TOPIC 47: LA REVOLUCIN INDUSTRIAL INGLESA: MODELO DE

TRASNFORMACIN HISTRICA. NOVELA POLTICA 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 Chracters 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 ARTISANS 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 were 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 didnt 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. Its 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 persons
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 sectors 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 Hargreavess 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 ones 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.
Disraelis 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 Peels 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 DISRAELIs 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 Peels decision
to cancel the CORN LAWS. This issue spilt the Conservative Party
and Disraelis 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, Disraelis
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 Disraelis 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 Londons 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 didnt go far in providing aid for those who were suffering.
DICKENS wanted to do something about the poverty in
England. Although his readers didnt know this, poverty had
personality touched Dickens. His family had been quite
comfortable when he was born in Portsmouth in 1812, but his parents
werent 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 DICKENS
experiences. He deeply regretted not having had more schooling
and suggests that in Olivers 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. DICKENS
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 arent 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
hes 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 FAGINs gang is trying to rob, first MR. BROWNLOW,
and later MRS. MAYLIE. Then his half-brother (MONKS) plans to
destroy him. Olivers 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 Olivers name is
very revealing, because the boys story is full of twists and
turns.
3.2.1.2 Mr. Bumble

A beadles 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 orphans past. However, DICKENS
suggests that BUMBLEs 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 FAGINs school for thieves.
DODGERS 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 hes arrested before NANCYs
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.
Thats 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 hes 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 OLIVERs half-brother. Because he wants to
destroy the boys chance of inheriting their fathers money,
he asks FAGIN to turn OLIVER into a criminal. Monks is driven by
hate. However, this hate makes him fall: if he hadnt gone looking for
Oliver, he would have kept the entire fortune for himself, as he was
the only person who knew the boys 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, shes 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 worlds 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 FAGINS London, the sunlit days and fragrant flowers of
MAYLIES cottage or the handsome library at BROWNLOWS 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
nave. 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. BROWNLOWS love saves OLIVER. ROSE
and HENRY find happiness together after all their suffering. But love
is not successful if it is one-sided. NANCYs 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
Bumbles 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 DICKENS 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 isnt 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 MAYLIES
name echoes her association with flowers and springtime, youth
and beauty. TOBY CRACKITS name is a reference to his chosen
professions of breaking into houses. MR. BUMBLES names
connotes his bumbling arrogance; Mrs. MANNS, her lack of

maternal instinct; and MR. GRIMWIGs, his superficial grimness

that can be removed as easily as a wig.