Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

I've considered Charles Dickens to be one of my favorite authors for years now, but lately, I've been a little worried that it's not really true. I first read one of his novels when I read Bleak House in college. I LOVED that book, so I took that to mean that I loved Charles Dickens too. Accordingly, I went out and purchased a ton of his works (I'm not one for subtlety when it comes to book buying).

The next Dickens novel I tried was A Tale of Two Cities. I liked it, but it was not an easy read. It didn't have the same feeling as Bleak House at all, but I brushed it off and figured that, hey, it was a historical fiction novel and it was never meant to be the same as Bleak House anyway. A few years later, I went back to Dickens with Great Expectations and I was bored out of my mind. Now I was worried. This is supposed to be one of Dickens' best works and I didn't like it.

I started to think that maybe I wasn't a Charles Dickens fan at all. Maybe I was just a Bleak House fan. Maybe I've been kidding myself this whole time about my classy and sophisticated literary tastes. Could it be true? Determined not to throw in the towel just yet, I put Oliver Twist onto my Classics Club list for this year. As I'm on my spring break at the moment and have ample time to devote to reading, I decided to give it a go this week.

The plot of the novel follows the life of Oliver Twist, a sweet and kindhearted orphan growing up in 19th century England. Poor Oliver starts out life without any advantages. He is born in a workhouse, where his mother immediately dies, raised in an abusive group home by a tyrannical woman, and apprenticed to a cruel coffin maker at age nine. Unable to stand the conditions at the coffin maker's house, he runs away to London soon after arriving. However, despite this tumultuous and joyless childhood, Oliver remains innocent and naive. He is so naive, in fact, that he accidentally stumbles into the care of a band of criminals immediately after arriving in London.

Wandering alone in the streets, Oliver runs into a curious young man who goes by the name of the Artful Dodger. The Dodger takes Oliver back to his home and introduces him to Fagin, the leader of a gang of boys. Oliver assumes that they make their living honestly, but it is very obvious to the reader that Fagin and his gang are criminals, with theft being their main trade. Fagin attempts to teach Oliver how to pickpocket, but the whole scheme fails once Oliver finally realizes what is going on. His refusal to participate in a robbery on the street leads to him being taken under the wing of Mr. Brownlow, a nice, genteel London man.

However, Oliver's story has barely begun at this point, and his arrival into a happy family is short-lived. There is a secret behind Oliver's birth, and a scheme is being enacted against him to ensure that he never discovers who his parents are. He will bounce between heroes and villains and meet all manner of people over the next few years as he endeavors to settle into something resembling a happy life. His search for a safe living situation and the quest of the kind adults around him to solve the mystery of his parentage form the heart of the novel. Part fairy tale and part social commentary, Oliver Twist manages to be charming, funny, and smart. I am relieved to say that I really enjoyed reading it.

One of the elements I started to enjoy right away as I was reading was Dickens' tone. His writing in this novel is deliciously sarcastic, and, to make things even better, it is sarcastic in a way that a modern reader can understand. He has a lot of pointed observations to make about England's treatment of the poor and doesn't hesitate to lampoon the unfairness and hypocrisy he saw in their policies, all the while remaining wickedly funny about it. These comments run throughout the novel, but one character that he particularly uses to show his dissatisfaction with the system is Mr. Bumble, the beadle in charge of Oliver's care throughout the beginning of the story. Mr. Bumble is shown to be pompous, incompetent, and completely oblivious to the suffering of those he is supposed to be assisting, or, as Dickens characterizes him, a typical beadle. His actions throughout the story constitute an ongoing criticism of the parochial method of dealing with the poor, which places cutting costs and shaming people above offering empathy and saving lives. As is usual with a character in a novel like this, he meets a very fitting end in the closing chapter of the story, cementing Dickens' opinion on the morality of the system.

Another strong aspect of the novel was the cast of characters. As is typical in a Dickens story, there is a cast of (seemingly) thousands, and some of them number among his most memorable. Of course, Oliver is sweet and lovable ("Please sir, may I have some more?"), and his other virtuous characters, like Mrs. Maylie, Rose Maylie, and Mr. Brownlow, are enjoyable to read. However, in Oliver Twist, it is the villains that truly shine. The evil and scheming Fagin, the irrepressible Artful Dodger, and the murderous Bill Sikes are names recognizable even by those who haven't read the novel, and Dickens does a wonderful job of making them complete scoundrels. They are undoubtedly evil, but they are written in a way that you can understand the logic behind their criminal acts and their personalities are distinct from each other. We spend more time with them than we do with the "good" characters, and it was quite interesting to watch their schemes unfold.

Even more interesting was Nancy, a character that walked the line between good and evil. Nancy is one of Fagin's gang. She is a prostitute, a thief, and in love with Bill Sikes, who is the most dangerous and evil character out of the whole book. In spite of these things, however, she still has a flicker of goodness buried inside of her. She regrets her actions in the schemes against Oliver, and even goes as far as to assist those trying to help him later on. However, she can't bring herself to leave her life of crime or Bill, even when a perfect offer of escape presents itself. Her inability to leave raises some interesting questions about forgiveness, reform, and the emotional costs of turning to crime. In a novel where most of the characters are clearly good guys or bad guys, her inclusion elevated some of the deeper themes running through the story.

I did end up noting a few issues in the story as I read. At times, the pacing was a little slow, and I felt like Oliver dropped out of the story too much in the second half of the book. Also, there was a romantic storyline between two of the characters that I was not invested in, as it had nothing to do with Oliver and most of it happens before the events of the novel take place. These issues weren't enough to seriously impact my enjoyment of the book though. One aspect that did continually trouble me, however, is the pretty naked antisemitism. Fagin is a Jewish character, and he is described using all the classic stereotypes. His facial features, personality, and behavior around money embrace the very worst kinds of attitudes and opinions about the Jewish people. Dickens even uses the term "the old Jew" instead of the character's name at least half of the time throughout the text. I'm not sure how to reconcile my distaste and discomfort for that with my enjoyment of the rest of the text. Sure, it's not an unusual characterization for the time period, but we aren't talking about a random comment or two within the story here, it's literally a key part of Fagin's negative characterization. How is a modern reader supposed to deal with that?  I don't know how to answer this question. I still enjoyed the book, but I feel slightly guilty about it.

Victorian-era prejudices aside, Oliver Twist is a really fun novel. The story is entertaining, with lots of characters to love and hate in equal measure. The plot is full of suspense, cliffhangers, near-misses, and impossible coincidences. There's even a few shocking moments sprinkled in to mix things up. Aside from all that, it's really, genuinely funny too. It's not a perfect novel, but it's definitely a good time. I felt the same reading this as I felt when I read Bleak House, which I am taking to mean that there's still hope for me to correctly claim to be a Charles Dickens fan. I'll definitely be trying out more of his work in the future to figure out how deep my fandom truly runs.



Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#51 on my list): 44/100 
Back to the Classics 2019 (19th Century Classic) 6/12 Books Read

Total Books Read in 2019:25