Oliver Twist- Charles
Dickens.
Plot
Overview-
In this
novel Oliver is an orphan child, who born in a workhouse in a small town near
London in the early part of 19th century. His mother died
immediately after his birth. Nobody knows who she was. It was clear that she
wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. Oliver lived in a “Child Farm” and brought up
here until he is 8 years old. At the age of eight the Parish official running
the child farm decided that it is time to start working. So at the age of 8
years, an orphan child has to start working. Then Oliver also sends to work
house. At the working house Oliver ask for more foods with famous quotation:
“Please sir, I want some more.”
At the orphan house Oliver made some
misbehave, Oliver commits the unpardonable offense of asking for more food when
he is close to starving. So the parish officials offer five pounds to anyone
who is willing to take Oliver on as an apprentice. Here authority got some
persons who wanted to, adopt him and took Oliver to his home. The parish
officials eventually send Oliver off with a coffin-maker. Here, At the
coffin-maker’s shop, Oliver got good food, Good clothes and batter condition of
living life. At the coffin-maker’s shop, Oliver is treated much better than he
was at the workhouse or the child farm. The coffin-maker, Mr. Sowerberry, isn’t
so bad, but his wife, Mrs. Sowerberry, and the other apprentice, Noah Claypole,
have it in for Oliver from the start. Noah told something bad about
mother of Oliver, so he got angry and both of the fought. Oliver badly beat
Noah. Oliver gets in trouble for knocking Noah down. After being abused some
more, Oliver decides to set out for London on foot.
Now Oliver ran away from that family and went
to London. When he’s almost there, he runs into an odd-looking young man named
Jack Dawkins. He Dodger buys him lunch and offers to introduce him to a
"gentleman" in London who will give him a place to stay. Once in
London, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that the Dodger and his friends
are an unsavory bunch. Then Dodger introduces Oliver with Fagin. Fagin was a
inhuman and cunning person. The old "gentleman," Fagin, trains kids
to be pickpockets, and then he sells off what they steal. But Oliver doesn’t
Realize what’s up until he’s actually out with the Dodger and another one of
the boys, named Charley Bates. Oliver sees the pair steal the pocket
handkerchief out of a nice-looking old man's pocket.
When
Oliver turns to run away, the nice-looking old man sees him run and yells,
"stop, thief!" Oliver is tackled in the street, but by then the nice
old man - his name is Mr. Brownlow has taken a better look at him. He
realized that Oliver looks too sweet and innocent to be a pickpocket. In fact,
Oliver isn’t so much a pick-pocket as he is a very sick little boy. So Mr.
Brownlow takes Oliver home and cares for him until he’s well. Unfortunately
Fagin, the Dodger, Nancy (a prostitute), and Bill Sikes (another criminal) are
worried that Oliver will rat them out to the police, so they keep a watch on
Brownlow’s house.
One day, when Brownlow
entrusts Oliver with some money and an errand to run in the city, Fagin and the
criminals nab the poor kid once again. Nancy feels guilty and steps in to
defend Oliver when Fagin tries to smack him around. Fagin keeps Oliver shut up
in a dreary old house for weeks, all the while still trying to turn him into a
criminal. How long can a Nine-year-old hold out? Not long afterwards,
Bill Sikes and another thief say they need a small boy to help them break into
a house outside of London; Fagin volunteers Oliver. The plan goes awry when the
servants of the house wake up and catch Oliver in the act of sneaking in. The
servants don’t realize that Oliver is there against his will, and was actually
about to wake up the household to warn them about the robbers. So poor
Oliver takes a bullet and is left behind when the rest are all running away.
Fortunately, Oliver is picked up by the people who shot him, a family that
turns out to be as nice as Mr. Brownlow.
They become Oliver’s caretakers. Meanwhile,
Fagin is at his wits’ end wondering what happened to Oliver. He lets slip that
a mysterious man named Monks offered to pay him hundreds of pounds to corrupt
the young boy. Nancy pretends not to know what’s going on, but secretly resolves
to help Oliver, and to figure out why Monks is so keen on having Oliver turn to
crime. While Fagin and the criminals distress, Oliver learns to read and write
with his new friends, the Maylies. He's also reunited with his first friend,
Mr. Brownlow. Fagin and his gang are still trying to track Oliver down. Monks
has managed to get hold of and destroy
one of the few surviving tokens of Oliver’s parentage. Nancy finds out
about it and gets in touch with Rose Maylie to warn her about Monks’s plot with
Fagin.
Unfortunately for
Nancy, Bill Sikes (her lover) finds out about it and brutally murders her.
Sikes tries to escape, but he’s haunted by what he’s done. Eventually, he's
killed while trying to escape from the police: he falls off a rooftop while he’s
trying to lower himself down, and inadvertently hangs himself. Meanwhile,
Mr. Brownlow has managed to find Monks. Mr. Brownlow was an old friend of
Monks’ father and knows all about him. As it turns out, Monks is actually the
older half-brother of Oliver, and was trying to corrupt Oliver so that he’d
secure the entire family inheritance himself. Monks chooses to admit to
everything rather than face the police. Oliver ends up with what’s left
of his inheritance, is legally adopted by Mr. Brownlow, and lives down the road
from the Maylies. Everybody lives happily ever after. Except for Fagin, who is
arrested and hanged, and Monks, who dies in prison.
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