Nancy as the Most Important Character in Oliver Twist

Nancy as the Most Important Character in Oliver Twist

Charles dickens wrote Oliver Twist in 1837, during the Victorian era

of England, he was born in Landport, a suburb of Portsea, on February

7, 1812. He was their first child of eight siblings. John Dickens,

Charles's father, was not good with handling the family's money. He

was then imprisoned for debt on February 20, 1824. This experience

left Charles psychologically scarred. Charles had to take the role of

being "the man of the house" and had to start working at about the age

of twelve. Charles Dickens attended school for a short while but

worked the majority of his life.

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Dickens uses the characters and situations in the book to make a

pointed social commentary, attacking the hypocrisy and flaws of

institutions, including his society's government, its laws and

criminal system, and its methods of dealing with poor people.

Interestingly, he doesn't suggest any solutions; he merely points out

the suffering inflicted by these systems and their deep injustice.

Dickens basically believed that most people were good at heart but

that their good impulses could be distorted by social ills.

Oliver Twist was a young boy born into a workhouse but orphaned, as

his mother dies straight after giving. Oliver is then left for life in

an orphanage; he decides to run away into London and soon gets

involved in the underworld. Although the whole novel revolves around

Oliver Twist, my coursework question will be focusing on Nancy, and

how important she is in the story.

Dickens was influenced to write Oliver twist by his...

... middle of paper ...

...from a deep gash in her forehead." Nancy's

death description was nothing but gruesome, brutal and shocking. "It

was a ghastly figure to look upon." The unfairness of her death evokes

more sympathy from the reader.

Nancy's character is the most important in the sense that she allows

the reader to feel for the poor. Dickens uses her character for this

purpose. She acts like a representative for the lower classes. Nancy's

character is also the most important in the sense that she shows that

not all people in the underworld are bad. They do have good

consciences and they do have feelings for the others, it is just the

simple case of environment that forces them to do what they do, and

Dickens proves that in Nancy's character.

Therefore I conclude that Nancy is, in fact, the most important

character in Oliver Twist.