Character Study of Nancy from Oliver Twist

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Character Study of Nancy from Oliver Twist

The novel Oliver Twist was written by Charles Dickens in 1837-39, it

was published as a serial form. That era was known as the Victorian

era, the Victorian society was a much-divided society; a small wealthy

minority lived in luxury where as the rest lived in very poor

conditions. The Victorians showed themselves as very religious people

but - covertly - they were not at all religious. In 1834 the poor law

Amendment act was passed which meant that the poor people who could

not feed themselves had to live in the workhouse.

The novel centres on a little boy known as Oliver Twist, who was born

in the workhouse and got involved with the underground criminal world.

This coursework is about Nancy, who is a young lady involved in the

criminal world. She was very small when she was forced into the

criminal world.

Nancy was first introduced through Oliver's eyes, in chapter 9, rather

than the narrators. This is opposite to the way Fagin and Bill Sikes

were introduced to the reader. Fagin and Bill were introduced to the

reader through the narrator. "They wore a good deal of hair, not very

neatly turned up behind, and were rather untidy about the shoes and

stockings. They were not exactly pretty, perhaps; but they had a great

deal … Oliver thought them very nice girls indeed." This quotation

shows the positive side of Nancy.

Later on Oliver was arrested by Police, accused of robbing Mr

Brownlow. He was taken in the court, but luckily a respectable man had

seen the incident and knew that Oliver was not the boy who had robbed

Mr Brownlow, so he was released. Once released from the custody Mr...

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...that there are a lot

more people like Nancy around in London,

While describing the surroundings Dickens uses dark and gloomy quotes

like, 'mist hung over the river', 'deepening the red glare of the

fires' to create suspense. The surroundings are also quite

prefigurative, they give us a clue as to what might happen next.

When Mr Brownlow came Nancy took him to a different location, to keep

out of the public's eye, she didn't want any one to see her with Mr

Brownlow because that would influence his reputation as well.

Nancy tells Mr Brownlow all about Fagin and Monks, but nothing about

Bill Sikes. Mr Brownlow also tells her that he will keep her and help

her live a better life, but she said that she has to go back for some

one. Again we find out about the tragic flaw that she has for Bill,

she really loves him.

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