TOPIC 47: LA REVOLUCIÓN INDUSTRIAL INGLESA: MODELO DE TRASNFORMACIÓN HISTÓRICA. NOVELA POLÍTICA Y SOCIAL: CHARLES DICKENS. 1. Timeline 2. The Industrial Revolution. 2.1 Introduction: Causes 2.1.1 Why the Industrial Revolution took place? 2.1.2 Population 2.1.3 Agriculture. 2.1.4 Textiles 2.1.5 Coal Mining 2.1.6 Transportation 2.1.7 Steam 2.2 Products of the Industrial Revolution 2.2.1 The Human Aspect 2.2.2 Capital 2.2.3 Labor 3. The political and social novel 3.1 Benjamin Disraeli 3.2 Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist. 3.2.1 The characters 3.2.1.1 Oliver Twist 3.2.1.2 Mr. Bumble 3.2.1.3 Artful Dodger 3.2.1.4 Fagin 3.2.1.5 Mr. Borwnlow 3.2.1.6 Bill Sikes (Skyes) 3.2.1.7 Monks (also known as Edward Leeford) 3.2.1.8 Nancy 3.2.1.9 Rose Maylie 3.2.2 Themes 3.2.2.1 The Influene of the environmnet 3.2.2.2 The power of true love 3.2.2.3 The Failure of Charity 3.2.2.4 The Folly of Individualism 3.2.3 Point of view 3.2.4 Chracter’s Names
1. Timeline - 1733: John KAY invented the Flying Shuttle - 1760-1840: ENCLOSURE ACTS were passed. It did away with all of the public land, which meant that peasant farmers usually did not get land in the re-division of land, since they had no political influence. Farmer got very small or bad pieces of land, if they got any. - 1764: HARGREAVES invents the Spinning-Jenny. - 1769: Richard ARKWRIGHT invented the water frame. - 1755: Samuel CROMPTON creates “the mule” (spinning machine) - 1776: James WATT created the Steam-machine. -1801: Richard TREVITHICK had an engine pulling trucks where he worked (Cornwall mine). - 1804: CORN LAW: Landowners, who dominated Parliament, sought to protect their profits by imposing a duty on imported corn. - 1812: Charles DICKENS is born in Portsmouth. - 1826: DISRAELI publishes his first novel: Vivian Grey - 1830: Railway opened from Liverpool to Manchester. - 1832: 1st REFORM BILL: King created new peers to overcome the hostile majority in the Hofl. - 1834: POOR LAW ACT: External aid to the poor was to be stopped (only workhouses). No person was to receive money or any help from the poor law authorities except in a workhouse. - 1836: DICKENS wrote The Pickwick Papers. - 1837: Charles DICKENS published Oliver Twist. - 1845: DISRAELI publishes The two nations - 1847: DISRAELI publishes The new crusade - 1848: 1st PUBLIC HEALTH ACT: The Act made little difference. - 1852: Lord JOHN RUSSELL, the leader of the Whig government resigned. DISRAELI is appointed Chancellor of the exchequer by Lord DERBY (new PM) - 1858: LORD DERBY became PM again. DISRAELI is appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. - 1859: LORD PALMERSTON, became PM (seven years of Liberal control) - 1866: LORD DERBY became PM again. DISRAELI is appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. - 1867: REFORM ACT: Aimed to extend the voting rights and redistribute Parliamentary seats. - 1868 GENERAL ELECTION: William GLADSTONE and the Liberals returned to power. - 1874: GENERAL ELECTIONS: DISRAELI and the Conservative Party won the elections. - 1875: Social reforms passed by the DISRAELI government: THE ARTISAN’S DWELLINGS ACT: gave local authorities more power to clear areas of bad housing, and to play landlords compensation if their houses were pulled down. 2nd PUBLIC HEALTH ACT: provided sanitation such as running water and refuse disposal PURE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT.
CLIMBING BOYS ACT: Prohibited the employment of juvenile chimney cleaners. CONSPIRACY AND PROTECTION OF PROPERTY ACT: A trade union could not be prosecuted for an act which would be legal if performed by an individual. - 1876: Alexander Graham BELL in transmitted the human voice over a wire. - 1880: EDUCATIONAL ACT made schooling compulsory for infants William GALDSTONE became PM again. DISRAELI publishes Endymion. 2. The Industrial Revolution 2.1. Introduction: Causes The most far-reaching, influential transformation of human culture since the advent of agriculture eight of ten thousand years ago, was the industrial revolution of 18th c Europe. The consequences of this revolution would change irrevocably human labour, consumption, family structure, social structure, and even the very soul and thoughts of the individual. This revolution involved more than technology; to be sure, there had been industrial “revolutions” throughout European history and non-European history. In Europe, for instance, the 12th and 13th c saw an explosion of technological knowledge and a consequent change in production and labour. However, the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION was more than technology – impressive as this technology was. What drove the industrial revolution were profound social changes, as Europe moved from a primarily agricultural and rural economy to a capitalist and urban economy, from a household, family-based economy to an industry-based economy. This required rethinking social obligations and the structure of the family; the abandonment of the family economy, for instance, was the most dramatic change to the structure of the family that Europe had ever undergone – and we’re still struggling with these changes. 2.1.1 Why did the Industrial revolution take place? In our efforts to try to explain why the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION took place, the globalization of the European economy is an undeniable explanation. European trade and manufacture spread to every continent except Antarctica; this vast increase in the market for European goods in part drove the conversion to an industrial, manufacturing economy. Why other nations didn’t initially join this revolution is in part global economy. World trade was about making Europeans wealthy, not about enriching the colonies or non-Western countries. 2.1.2 Population
Another reason given for the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION is the substantial increase in the population of Europe. Population growth is a mysterious affair to explain: It most often occurs when standards of production rise. So whether the Industrial Revolution was started off by a rise in population, or whether the Industrial Revolution stated a rise in population is hard to guess. It’s clear, though, that the transition to an industrial, manufacturing economy required more people to labour at this manufacture. While the logic of a national economy founded centrally on the family economy and family production is more or less a subsistence economy – most production is oriented around keeping the family alive, the logic of a manufacturing economy is a surplus economy. In a MANUFACTURING ECONOMY, a person’s productive labour needs to produce more than they need to keep life going. This surplus production is what produces profits for the owners of the manufacture. 2.1.3 Agriculture In 1750, the European economy was an agricultural economy. The land was owned largely by wealthy and frequently aristocratic landowners; they rented the land to tenant farmers who paid for the land in actual goods that they grew or produced. Agriculture was an indispensable source of raw materials for the textile industry. Wool and cotton production for the manufacture of cloth increased in each successive year, as did the yield of food crops. The agricultural sector’s improvement can be attributed to the “enclosure movement” and to improved techniques and practices developed during this period: On the one hand, the ENCLOSURE MOVEMENT was the cause of one of the greatest changes in the landscape of rural England. It was the process whereby the system of communal exploitation of the cultivated land, open pastures, meadows and wastes (uncultivated land) was gradually replaced by a system of private land management. It involved both a legal change and a physical change. The communal element was abolished and individual landowners and tenants took over separate private control of defined areas of land. The community no longer had rights over most of the land and the poorer members of village society were frequently disadvantaged in consequence. Physically, the great unfenced open fields were gradually divided up into fenced fields. The land was enclosed, instead of open. In central England and much of southern England the process reached its peak in the 18th century and early 19th century, when it was facilitated by a large number of Acts of Parliament. In other parts of England, such as the north-west, such legislation was rare,
and instead the enclosure movement was conducted largely by private agreement between manorial lords and their tenants. On the other hand, a common practice in early agriculture was to allow the land to lie uncultivated after it had been exhausted though cultivation. Later it was discovered that the cultivation of clover and other legumes would help to restore the fertility of the soil. Other ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURE included the use of more robust farm equipment from metal. Up until this period most farming tools were made entirely out of wood. We do not find much technical innovation beyond the slight improvements made on existing tools. We do find increased energy being placed into the breeding of livestock, control of insects, improved irrigation and farming methods, developing new crops and the use of horsepower in the fields to replace oxen as a source of power. These changes which have occurred in agriculture made it possible to feed all of the people that were attracted to the industrial centres as factory workers. By providing enough food to sustain an adequate work force, England was preparing the way for expansion of the economy and industry. 2.1.4 Textiles Prior to 1760 the manufacture of textiles occurred in the homes, by people who gave part of their time to it. It was tedious process from raw material to finished product. In the case of woollen cloth, the wool had to be organized, cleaned and dyed. Then the wool was carded and combed. Next, it was spun into thread which was woven into cloth. Subsequent complex processes were performed upon the cloth to change the texture or the colour of the woollen cloth. Many of these stages or production were performed by women and children. The supply of raw material for the woollen industry was obtained domestically. In the cases of silk and cotton, the raw materials were obtained from foreign sources, such as, China, the West Indies, North American and Africa. Changes in the textile industry were already occurring in the early 1700s; however, these changes were not easily accepted as evidenced by workers’ riots which broke out in response to these new machines. The FLYING-SHUTTLE, which enabled one weaver to do the work of two, and the ROLLER SPINNER which was to make spinning more efficient, were the precursors of the inventive spirit and the application of new technology to the textile industry. In the mid-1760s the textile industry began to experience rapid change. James Hargreaves’s JENNY, and device which enabled the operator to simultaneously spin dozens of threads, was readily adopted. By 1788 nearly 20.000 of them were being employed in England.
Arkwright and others developed the WATER FRAME. This device performed similarly to the ROLLER SPINNER, though its use demanded greater power than could be applied by muscle. Arkwright needed extra financial support to set up a water-powered factory that utilized his invention. This factory, located in Cromford, employed more than 600 workers, many of whom were women and children. These inventions that were perfected and employed led to tremendous change in the world of work. Gone were the days of the Domestic System, yielding to the new ways of the Factory System. These factories which were to spring up throughout the countryside were large, dusty, poorly illuminated and ventilated and dangerous. The employment of women and children was commonplace and desired, for they were paid lower wages than their male counterparts. Working conditions in these factories were not subject to much regulation. 2.1.5 Coal Mining One finds the working conditions and practices of coal mining in the 18th and 19th century to be risky, at best, and suicidal at worst. This industry, even today, provokes thoughts of hazards at every turn. Different methods of mining coal were employed in various locals throughout England. All coal mining had one trait in common: the movement of coal was accomplished solely by muscle power (animal, man, woman and child), the latter being the most desirable for their size. The process of removing the coal was obviously as slow as it was dirty. Coal was moved along horizontal tunnels by the basketful and hauled up a vertical shaft to the surface. Improvements in coal mining came in the form of improved tunnel ventilation, improved underground and surface transportation, the use of gunpowder to blast away at the coal closures, and improved tunnel illumination through the use of safety lamps. 2.1.6 Transportation As an integral part of determining the cost and availability of manufactured products and as a means of improved communications, and as an industry unto itself, the improvement of transportation stimulated the course of the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. Finished products, raw materials, food and people needed a quicker and less costly system of transportation. Canals and rivers had long been used as a means of internal transportation. The mid-1700s began the first construction of canals between industrial districts. The problem of moving huge quantities of goods overland was addressed, at least for the time being, by canals. However, their days were numbered, for the coming of the railroads was imminent.
The principles of rail transport were already in use in the late 1700s. Tramways, using cast iron rails, were being employed in a number of mines in England. By 1800 more than 200 miles of tramway served coal mines. It is not surprising, then, to find a number of engineers connected with coal mines searching for a way to apply the steam engine to railways. Railroads dominated the transportation scene in England for nearly a century. Railroads proliferated in England, from 1.000 miles in 1836 to more than 7.000 miles built by 1852. Here again is another example of economic necessity producing innovation. The development of efficient rail service was crucial to the growth of specific industries and the overall economy. 2.1.7 Steam The development and subsequent application of steam power was undoubtedly the greatest technical achievement of the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. A number of industries needed the ability to apply the enormous power produced by the steam engine, in order to continue their advancement in production. JAMES WATT is credited with the invention of steam engine. In fact, Watt improved upon a design which was developed by THOMAS SAVERY and THOMAS NEWCOMEN. The development of a practical and efficient steam engine and its application to industry and transportation caused a great jump for industrialization. Its application was virtually limitless, and it was responsible for rising industries from infancy to adolescence. 2.2 Products of the Industrial Revolution 2.2.1 The Human Aspect In the 18th century the population grew at faster rate than ever before. There are four primary reasons which may be cited for this growth: (1) a decline in the death rate, (2) an increase in the birth rate, (3) the virtual elimination of the plagues and (4) an increase in the availability of food. The latter is probably the most significant of these reasons, for English people were consuming a much healthier diet. One can find a countless number of reason for the growth of the population, in addition to those above. Industry provided higher wages to individuals than was being offered in the villages. This allowed young people to marry earlier in life, and to produce children earlier (the old system of apprenticeship did not allow an apprentice to marry). With the adoption of the FACTORY SYSTEM, we find a shift in population. Settlements grew around the factories. In some cases, housing was provided to workers by their employers, thus giving the factory owners greater control over the lives of his workers. In some cases, factories started in existing towns, which was
desirable because workers were already available. The prime consideration for locating a factory was the availability of power: The early form of power was derived directly from moving water. Thus, we find factories in the hills near streams and rivers. The development of the STEAM ENGINE to drive machinery freed the owners from being locked into a site that was close to moving water. The steam powered machines still had to be located near a source of water, though the field of choice was much wider. Other factories, such as those involved in the manufacture of iron, had considerations of a different kind involving their location. Due to the great difficulty in moving those huge materials, these factories had to be located closed to the mineral source. The towns that grew in the North were crowded, dirty and unregulated. They grew so rapidly that no one took the time to consider the consequence of such conditions. No one understood the effects of these unsanitary conditions upon humans: reappearance of epidemic diseases, such as typhoid and cholera. Some attention to these conditions was accorded by Parliament in the form of PUBLIC HEALTH ACTS. These acts did improve conditions, though they were largely ineffective. 2.2.2 Capital Prior to industrialization in England, land was the primary source of wealth. The landed aristocracy held enormous powers the feudal system. However, a new source of great wealth grew from the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: that derived from the ownership of factories and machinery. Those who invested in factories and machinery cannot be identified as belonging to any single class of people. Their backgrounds were quite diverse, yet they had one thing in common: the daring to grab to the opportunity to invest in new ventures. It was these capitalists who gave the necessary impetus to the speedy growth of the Industrial Revolution. In the early years of this period we find most investments being made in a field closely related to one’s original source of capital. Two kinds of capital were needed by these industrialists: LONG-TERM CAPITAL to expand present operations, and SHORTTERM CAPITAL to purchase raw materials and pay the wages. The need for short-term capital presented some problems. The need for short-term capital for raw materials and maintaining stock was accommodated by extending credit to the manufacturers by the producers or dealers. The payment of wages, however, was not an easily solved problem, one which taxed the creativity of employers. The problem was finding a sufficient amount of small value legal tender to pay the wages. The root of the problem was the lack of an adequate banking system in these remote industrial centres. The BANK OF ENGLAND, established in the late 1960s, did not accommodate the needs of the manufacturers. It concentrated its interests on the
financial affairs of state and those of the trading companies and merchants of London. By the early 1700s appeared the first COUNTRY BANK. These private banks were founded by those who were involved in a variety of activities. However, from 1772 to 1825, a large number of these banks failed. Their limited resources were inadequate to meet the demands of the factory economy. A banking system was eventually set up to distribute capital to areas where it was needed, drawing it from areas where there was a surplus. 2.2.3 Labour If the conditions in which people lived in these factory towns were considered bad, then the conditions in which they worked can be appropriately characterized as being horrendous. Inside these factories one would find poorly ventilated, noisy, dirty, damp and poorly lighted working areas. These factories were unhealthy and dangerous paces in which to work. Normally, workers put in twelve to fourteen hours daily. FACTORY ACTS that were later enacted by Parliament regulated the number of hours that men, women and children worked. The FACTORY SYSTEM changed the manner in which work was performed. Unlike the domestic system the work was away from home, in large, impersonal settings. Workers were viewed by their employers merely as hands. Slowly, workers began to realize the strength they could possess if they were a unified force. It was a long battle for workers to be able to have the right to organize into officially recognized unions. Their lot was one of having no political influence in a land where the government followed a laissez-faire (“allow to do”) policy. This hand off policy changed as the pressure from growing trade unions increased. A movement was beginning to free worker from the injustices of the factory system. Political leaders call for reform legislation which would address these injustices. 3. The political and social novel. 3.1 Benjamin Disraeli. The most remarkable attack on the new industrialism with its accompanying poverty was made, not by a solemn revolutionary, but by a vivacious dandy who became PRIME MINISTER: BENJAMIN DISRAELI (1804-81). Nothing that DISRAELI ever did was done without self-consciousness. Benjamin Disraeli, was born in London on 21st December, 1804. His father, Isaac Disraeli, was the author of several books on literature and history, including The Life and Reign of Charles I (1828). After a private education Disraeli was trained as a solicitor. Like his father, Isaac Disraeli, Benjamin took a keen interest in literature. His
first novel, Vivian Grey was published in 1826. The book sold very well and was followed by the Young Duke (1831), Contarini Fleming (1832), Alroy (1833), Henrietta Temple (1837) and Venetia (1837). Disraeli was also interested in politics. In the early 1830s he stood in several elections as a Whig, Radical and an Independent. Disraeli’s early attempts ended in failure, but he was eventually elected to represent Maidstone in 1837. DISRAELI became a progressive Tory and advocated triennial parliaments and the secret ballot. He was sympathetic to the demands of the Chartists and in one speech argued that the “rights of labour were as sacred as the rights of property”. In 1839 Benjamin DISRAELI married an extremely wealthy widow. The marriage was a great success. ON one occasion Disraeli remarked that he had married for money, and his wife replied, “Ah! but if you had to do it again, you would do it for love.” After the Conservative victory in the 1841 General Election, DISRAELI suggested to Sir Robert Peel, the new Prime Minister, that he would make a good government minister. Peel disagreed and Disraeli had to remain on the backbenches. Disraeli was hurt by Peel’s rejection and over the next few years he became a harsh critic of the Conservative government. In 1842 DISRAELI helped to form the YOUNG ENGLAND GROUP. Disraeli and members of his group argued that the middle class now had too much political power and advocated an alliance between the aristocracy and the working class. DISRAELI suggested that the aristocracy should use their power to help protect the poor. This political philosophy was expressed in DISRAELI’s novels The new generation (1844), The two nations (1845) and The new crusade (1847). In these books the leading characters show concern about poverty and the injustice of the parliamentary system. Disraeli favoured a policy of protectionism and strongly opposed Peel’s decision to cancel the CORN LAWS. This issue spilt the Conservative Party and Disraeli’s attacks on Peel helped to bring about his political downfall. In 1852, Lord John Russell, the leader of the Whig government, resigned. Lord Derby, the new Prime Minister, appointed Disraeli as his chancellor of the Exchequer. This period of power only lasted a few months and Derby was soon replaced by the Earl of Aberdeen. Lord Derby became Prime Minister again in 1858 and once again Disraeli was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He also became leader of the House of Commons and was responsible for the introduction of measures to reform parliament. In 1859 Lord Palmerston, became Prime Minister, and Disraeli once more lost his position in the government. For the next seven years the Liberals were in power and it was not until 1866 that Disraeli returned to the cabinet. Once again, Lord Derby
appointed Disraeli as his Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons. In 1867 Disraeli proposed a NEW REFORM ACT. Lord Carnborne (later the Marquis of Salisbury) resigned in protest again this extension of democracy. In the House of Commons, Disraeli’s proposals were supported by Gladstone and his followers and the measure was passed. The 1867 REFORM ACT gave the vote to every male adult householder living in a borough constituency. The Reform Act also dealt with constituencies and boroughs with less than 10,000 inhabitants lost one of their MPs. The 45 seats available were distributed by: (i) giving 15 to towns which had never had an MP; (ii) giving one extra seat to some larger towns: Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds; (iii) creating a seat for the University of London; (iv) giving 25 seats to counties whose population had increased. In 1868 Lord Derby resigned and Benjamin Disraeli became the new Prime Minister. However, in the 1868 General Election that followed, William Gladstone and the Liberals were returned to power with a majority of 170. After six years in opposition, Disraeli and the Conservative Party won the 1874 General Election. It was the first time since 1841 that the Tories in the House of Commons had a clear majority. Disraeli now had the opportunity to develop the ideas that he had expressed when he was leader of the Young England group in the 1840s. Social reforms passed by the Disraeli Government included: the ARTISANS DWELLINGS ACT (1875), the PUBLIC HEALTH ACT (1875), the PURE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT (1875), the CLIMING BOYS ACT (1875), the EDUCATION ACT (1876). Disraeli also introduced measures to protect workers such as the 1874 FACTORY ACT and the CLIMING BOYS ACT 1875. Disraeli also kept his promise to improve the legal position of trade unions. The CONSPIRACY AND PROTECTION OF PROPERTY ACT (1875) allowed peaceful strikes. Unlike William Gladstone, Disraeli got on very well with Queen Victoria. She approved of Disraeli’s imperials views and his desire to make Britain the most powerful nation in the world. In 1876 Victoria agreed to his suggestion that she should accept the title of Empress of India. The Liberals defeated the Conservatives in the 1880 General Election and after William GLADSTONE became Prime Minister, Disraeli retired from politics. Disraeli hoped to spend his retirement writing novels but soon after the publication of Endymion (1880) he became very ill and died on 19th April, 1881. 3.2 Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist. Few writers are lucky enough to have their first novels become runaway bestsellers. Yet that is exactly what happened when 25-year-old Charles Dickens published Oliver Twist in 1837.
Many readers already knew of young Dickens. As a journalist, he had written, under the pen name Boz, exposing social conditions in England. He had also written a best-selling collection of humorous stories called The Pickwick Papers. One reason why Oliver Twist was so popular was that Dickens understood what his audience wanted to read and was willing to write it. He gave them sentimental love scenes, a horrifying glimpse of the criminal underworld, a virtuous hero in Oliver, and nasty villains in BILL SIKES and FAGIN. And he mixed it all up in a complicated, puzzling mystery story. Because Oliver Twist was published in monthly instalments, Dickens could leave his readers in agonizing suspense form month to month. All across England, readers eagerly discussed what had happened in the most recent instalment and argued over what they thought would happen in the next one, just as Big Brother Shows are for us today. Dickens wanted to do more than just entertain. He challenged his readers to consider things they would rather have ignored. He drew a picture of London’s poorest neighbourhoods that was shocking in its realism. Victorian authors were not supposed to acknowledge the existence of drunkards and prostitutes, but DICKENS did. They were not supposed to use street language, even in dialogue, but DICKENS did. In 1834, a few years before the publication of Oliver Twist, Parliament had passed a POOR LAW intended to end some of the worst abuses against the indigent. Yet the provision of the bill didn’t go far in providing aid for those who were suffering. DICKENS wanted to do something about the poverty in England. Although his readers didn’t know this, poverty had personality touched Dickens. His family had been quite comfortable when he was born in Portsmouth in 1812, but his parents weren’t very skilled at managing money. When he was about 12, his family was confined to debtors’ prison, in London. Only the money left by his grandmother when she died paid them out. His knowledge of prison gave Dickens a lifelong obsession with prisoners and inhumane institutions. The hunger and loneliness that tortures Oliver Twist while he is a ward of the parish were very real to Dickens during his own family crisis. Young DICKENS was forced to work as an apprentice in a boot blacking factory, for 6 awful months. Not only was the work exhausting, the experience was humiliating. In Oliver Twist he included a brief episode condemning the apprenticeship system, but it was not until later, in David Copperfield, that he could face writing about the factory in detail. While Oliver Twist is not as autobiographical as David Copperfield, many other incidents in the novel reflect DICKEN’S experiences. He deeply regretted not having had more schooling and suggests that in Oliver’s eagerness to learn. The criminal underworld of FAGIN, NANCY and SIKES in Oliver Twist was as well-known to Dickens as the workhouses
and debtors’ prisons. As a reporter and journalist, he had seen the sordid side of urban life. He had met criminals like SIKES and women like NANCY. He had little sympathy for criminals like FAGIN, who abuse and corrupt others, yet he knew that there were others – like NANCY and CHARLEY BATES – who were criminals only because of their environment, and who might still be reformed. Later he became actively involved with UCRANIA COTTAGE, a refuge for homeless women, including prostitutes. URANIA COTTAGE was set up as an environment where these women could feel at home and prepare themselves for a better life. DICKEN’S sympathy for NANCY is clear in OLIVER TWIST. Typically, he was motivated to get involved, to try to change conditions for girls like her before it was too late. The 1830s were a time of growing concern about social issues and reform. As a popular writer, he could reach a vast middle-class audience, shocking them into action by his dramatic storytelling. 3.2.1 The characters 3.2.1.1 Oliver Twist The orphan Oliver is a loving, innocent child. In his poor-torich career he finally finds happiness with his aunt, ROSE MAYLIE, and his mentor, MR. BROWNLOW. But at birth, his prospects aren’t very bright. He is left in a public workhouse deprived of affection, education and adequate food. OLIVER is generally quiet and shy rather than aggressive. But when he is 9, he does two bold things that change his life: at the workhouse he asks for more food and when he’s an apprentice he beats up a work mate who continuously torments him and runs away. After that, most of the things that happen to him are out of his control. They are the rest of luck – either good or bad – or the active intervention of someone else. When he arrives in London, he finds himself in the control of FAGIN and his thieves. Twice he is rescued by the very people that FAGIN’s gang is trying to rob, first MR. BROWNLOW, and later MRS. MAYLIE. Then his half-brother (MONKS) plans to destroy him. Oliver’s weakness and innocence earns him the pity and love of the good people he meets. At the same time, his goodness makes him the victim of FAGIN, SIKES, and MONKS because they persistently scheme to turn him into a thief like themselves. Because Oliver discovers that good people are successful and evil ones are punished, he turns out to be a happy, secure, honest person. Dickens choice of Oliver’s name is very revealing, because the boy’s story is full of “twists” and turns. 3.2.1.2 Mr. Bumble
A beadle’s job was to maintain order in churches and other parish institutions, and Mr. Bumble likes his work – especially keeping the poor in line. He takes a special responsibility for Oliver Twist, from the day he names the infant to the time when people like kindly BROWNLOW and MONKS ask for information about the orphan’s past. However, DICKENS suggests that BUMBLE’s interest is self-serving. 3.2.1.3 Artful Dodger. ARTFUL DODGER is a talented pickpocket. Oliver is initially impressed by him and follows him to FAGIN’s school for thieves. DODGER’S charms may simply make him a bad example for OLIVER and the other boys. On the contrary, DODGER might be seen as a misguided, but generous, teenager. At times, DODGER seems more like a free spirit than a conscious criminal. Notice that he’s arrested before NANCY’s murder. It has been said that Dickens did this so that DODGER is not implicated in that grim act. 3.2.1.4 Fagin. FAGIN is a Jewish master criminal whose specialty is selling stolen property. He employs a team of thieves (some of them ignorant children) and is always looking for new recruits. That’s why he is gland when DODGER brings OLIVER home. He finds out later from MONKS that he can make a profit from turning Oliver into a criminal, and he’s even more happy. FAGIN seems like a villain straight out of melodrama (hiding through the dark London streets and called “the old gentleman”). Even his red hair links him to descriptions of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. It may be said that FAGIN is just making a living the best way he can. He is a man of considerable intelligence, though corrupted by his self-interest. 3.2.1.5 Mr. Brownlow BRONWLOW is a generous man, concerned for other people. Not only does the withdraw his accusation of OLIVER, he takes the boy home with him and nurses him out of his fever. BROWNLOW is quick to feel pity for OLIVER. He insists that MONKS must restore the identity and fortune he has stolen from Oliver. He posts a reward for SIKES’ capture. BRONWLOW seems to be a caricature of a virtuous man. They point to his attitude toward NANCY, especially his conviction that she should change her lifestyle. 3.2.1.6 Bill Sikes (Sykes)
SIKES is a robber and a murderer. Because he is an ally of FAGIN, they are often described as the two faces of evil in the novel: FAGIN plans the crimes; SIKES carries them out. The scenes in which SIKES brutally beats NANCY to death are the most frightening moments in the novel. From the beginning, SYKES is compared to a beast. He uses brute violence to intimidate and injure other people like NANCY, his unwilling accomplice OLIVER, and even clever but cowardly FAGIN. 3.2.1.7 Monks (Also known as Edward Leeford) MONKS is OLIVER’s half-brother. Because he wants to destroy the boy’s chance of inheriting their father’s money, he asks FAGIN to turn OLIVER into a criminal. Monks is driven by hate. However, this hate makes him fall: if he hadn’t gone looking for Oliver, he would have kept the entire fortune for himself, as he was the only person who knew the boy’s identity. 3.2.1.8 Nancy NANCY is the unfortunate product of the poor neighbourhoods: pupil of FAGIN and mistress of SIKES. Although she is a prostitute, she has the instincts of a good person. She protects OLIVER as soon as she sees the threat to him, even though it means landing in trouble with FAGIN and SIKES. Incredibly, she’s faithful to Sikes because she loves him, despite his abuses. She dies at the end of the novel. 3.2.1.9 Rose Maylie. At least on the surface, ROSE is very different from NANCY. Though both were orphans, ROSE was rescued as a child by Mrs. MAYLIE and grew up secure and protected. Like NANCY, she is compassionate and devoted to OLIVER, but in contrast Rose is innocent of the world’s evils. OLIVER loves ROSE because she is so beautiful and good. She represents, from him, the idea of what a perfect woman should be. After he is “adopted” by Rose and Mrs. Maylie he is able to feel secure and happy. Because Rose knew what it was like to be rescued from an unhappy childhood, she urgently wants to rescue Oliver, and Nancy too. In that way, she is a representation of all the good instincts of Victorian society.
3.2.2 Setting The major action in Oliver Twist moves back and forth between two worlds: the filthy neighbourhoods of London and the clean, comfortable houses of BRONLOW and the MAYLIES.
The first world is real and frightening, while the latter is idealized, almost dreamlike, in its safety and beauty. The world of London is a world of crime. Things happen there at night, in dark streets and in abandoned, unlighted buildings. In contrast to FAGIN’S London, the sunlit days and fragrant flowers of MAYLIES’ cottage or the handsome library at BROWNLOW’S teem with goodness and health. 3.2.3 Themes. There is not much difference of opinion about what Dickens intended Oliver Twist to communicate to readers. The following are the major themes of the novel: 3.2.3.1 The Influence of the environment. Do living conditions determine what happens to people? If so, we are to believe that those of Dickens’ people who are deprived of good influences are doomed, while those who enjoy love and security flourish. However, despite the environment in which Oliver has been grown up, he is still good and naïve. Dickens may also be arguing that criminals are made, not born. 3.2.3.2 The power of true love. Many forms of love appear in Oliver Twist, whether between man and woman or parent and child (including adopted children). Dickens seems to suggest that affection is the only source of real strength. BROWNLOW’S love saves OLIVER. ROSE and HENRY find happiness together after all their suffering. But love is not successful if it is one-sided. NANCY’s love for SYKES, though sincere on her part, fails because it is not returned. Love also fails when it is motivated by greed or self-advantage: The Bumble’s marriage and the relationship between Noah and Charlotte mock true love. 3.2.3.3 The Failure of Charity Much of the first part of Oliver Twist challenges the organizations of charity run by the church and the government in DICKEN’S times. The system Dickens describes was put into place by the POOR LAW of 1834, which stipulated that the poor could only receive government assistance if they moved into government workhouses. Residents of those workhouses were essentially prisoners whose rights were severely curtailed by a host of onerous regulations. Labour was required, families were almost always separated, and rations of food and clothing were meagre. The workhouses operated on the principle that poverty was the consequence of laziness and
that the dreadful conditions in the workhouse would inspire the poor to better their own circumstances. Yet the economic dislocation of the Industrial Revolution made it impossible for many to do so, and the workhouses did not provide any means for social or economic betterment. Furthermore, as DICKENS points out, the officials who ran the workhouses deliberately violated the values that preached to the poor. Dickens describes with great sarcasm the greed, laziness, and arrogance of charitable workers like Mr. BUMBLE and Mrs. Mann. In general, charitable institutions only reproduced the awful conditions in which the poor would live anyway. 3.2.3.4 The Folly of Individualism With the rise of capitalism during the INDUSTRIAL REVOUTION, individualism was very much in vogue as a philosophy. Victorian capitalists believed that society would run better if individuals looked out for their own interests. Ironically, the clearest pronunciation of this philosophy comes not from a legitimate businessman but from FAGIN, who operates in the illicit businesses of theft and prostitution. 3.2.4 Point of view. A third person, omniscient narrator, who isn’t a character but who knows everything that is happening and what all of the characters are thinking and doing, tells the story most of the time in Oliver Twist. The narrator describes events and repeats conversations so that you can understand and evaluate what is going on. Occasionally the narrator interrupts the story he is telling, and speaking in his own voice, as “I”, urges you to accept particular ideas. When a writer changes from one narrator to another, it is usually to draw attention to the subject being discussed. Some readers believe that the first-person narrator sections of Oliver Twist resemble the journalistic sketches Dickens was accustomed to writing. The shifts may signal the crusading purpose that was as important to Dickens as telling an exciting story. 3.2.5 Characters’ Names The names of characters represent personal qualities. OLIVER TWIST himself is the most obvious example. The name “Twist”, though given by accident, alludes to the outrageous reversals of fortune that he will experience. ROSE MAYLIE’S name echoes her association with flowers and springtime, youth and beauty. TOBY CRACKIT’S name is a reference to his chosen professions of breaking into houses. MR. BUMBLE’S names connotes his bumbling arrogance; Mrs. MANN’S, her lack of
maternal instinct; and MR. GRIMWIG’s, his superficial grimness that can be removed as easily as a wig.
