An Unexpected Way: Oliver Twist

"Please sir, may I have some more?" A quote that ought to sum Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist would be no different. Amazing details line every part of the novel as it cascades through the mysterious story of Oliver Twist, a young boy born into an orphanage and destined to a rather cruel fate. The book tells of his mishaps and adventures as he struggles through life, captured and free. Oliver Twist holds a tale of a fascinating yet tragic plot, written in Dickens’ famous style accompanied by a mix of meaningful human qualities, and a theme that we can still relate to now.

Dickens’ second novel takes its readers back to depressing and dangerous streets of Victorian age England, where the poor live to survive; though the saddening location doesn't stop Oliver Twist from becoming one of Charles Dickens’ most famous works, as the author guides the story through with an excellent flow, and dedicated heart. “There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.” But it is the exact opposite with this novel. Dickens does a praiseworthy job of keeping the reader at edge and chasing after what is going to happen at every turn of a page.

One of the novel’s strengths is its colorful characters which could probably stand alone to create an intense story between the good and the bad. Dickens takes his memories so far as to personalizing characters after people he met when he worked at a workhouse as a young boy, people like Fagin, whom is so named after Bob Fagin, a boy Dickens’ senior. Fagin—also referred to as the Jew—is a Jewish thief who could be characterized as the stereotypical bad guy in every story. Described as a “loathsome reptile” and as having “fangs such as should have been a dog’s or rat’s,” Fagin is ugly, sim...

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... whom you've been born too? Are we destined to do crime? These questions never just apply to one time period, and the answers themselves too make some realize how the world still hasn't changed in some ways.

So Oliver Twist has survived for so long, but not just because of its developed characters or because of its developed plot, but of the deep meaning of each word and the personal thoughts of Dickens that makes the story almost historical, telling us about the world then. The realistic descriptions paint our minds with pictures of young Oliver Twist and his life fighting to survive and find out who he is, the way out of the cursed orphanage which you could call a blessing too; and despite of the novel being released in monthly installments, it has many plot threads that Dickens manages to tie together to still make the readers wonder about what could happen next.