July Books 13) Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

[nwhyte]

One of several classic Dickens books which I had not previously read, and which eventually worked to the top of my list. I am sure that it was spell-binding social commentary in 1838, but the character of Oliver seemed to me much too good to be true. Any child coming from that sort of brutal institutionalised background would have pretty serious

Comments

[owlfish]

This is the first time I've seen "copper-fastened" used in context since I first learned it. Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to feel proud of a piece of vocabulary acquisition!

[autopope]

The portrayal of Fagin must surely have appeared gratuitously anti-Semitic even by 1838 standards.

Er, no.

That level of anti-semitism was normal even by 1938 standards.

It's only since 1945 and the liberation of Dachau and Auschwitz that that level of anti-semitism has become publicly unacceptable among educated people in the UK.

[del_c]

Nicholas was right, and Dickens was actually criticized for his portrayal of Fagin at the time, which stung him to make a second, more sympathetic go with the character of Riah in, I think, Our Mutual Friend. It's arguable whether he was any more successful the second time, but it's not arguable that he came under fire the first time.

[steve_mollmann]

Riah is obnoxious in the other direction, however-- he's so Pious and Good he's not even a person. Dickens was genuinely upset that people saw Fagin as a stereotype; he said he was trying to write a bad person who happened to be a Jew, not some who was bad because he was a Jew.

[frandowdsofa]

I try to see Oliver as a plot-device rather than a person, that makes it a bit easier. You start to sympathise with the Bumbles - he must have been The Most Aggravating little boy.

There's definitely a Nature over Nurture feel to it - Oliver is bound to be good even though in the same circumstances as the Artful Dodger, because his Mother was a Good Girl Really, and from a better class. It's a theme that's dealt with in a much more mature way in Little Dorrit, and Bleak House.

[del_c]

It's worse than that he was Deserving Poor: he turns out (spoiler!) to be Not Of Poor Stock After All. Showing that good breeding will out.

[artw]

Maybe it's like all those films showing war and chaos in developing countries through the viewpoint of a white western visitor. Oliver Twist is a not-really-poor boy who accidentally gets trapped in a poor world, in order that the reader can think "these terrible things might happen to People Like Us". Making us see really-poor people as Like Us is, I suppose, more of an artistic challenge.