such refuse of reflected light as could find." The stare is…

(Eliot, 1971).

The Subjective over the Objective

Modernism was a reaction against Realism and its focus on objective depiction of life as it was actually lived. Modernist writers derived little artistic pleasure from describing the concrete details of the material world and the various human doings in it. They derived only a little more pleasure from describing the thoughts of those humans inhabiting the material world. Their greatest pleasure, however, was in expressing the angst, confusion, and frustration of the individual who has to live in that world. (Merriam-Webster, p. 1236).

Modernist writers used novel means for expressing these newly intense emotions. They did not always express the individual's confusion and frustration by relating the inner discourse of the individual. Instead, they manipulated the structure, style, and content of their works to cultivate a certain effect on the reader. (aym, Vol. D, p. 17). They wanted to convey the experience…

ight to Privacy, 1st Amendment

The parameters of one's right to privacy have long been a subject of controversy and while the Constitution does not expressly guarantee one's right to privacy, there are several amendments that were designed to protect specific, private rights of citizens. One of the amendments that seek to protect the private rights of citizens is the First Amendment. However, controversies have arisen that have required the Supreme Court to impose limitations on an individual who is exercising his or her rights under the First Amendment.

The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (U.S. Const. amend. I). As stated in the First Amendment, one is…

Thus, though she must perform a "masculine" role in order to be successful, she must perform it in a "feminine" way, and thus disrupt the idea of gender.

This also ties in quite nicely with Cullen's assertion that the modern individual is defined by love and connection with their family, rather than by their place in society. The very fact that meg is the one to save Charles allace is a further affirmation of the willingness -- on the part of both Meg and L'Engle -- to buck the societal roles that have been laid out for women and instead to embrace their own identity based on their love for others, and to a greater or lesser degree the love that others bear them. Of course, the romance that is still blossoming between Meg and Calvin still entrenches this novel somewhat in the old mentality of romance and love, but…

San Francisco is a place of greater opportunity than anywhere in the South offered her; there are fewer freedoms than she discovered in Mexico or in the junkyard, perhaps, but these restrictions are attendant on the opportunities afforded her. Angelou's ability to imagine those opportunities carried on the sea breeze or just over the crest of each successive hill of the San Francisco marks her successful journey in the book to a woman of confidence.

Conclusion

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells a true tale, but it does so in such a way that each of the elements is just as important as they would be in a work of fiction. The setting of each scene in Angelou's life story neatly matches the plot points and the character development, not through literary contrivance but through necessity -- it is how the story happened. Had her story unfolded in…

6). Beattie, like anyone else, was a product of her times.

She is also, again like anyone else, a product of her own individual circumstances. A further interpretation of the bowl as a symbol of the feminine finds a deeper connection between the circumstances of the fictional Andrea and the real-life Ann Beattie. Though she is not especially forthcoming with personal details, there are some facts with which a correlation can be drawn.

Though (presumably) happily married for many years, Ann Beattie and her husband have no children (Frost, par. 1). Again, she has not shared the reasons for this, nor would it be a reasonable question to pose to her. It is a significant fact to note, however, given the resemblance of the bowl to the female womb. Henningfield suggests an interpretation of the bowl, especially of the husband's turning away from it and Andrea's refusal to let him…

Lesson plans should closely follow the IEP goals.

Disabilities should be an essential part of any curriculum discussion because it can impact a student's ability to learn certain material. Dylexic students for instance will have a fundamentally harder time with reading comprehension and writing than other students. Therefore, their IEP will factor in their learning disability in order to allow them to reach their own goals in terms of education level and standards. Without such a criteria certain students will become frustrated and oftentimes underperform.

eading Levels

eading level refers to ability of students to read and comprehend instructional material. It is critical to understand that students' reading levels might be higher or lower than their grade level. A fifth grader might enjoy reading books with a 6.0 to 6.9 reading level, which would be appropriate for the average sixth grader.

By using assessments that indicate a student's reading level,…

For instance, in Season 2, Hard Cases (Episode 4) explores the idea of individuals who are repeat offenders, and the difficulty for the police to even come close to managing crime. Just as one crime is potentially solved, three more pop up that may never be. The police must count on people from the neighborhood to assist them, but these same individuals are torn between helping the police and being part of the community. The idea of hopelessness is summed up when one of the characters, Nick, asks his father if he misses his work at the dock (the shipyards are closed, and the father now spends much of his time at a local bar, drinking to dull his pain). His father replies, "ouldn't matter if I did" (the ire 2005).

Also apparent is some real systems thinking with the ire that goes to the heart of inner city labor…

"

Part 2- When I think of child labor, I think of Charles Dickens -- Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and the other novels that showed how in the Victorian Era, only wealthy children had childhoods. And then, in America, I think of the factory mills of the north producing cotton, dangerous places to work, and mines that used children because it was easier for them to be in tunnels. However, in the modern world, I think of not only younger children working in factories, mostly in Asia to make American and Western European sporting outfits, tennis shoes, etc., but of the market for child slaves and prostitutes from Eastern Europe and Asia. As for causes of child labor, it seems to me that it is a function of capitalism and the market -- capitalism requires some sort of cheap labor for certain items that people want. Greed being what it…

99 seems like less, much less, than 6.00. Economics is part of the daily grind of my father's life, and a constant topic of discussion at the dinner table -- how to bring customers in the store he mused, as he picked my brain to see what items were hot amongst my age group. He trusted to ask me how to encourage people to stay longer in the store and buy, buy, buy and I learned from his constant questioning.

Of course, not all of my interests have been economically motivated. But sometimes, I have found that, through my altruistic participation in student organizations, such as my work as treasurer of the Key Club in high school, that using advertising and persuasion to encourage people to give of their time is the most difficult economic activity at all -- time is a scarce resource for high school students. Also, as…

David - a Literary Perspective smehra

Literary Perspective on David from the Bible

Throughout literary history, authors have created characters that are both enigmatic and treacherous; who by their very nature epitomize all that is evil, as well as all that is good in human nature. Character development is an important part of any story, and for there to be a realization on the reader's behalf, there must be a justifiable, and equally strong character development, or moral change for such a message to get across in the story, or literary work.

Many authors will have a turn of events, as a means to justify this change in personality of a particular character, as seen in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. While others may let their character follow a course of action and in turn, suffer the consequences as a lesson to the reader, as in the case of Antigone.…

1948?" It will inform the reader of important events that occurred in the world in 1948. For America and the world, 1948 was a year in transition. World War II had ended, but there was still war in the world. America was entering into an era of prosperity, and families were engaging in the "baby boom." 1948 was a banner year for many improvements and innovations that would prove to be important in the years ahead.

War and Peace

It would seem that 1948 would be a year of peace, and that the world would be at peace after the horrors of World War II, but that is not the case. The State of Israel became reality in May 1948, and the day after it was created, the neighboring Arab nations of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia declared war on the fledgling nation. First created as Palestine…

Fisher's Life

The autobiography of Antwone Fisher, Finding Fish is one of the best pieces of literature and surely a treat to read. The book is fundamentally based on the astonishing journey of Fisher that starts from his abandonment, followed by sexual abuse by a woman, then liberation after which manhood follows and he gets extraordinary success. Many people would call him the Oliver Twist of the modern world, keeping in mind the chain of events that took place in Fisher's life.

The author was documented in the reports of the caseworkers of child welfare as Baby Boy Fisher. The story starts off with the description of how Fisher was raised and supported in different institutions. His birth takes place in prison and he is born to a single mother, and this is where his miraculous journey starts from. Soon after his birth, Fisher is transported to an orphanage where…

More often than not, the plan of containment has been used to describe U.S. foreign policy. It is equally frequently traced back to the achievements of President Truman with regard to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In 1950, there was a shift in foreign U.S. policy after President Truman moved from passive to active containment by signing the top-secret policy plan NSC-68. It took a much more drastic approach towards the spread of Communism, which according to the new twist, claimed that Russia was en route for the domination of the world. It should be noted however that the doctrine had some major weaknesses and was repeatedly subject to contradictory interpretations. This may have led several other presidents and policy makers to toy with it at will. It could also very well explain some of the many long involvements of the U.S. In diverse wars and…

Thomas/Updike Compare/Contrast

The Fight for Life in Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle into that good night" and John Updike's "Dog's Death"

Death has proven to be an inspiration for many poets and has been written about throughout history. These poets look at death from differing perspectives and many have argued that it should be fought against while others are more submissive to the concept. In "Do not go gentle into that good night," written by Dylan Thomas (1951), and "Dog's Death," by John Updike (1993), take a stance that accepting death is unnatural and that a person or any living being should fight until the end. In "Do not go gentle into that good night," Thomas argues that death is something that should be fought against and that a person should only succumb to their end when he or she is ready. On the other hand, in "Dog's Death,"…

Analysis of Michael Almereyda's interpretation of the Ghost in Hamlet 2000:

The Micheal Almereyda version of Hamlet, released in the year 2000, has a contemporary setting. The story takes place in New York City with a modern and corporate twist. Hamlet in this film, is depicted as a lonely, twenty-something aspiring artist, who father was the head of the "Denmark Corporation," had passed away some time ago.

The ghost first visits Hamlet in this version, in his apartment, where he appears on the television screen. The film being set in the modern technological era, with cell phones and credit cards, this seemed appropriate. The ghost in the film appears as a specter. As in life, the Ghost is high up in the corporate ladder at the Denmark Corporation, he is dressed to fit. He commands his son in the same manner in his death as in his life. The level…

ichard Hughes: A High Wind in Jamaica

This story, the first novel by ichard Hughes, takes place in the 19th Century, and mixes the diverse subjects of humor, irony, satire, pirates, sexuality and children into a very interesting tale, with many sidebar stories tucked into the main theme.

The first part of the story has an eerily familiar ring and meteorological link with the December, 2004 tsunami-related disaster in Asia. In A High Wind, first there is an earthquake, then hurricane-force winds, followed by torrential rains (although no tidal wave) devastate the island and the British children who lived there are sent to England. However, on the way they are attacked by pirates and unwittingly kidnapped by those pirates. From there, the novel has a definite Lord of the Flies tone to it: the English children actually take over control of much of the activities on board, which is as…

Dahmer Forensic Analysis

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer

Crime Scene and Discovery

Never before has egregious police incompetence hindered the apprehension of a serial killer as in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. When police were called to investigate an alleged domestic disturbance between Konerak Sinthasomophone and Jeffrey Dahmer on May 27, 1991. Although two women came to the aide of Sinthasomophone and urged police to look further into the alleged dispute, the police ignored their pleas and Dahmer was able to convince them that Sinthasomophone was his 19-year-old lover; if police had bothered to check Sinthasomophone's identification they would have seen that he was in fact only 14 years old (ardsley, n.d.). Having convinced the police that Sinthasomophone and he were in the midst of a lovers' quarrel, Sinthasomophone was released into Dahmer's custody and by the end of the night, Sinthasomophone would become Dahmer's 13th victim (ardsley, n.d.). Dahmer would proceed…

PETRUCHIO: They shall go forward, Kate, at thy command.-- Obey the bride, you that attend on her./Go to the feast, revel and domineer,/Carouse full measure to her maidenhead,/Be mad and merry, or go hang yourselves;/but for my bonny Kate, she must with me./Nay, look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret, 230I will be master of what is mine own./She is my goods, my chattels, she is my house,/My household stuff, my field, my barn,/My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing,/and here she stands, touch her whoever dare!

Shakespeare 175)

The quote gives great insight into the end note of a marriage created in haste, with the intentions of personal and familial gain and with the closing of the marriage as a "contract" including the exchange of large sums of money for the groom and his family. Petruchio, makes his deal, getting his bride (then leaving her…

Olivier's philosophy of taking a body of work, molding it into an actor's own style and visual taste, and then regurgitating it in a way that incorporates both classical theater and modern dramatic actions and reactions, was something he was famous for. He remained true to Shakespeare's intentions of his plays acting as both entertainment and as warnings to humankind that in the proper settings and situations, human interactions can become quite insane or illogical. This is the eternal message that Shakespeare intended be delivered by the actors that would play his roles both in the old times and in more modern times (Cottrell, 199). Olivier makes good on his promise as an actor to deliver these messages of humanity to every audience member.

Overlap and Conclusion

Nearly all of Olivier's work overlaps in some ways. Many impersonators, including Peter Sellers were able to take Olivier's style and dramatic character…

On the other hand, hittaker Chambers was "a contributing editor of Time (...) from 1925 to April 1938, (he) had been a Communist, a writer of radical literature, an editor of the Communist Daily orker. He had also been what was then vaguely known as a Communist courier."

The major starting point of the case was Chambers' disappointment with the communist doctrine and the dual attitude Stalin had when signing the 1939 pact with the Nazi leadership. Therefore, according to Time Magazine, he "abandoned the party in revulsion and despair, and became a determined enemy of Communism." Consequently, outraged by the dramatic turn that the soviet politics had taken, he began expressing his views on the collaborators of the soviet regime in the U.S. It is in this way that Chambers contacted Berle, who, after the discussion he had with the former communist partisan, wrote in his notes from September…

O rother, Where Art Thou?

Homer in Hollywood: The Coen rothers' O rother, Where Art Thou?

Could a Hollywood filmmaker adapt Homer's Odyssey for the screen in the same way that James Joyce did for the Modernist novel? The idea of a high-art film adaptation of the Odyssey is actually at the center of the plot of Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Contempt, and the Alberto Moravia novel on which Godard's film is based. In Contempt, Prokosch, a rich American dilettante film producer played by Jack Palance, hires Fritz Lang to film a version of Homer's Odyssey, then hires a screenwriter to write it and promptly ruins his marriage to rigitte ardot. Fritz Lang gamely plays himself -- joining the ranks of fellow "arty" German-born directors who had earlier deigned to act before the camera (like Erich von Stroheim in Wilder's Sunset oulevard, playing a former director not unlike himself, or…

Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?" A young man, the forbidden lover of a princess, is sentenced to a trial by ordeal: in front of thousands of onlookers, he must choose between two doors. Behind one waits a tiger, behind the other waits a lovely maiden. Only the princess herself possesses the knowledge that will save her lover's life, though in doing so, she will send him into the arms of another woman. Stockton leaves whether or not she saves her beau to the reader's imagination.

The movie Gladiator also revolves around public spectacle and matters of justice and injustice. The main character, Maximus, a respected general and loyal subject of the Roman Empire, has been betrayed by Commodus, the Emperor. Sold into slavery, his family murdered, Maximus longs for revenge. He is forced to become a gladiator and use his strength to kill for the amusement of the…

Fiction

A roughly overgeneralized list of great moments in film genres in America may give the suggestion that the history of the different genres summarizes the development of individuals within the society. For instance, with respect to the comedic genre, the first significant phase in such films is more often than not linked with revolutionary, polymorphous individuals such as Chaplin. With respect to the weepy genre of films, Erich Segal is considered to the revolutionary individual that not only instigated it but also paved the way for similar films. The present-day movie scene is dominated and filled with movies in the romantic comedy genre. At the moment, there are genres that are made for making individuals cry and are deemed to be weepy films, books and plays. Weepy is not basically entertainment, but neither can it be deemed simply tasteless. In particular, the entertainment industry has a preference for sitcoms…

Victorian Literature: Gender in Mill on the Floss

How is moral and emotional life in George Eliot's the Mill on the Floss shaped by gender?

The romantic narrative of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss is dependent upon a series of contrasts. The heroine, Maggie Tulliver, is forced to choose between two men, Phillip akem, a poetic dreamer who is deformed, and Stephen Guest, who is dashing but somewhat shallow. The two men represent the different sides of Maggie's character. On one hand, Maggie is extremely intelligent and forthright, more so than anyone else in the novel. She is an unsparing critic of the society around her and seems marked from birth as dark and different like Phillip. On the other hand, Stephen's exciting nature attracts her. However, Maggie, unlike a man, is unable to leave the area of her birth and strike out on her own. Ultimately she…