   #copyright

Oliver Twist

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Novels

   CAPTION: Title Oliver Twist

   Cover page of Oliver Twist, this the first novelization which appeared
   in 1838, six months before the serialization was completed. Dickens
   name appears as "Boz", although at Dickens request it was changed to
   his real name a week after this initial version appeared. Art by George
   Cruikshank titled "Oliver's reception by Fagin and the boys." Source:
   The New York Public Library, Berg Collection of English and American
   Literature.
   Cover page of Oliver Twist, this the first novelization which appeared
   in 1838, six months before the serialization was completed. Dickens
   name appears as "Boz", although at Dickens request it was changed to
   his real name a week after this initial version appeared. Art by George
   Cruikshank titled "Oliver's reception by Fagin and the boys." Source:
   The New York Public Library, Berg Collection of English and American
   Literature.
   Author Charles Dickens
   Country United Kingdom
   Language English
   Genre(s) Novel
   Publisher Chapman & Hall
   Released 1838
   Media type Print ( Hardback & Paperback) (originally as Serial)

   Oliver Twist is an 1838 novel by Charles Dickens. It was originally
   published as a serial.

   Like most of Dickens' work, the book is used to call the public's
   attention to various contemporary social evils, including the
   workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals.
   The novel is full of sarcasm and dark humour, even as it treats its
   serious subject, revealing the hypocrisies of the time.

   It has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations,
   and the basis for a highly successful British musical, Oliver!.

Plot summary

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   Oliver is an orphan born in a workhouse, who has no idea of his
   parents' identity, his mother Agnes having died in childbirth. The
   starving workhouse boys draw straws to decide who will ask for an extra
   helping at mealtime and Oliver is chosen. ("Please, sir, I want some
   more.") As a result of this breach of etiquette, he is "sold" by the
   workhouse to be an undertaker's apprentice. The cruelty he suffers at
   the hands of an older apprentice named Noah Claypole causes him to run
   away.

   He makes his way to London, where he is taken under the wing of the
   Artful Dodger, a boy criminal. The Dodger introduces Oliver to his
   circle of friends, who include the Fagin, a Jewish criminal mastermind,
   and his brutal ally, Bill Sikes. Oliver is trained to be a criminal,
   learning such skills as pickpocketing, but never actually commits a
   crime. He is shown kindness by Bill's 17-year-old mistress, Nancy.

   After a robbery that goes wrong, in which Oliver played the part of an
   unwitting lookout, he is taken into the home of a wealthy man, Mr
   Brownlow. Unknown to them, Oliver's half-brother, Monks, is trying to
   find him, in order to prevent him from obtaining his inheritance, but
   Mr Brownlow soon begins to suspect that Oliver is the illegitimate son
   of his deceased best friend. Sikes and Nancy snatch Oliver back, and
   Sikes takes him on a burglary, planning to get him a criminal record as
   a favour to Monks. But Oliver is left behind when the burglary goes
   wrong, and is taken in and cared for by Rose Maylie and her family, who
   realize that Oliver was forced to take part in the robbery.

   Meanwhile, Monks and Fagin are plotting to try to go after Oliver again
   and either kidnap or kill him. Nancy, fearing their intentions, goes to
   Rose Maylie and Mr Brownlow to reveal their plot. She manages to keep
   her meetings secret until Noah Claypole (he had fallen out with the
   undertaker and moved to London to seek his fortune) agrees to spy on
   Nancy and then tells Fagin. Angry at the notion of his plot being
   foiled, Fagin passes it on to Sikes, twisting the story just enough to
   make it sound as if Nancy had informed on him. (In actuality, she had
   shielded Sikes, whom she loves despite his occasional ill-treatment, as
   much as possible.) Believing that she has betrayed him, Sikes murders
   Nancy in a fit of rage, and is himself killed when he accidentally
   hangs himself while being pursued by an angry mob. Monks is forced to
   divulge his secrets and give half of his inheritance to Oliver. Then
   Monks moves to America, where he quickly spends his money, reverts to
   crime, and ultimately dies in prison. Fagin is arrested and hanged for
   his misdeeds. Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of
   Oliver's mother Agnes; she is therefore Oliver's aunt. She marries her
   long-time sweetheart Harry, and Oliver lives happily with his saviour,
   Mr Brownlow.

Characters in "Oliver Twist"

     * Oliver – the main protagonist, a boy born in a workhouse
     * Fagin – a Jew who recruits and trains boys for thievery
     * Bill Sikes – a violent thief
     * The Artful Dodger aka John Dawkins – one of Fagin's boy pickpockets
     * Charley Bates; another of Fagin's boy pickpockets
     * Nancy – barmaid and Bill's girl
     * Noah Claypole – apprentice to Mr Sowerberry
     * Mr. Brownlow
     * Monks, aka Edward Leeford – Oliver's half-brother
     * Rose Maylie
     * Mr. Bumble – the parish Beadle
     * Mr. Sowerberry – an Undertaker who takes Oliver into his service
     * Mrs. Sowerberry
     * Charlotte – servant to Mrs Sowerberry
     * Gamfireld – a vicious chimney-sweep

Major themes

   The novel is characterized by the use of various motifs.

   Charity and love are motifs because even though Oliver is treated
   horribly by most people, he is shown love by a few good people – Mr.
   Brownlow, Mrs. Maylie, and even Nancy.

   Greed and corruption are also motifs because of how people take
   advantage of Oliver. He is taken advantage of by Mr. Bumble at the
   workhouse and the thieves. Mr. Fagin tries to control Oliver, to use
   him for his own wealth. Monks tries to steal his identity and his
   inheritance.
   Spoilers end here.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

   There have been many theatrical, film and television adaptations of
   Dickens' novel:
     * The earliest film adaptation is a silent film made in 1909.
     * Oliver Twist, a feature film from 1948 by David Lean, starring Alec
       Guinness in one of his most defining roles as Fagin and is still
       considered the classic film version.
     * In 1960, Lionel Bart's musical play Oliver! opened to rave reviews
       in London. It became the longest-running musical there up to that
       time, playing six years. Producer David Merrick brought the show to
       the United States. The show toured nationally in cities including
       Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit before opening at the
       Imperial Theatre on Broadway on January 6, 1963, where it received
       less ecstatic reviews and did not run nearly as long as it did in
       London.
     * Lionel Bart's musical was adapted for the big screen in Oliver! (
       1968), and won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1969,
       featuring Mark Lester as Oliver. It received better reviews than
       the show had. The film also won an Oscar for its director, Sir
       Carol Reed.
     * A 1985 BBC television drama adaptation in their Classic Serial
       strand, produced by Terrance Dicks and starring Eric Porter as
       Fagin.
     * An animated interpretation by Disney called Oliver & Company (
       1988), loosely based on Dickens, about an orphaned cat named Oliver
       who meets a dog called Dodger.
     * A television movie, Oliver Twist, was released in 1997.
     * An ITV/ PBS production, Oliver Twist, from 1999, adapted by Alan
       Bleasdale and starring Robert Lindsay as Fagin, and Andy Serkis as
       Bill Sikes.
     * The 2003 movie Twist by director Jacob Tierney is loosely based on
       the novel but set in modern-day Toronto with male prostitution and
       drugs, rather than pickpocketing.
     * Boy called Twist by director Timothy Greene ( 2004) is set in Cape
       Town, South Africa, in the street-kid scene. With its unglamorous
       but sympathetic account of city poverty, the film is true to
       Dickens' story.
     * In 2005 director Roman Polanski released a new big-budget version
       of Oliver Twist.

   Adaptations of the novel tend to simplify the original story. The way
   the book is normally interpreted on screen causes modern readers to
   focus on Bill Sikes as the villain. They thus fail to recognise how
   Fagin has trained Sikes and made him what he is; part of Dickens'
   message is that he might have done the same with Oliver had chance not
   intervened.

   The renowned comic book creator, Will Eisner, disturbed by the
   anti-semitism in the typical depiction of Fagin, created a graphic
   novel in 2003 titled Fagin the Jew. In this book, the back story of the
   character and events of Oliver Twist are depicted from his point of
   view.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Twist"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
