Oliver Twist Multicultural Paper

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Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is a fictional story based in London during the 1800’s. Oliver Twist, an orphaned child, is forced to live in a workhouse where he is abused, starved, and given away as an apprentice. Eventually Oliver turns to a life on the streets, living with a gang of orphaned children. Charles Dickens depiction of the workhouse conditions is considered very accurate according to historians. The conditions were horrible and unfit for humans. Poor people were not valued and were considered a blight on society. It was morally acceptable to treat them as less than human and to abuse and starve them.

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. His father was imprisoned as a debtor when Dickens was only 12 years old. According to the laws of the time, his brother and mother were forced into the workhouse with his father. While they were imprisoned, Charles started his first job at a factory. He would not speak of the time he worked at the factory to many people, only his wife and closest friend were told of the horrors he faced during that dark period in his life. He witnessed the devastating effects of poverty first hand and he saw the social idiocracy. As an adult, Charles became a newspaper reporter and a book author. During this time in society you were not allowed to openly object to the government regulations so Charles would express his displeasure and opinions through his writing.

Social norms were considerably different in the 1800’s. The English considered the poor to be unworthy of help and passed laws preventing anybody from assisting them. “In 1834, the Commission’s report resulted in the Poor Law Amendment Act, which was intended to end all out-relief for the able-bodied. The care and training...

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...ed with little humility, and the elderly and sick were of even less concern. The less fortunate in the 1800’s faced abuse, segregation, starvation, and harsh labor (Perdue).

Works Cited

Barrow, Mandy. "The Victorians ."woodlands-Junior.2010, 2010.Accessed on 16 Mar 2011. .

Barbury, Lorna."Oliver twists workhouse discovered ."The Telegraph. copyright at telegraph media group , 20 1 2011. Accessed on 10 Mar 2011. .

Dickens, Charles."The complete works of Charles Dickens ."Dickens. dickens-literature.com, 2008.Accessed on 12 Mar 2011.

Perdue, David .www.charlesdickenspage.com.Dickens' London.David A. Purdue ,2010. Accessed on 16 Mar 2011.

"Work house children."Sparticus School net. Accessed on 9 Mar 2011. .

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