Oliver Twist Essay -- English Literature

Oliver TwistCharles DickensCharles Dickens was a famous novelist who was born on February 7th,1812, Portsmouth England. His novel Oliver Twist was broadlysuccessful and was seen as a own against the poor law of 1834. Thenovel revolves around a boy called Oliver Twist the p hand is about howOliver goes from the work house to being an aristocrat. The novelexposes a lot of Victorian attitudes which Dickens experienced as hewas in poverty himself.In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens shows us many of the socialinjustices of those historic times. He was scandalise by the way thepoor and the young people in particular were treated.He thought that this description would move the government to bringabout a change in the laws to ease the sufferings of the poor.Nancy is first introduced to us through Olivers eyes in chapter 9. Weare told a description of a prostitute and not of the usual poshVictorian lady when dickens describes her as, they wore a good dealof hair, not very neatly turned up beh ind, and were rather ungroomedabout the shoes and stockings. They were not exactly pretty. To readthis, it wouldnt really promote a nice image of Nancy in addition tothis you would end up thinking that she wasnt a clean or muchrespected women. The image of Nancy is further strengthened whenDickens goes further into the description, but they had a great dealof color in their faces, and looked quite stout and hearty. Beingremarkably free and agreeable in their manners this tells us thatthey almost trying to conduct them and completes their depiction of Nancybeing a prostitute, by this time the reader would be fully convincedabout her occupation. Nancys description is still better inco... ...Victorian people used to double standards and how sheis thankful for him not being like one of them.Nancys love for Sikes reflects the moral ambiguity of her character.As she herself points out to Rose, reverence to a man can be acomfort and a pride under the right circumstances. But for Nancy, such devotion is a spic-and-span means of violence and suffering-indeed, herrelationship with Sikes leads her to criminal acts for his sake andeventually to her relationship with Sikes leads her to criminal actsfor his sake and eventually to her own demise.CONCLUSIONIn my tactile sensation Nancy is the most important character in Oliver Twistbecause she laid down her life for Oliver. She did not wanted Oliverto live the same life that she had lived. She paid the last priceby giving away her life to Oliver and that to by the hands of her ownlover Sikes.