Reflection of Charles Dickens' Childhood in Olvier Twist

Character Analysis of Oliver Twist

and its Reflection of Charles Dickens’ Childhood

Oliver Twist, written in 1837, the second novel by British author Charles Dickens, is notable for its detailed portrayal of cruel treatments towards the many orphans in London during the Victorian era. Oliver Twist is the main character in this novel who endures a miserable life as an orphan. The adventures of Oliver are like an epitome of the pathetic lives of the lower class. In many ways Dickens criticizes the unsound social system and corrupted criminal justice in the Victorian era through Oliver’s life. To some extent, the life of young Oliver can be seen as a reflection of Dickens’ own childhood.

Charles Dickens was born on 1812 in a mid-class family at Landport in Portsea Island. His father John Dickens was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office with a comfortable income. But his squandering quickly destroys the family by the accumulation of the debts which he could not pay and went to jail in the end. Dickens was also forced to leave school and work ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, where he earned six shillings per week for pasting labels on pots of boot blacking. The terrible working conditions in the blacking company left a strong impact on young Dickens and later became his inspiration of writing and depicting the miserable life of the lower class people in London, especially the character of Oliver Twist.

Oliver Twist is born to a dying mother in a workhouse. No one knows where his father is. The workhouse was a place offering jobs for the poor who cannot support themselves. Its origin can be traced back to the Poor Law Act of 1388, in which the government attempted to address the labor shortages following the Black Death in ...

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...he midst of wickedness and guilt. Dickens tried to understand the thoughts and emotions of children. He viewed children as sensitive creatures whose thoughts and feelings deserved special consideration. In Dickens' view of childhood, he thought that children have certain needs: guidance in a nurturing home, to be free from emotional and physical abuse, to have a good education. He felt these needs must be met to help children to succeed. In Oliver Twist Dickens created several happy encounters in which a penniless, hopeless child was offered help from benefactors who freed Oliver from sufferings and dangers many times. From these plots, we seem to see Dickens himself is like a lonely and deserted child who is eagerly expecting happy encounter with good-hearted men by whom he will be offered help. Creating happy encounters is determined by his aesthetic psychology.