Oliver Twist: Chapters 1 - 5

The only things I knew about Oliver Twist before reading it was that it was by Charles Dickens and it was about a boy who asked, "for some more," and somehow ended up pick-pocketing people and getting sent to court. I also know that there is a musical about it called Oliver! though I have never seen it.

I was surprised with the grimness of the story when I started it. I am only up to Chapter Five but this poor boy was licked, as they say, before he was born. Oliver Twist's mother died upon having him and he was immediately sent to an orphanage to be cared for. The money to pay for his housing and food was provided by the government, a fact that the adults in Oliver's life never let him forget.

The orphanage is Oliver's first introduction into the cruel world within which he lives. The caretaker is an elder woman who knows how to keep the children fed, but just barely, and keep the rest of the money allotted to them for herself. When members of the Board come to inspect the grounds, she makes sure to have the children clean and fed, and threatens them to keep their mouths shut on any matters that they may criticize about their situation. When he grows too old for the orphanage, an ambiguous Board of old men decide that he should be 'farmed' or sent to a work house where he will work and be fed with other boys in his state. The Board is harsh on Oliver. When he is presented in front of them, he begins to cry from intimidation. They criticize him, not helping matters, and dub him a fool for his ignorance.

Oliver Twist exhibits the tyrannical and absolute, unchecked control that small groups of wealthy British gentlemen had at the time. The Board holds absolutely no sympathy for Oliver and they actually put all their efforts toward finding the worst possible arrangements for Oliver, trying first to send him off with a chimney sweep who has a reputation for beating his interns to death. They succeed in sending him off with an undertaker, threatening that if he is returned for bad behavior (ie asking for more food then meagerly allotted to him) then he would be sent to sea where they openly hope for him to be beaten or drown.

The fact that Oliver is actually a very obedient young boy who follows the orders of his elders even when they have wronged him in the past (like his first caregiver) or who try to lead him to destruction (the beadle), members of the Board all look at him as an ignorant fool who will amount to nothing but a vagabond. They choose to ignore the fact that they failed at providing him with an education or with resources to help build his chances of success.

In Oliver Twist, Dickens illustrates the vicious circle that the poor of England suffered. Once an orphan entered the system, it was 'farmed' into an adult whose skills only amounted to thievery. His only goal in life: to survive by any means possible. The Board believed only in strict and harsh keeping during childhood, but they never cared to look at the high numbers of felons they were spouting out into society.

Dickens reveals the treachery, inhumanity, and corruption that ruined the lives of countless, originally innocent children. 

Return of the Literate!

My literary blogging ended mid-semester frayed and loose-ended. The cumbersome duties of my courses deteriorated any energy I had at the end of the day that I tried to reserve for reporting on my reading.

I wish that I had continued my blogging, for I noticed that my understanding of later readings was not as in-depth and I did not harbor as many questions as I had before. The impression left upon me by "The Belly of Paris," and "Fathers and Sons" I attribute largely to the fact that I took time to analyze the plot and write down my questions.

I wish that I could say that my lack of involvement with the text as a direct affect of me not blogging has jarred me enough to vow that I will never discontinue my blogging ever again, but I know that it is likely that Life again will pop up and divert my attention.

This summer though, I will be studying abroad in London, England! I will be taking a Creative Writing course and a British Literature course. Both require loads of advance reading. But my time is limited. I only have two weeks until I take-off.

The books for the Literature course include:
The Beggar's Opera - John Gay
A Description of a City Shower - Swift
London- Johnson
London- Blake
A Scandal in Bohemia and The Man with the Twisted Lip - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

The books I will be reading for the Creative Writing course:
The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
Rain - Don Paterson
Being Human - Neil Astley
The Creative Writing Coursebook (?) - Julia Bell and Paul Magrs
The Poem and the Journey, and sixty poems to read along the way - Ruth Padel
On Writing Short Stories - Tom Bailey
Creative Writing: a workbook with readings - Linda Anderson

So it appears that my time will be consumed by reading now. Hopefully it will inspire some writing and hopefully I'll have time for it.

Took keep focused on reading these books, I have made the vow to give up television for the rest of my time on American soil. Sherlock and House of Cards have already stolen too much of my time.