How does the writer’s use of language manipulate the reader’s sympathies in Chapter 47 of ‘Oliver Twist’?
The novel ‘Oliver Twist’, written by Charles Dickens explores eighteenth century Britain and how the divide between classes affected society.
Published in 1838, this fictional tale highlights the abuse and violence in 1800 Britain, venturing into the social and economical divide and focussing on the underclass, which at this time lived in harsh, squalor and awful conditions. Chapter 47 reveals the themes of criminality and scheming behaviour which runs throughout the novel. Brutality erupts when Bill is manipulated by Fagin. At this time in the story Nancy has risked her life to inform Mr Brownlow of Oliver’s whereabouts. Charles Dickens creates a dark, mysterious setting when he describes the scene of Fagin’s lair ‘the dead of night’ – already ‘death’ is in the reader’s thoughts and minds. Animal imagery is applied to depict Fagin, and is used numerous times within the first two paragraphs of chapter 47 ‘less like a man’, ‘old lair’. The reader can immediately image this monster- like man with a ‘distorted face’ who is up two hours before day-break feeling troubled and thinking up schemes to save himself.
In this scene it becomes very apparent the polar opposites between all of the main characters.
As Fagin goads Noah to tell Sikes about Nancy’s wrong doings and betrayal, the reader would feel sorry for the character Noah, who is being manipulated. As Noah unknowingly retells the previous tragic events in front of Bill ‘the first time she went to see the lady, she ha! ha! ha! it made me laugh when she said it, that it did – she gave him a drink of laudanum’. The simplistic and childlike language Noah uses here shows ...
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...em on my knees, to show the same mercy and goodness’ the reader is made to feel hatred towards the ‘villain’ Bill Sikes.
As the author describes Nancy’s brutal murder the reader is drawn to feel empathy and pity towards her. At the end of chapter 47 Bill comes to terms will what he is about to do as he shields his eyes from himself ‘ shutting out the sight with his hand’ Nancy begs him using her white handkerchief which could also link to symbolic imagery to Jesus and religion.
In conclusion the use of language is used cleverly to establish the dark miserable setting and explores each character’s features amazingly well ‘with face so distorted and pale’. The writer’s use of language manipulates the reader’s sympathies; personally in my view Nancy’s horrific murder provokes the most empathy and pity because she is the one staring into the face of her murderer.
Forthright emotions are not necessary in this piece for the reader to connect, understand, or empathize with the plot. Johnson created a character who clearly has emotions, but chooses to safeguard them for a realistic feeling and the ability to concentrate on the more important purpose of the novel: to expose the difficulties a man with dual identity may face in a time period determined on separating and segregating who he is. Detached and emotionless, in this well-crafted and well-thought-out scenario, expresses more emotion and creates a more realistic novel than a complex examination of his inner feelings may have
Throughout almost the whole account the reader can perceive a tone of desperation as the main character
Mary Gaitskill uses a third person perspective, along with crafty diction and insightful allusions to keep her reader’s in suspense through her piece of “Tiny, Smiling Daddy”. It is with these tools that Gaitskill is able to slowly change our perceptions of the narrator from likeable to confusion and ultimately ending in dislike.
He is able to do this task by using rhetorical techniques. One of the most common rhetorical device that he used throughout the whole book was pathos. Pathos is a literary device that is used to evoke emotion or pity from an audience. The author uses pathos to deliver heart-breaking and thought provoking examples from the story to make readers wonder about what life on “the other side” is really like. A specific scene where pathos is used was when the book talked about the monetary situation of the mother, LaJoe, and the scene said “The $931 she (LaJoe) received each month off welfare and food stamps…$400 for groceries, $80 for burial insurance…”(95). This example of pathos is extremely effective as this scene shocks readers with the fact that the mother uses nearly 10% of her monthly income to just be insured that her children are insured for burial if they are ever killed. This example evokes the audience by making them imagine of how tough of a situation LaJoe was in and how terrifying it must be worrying everyday whether or not her children could be dead at any moment. It shows the audience that nothing is guaranteed in the ghetto. This is very good at achieving the author’s goal of presenting this subject because this example shows to the readers how many people in these parts of the cities are scared of their own homes and safety.
The Following essay will examine how class is represented in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Both in this novel and many others, which are based around the time of the 1800’s, class is a major part of life which in turn made your life’s path completely dependent on what class or background you were brought up in. This was majorly the case in Great Expectations and especially in the life of Pip. After reading Great Expectations there are many arguments
In Oliver Twist and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, both main characters refuse to except the poor hand the world has dealt them. Pip and Oliver reach a great epiphany in regards to social injustice, and in turn rebel against the system that oppresses them. They are tired of being mistreated and neglected, and therefore decide to make a stand. Charles Dickens exhibits through Oliver and Pip that the revolt of the weak against the strong results from the oppression of the poor. As a result of their revolt against the system, Pip and Oliver are ostracized for their non-conformist ideals. Thus change in an oppressing and conformist society can only be achieved through change in moral, social, and political instincts.
Noah is pardoned for his crimes because he decides to testify against Fagin. Monks and Oliver each receive half of their father's estate, although Monks squanders his and ends up dying in prison. Brownlow adopts Oliver and they live near a church where Harry preaches.
Throughout the novel, the use of satire increases the readability of the text, intriguing readers’ thoughts, and, ultimately, emphasizing the adverse social condition; thus making the novel appealing. When Oliver was born, Dickens wrote, “Now, if, during this brief period, Oliver had been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably and indubitably have been killed in no time” (Dickens Chapter I). Dickens is connoting the fact that those who are in adversities would fight for living, while those who are not don’t even need to fight, highlighting the social inequality that exists at that time. Other than that, Dickens described that authorities’ reaction to “let the paupers go to sleep” as “a novel illustration of the tender laws of England”, using a sarcastic tone to make the point that paupers were not expected to sleep in that time, underscoring the ruthlessness that those who are in lower class were suffering not only in the novel but also in the corrupted society during Victorian Era (Dickens Chapter II). Dickens successfully illustrated a brutal society that once existed. Other than the innuendos, the way that the author delivers the story also makes the novel remarkable. Throughout the narration, Dickens constantly “tells” the story in the first person. For example, Dickens writes: “As I purpose to show in the sequel whether the white waistcoated gentleman was right or not, I should perhaps mar the interest of this narrative (supposing it to possess any at all), if I ventured to hint just yet, whether the life of Oliver Twist had this violent termination or no” (Dickens Chapter II). Using “I”, Dickens provides a sense of reality to the reader by “telling” the story with his personal interpretation, instead of just having the reader to “read”
Throughout the novel, the author explores the class system of Victorian England, ranging from the criminal Magwitch, to the poor peasants Joes and Biddy, to the middle class of Pumblechook, and finally to the rich Miss Havisham. This theme, being the procedure that people where categorized into classes, is essential throughout the story, since Pip realizes that wealth and class are less significant than affection, loyalty, and inner worth. The most important fact to be remembered about the post-industrial revolution class system is that Dickens ignores the nobility and aristocracy in favor of the main theme of this novel: ambition.
“Oliver Twist” was written in 1838 by Charles Dickens and was originally published as a monthly magazine before being published as a novel that was subsequently read by many Victorians. It was written not only to entertain, but to raise awareness for the many issues in the society of the day related mainly to criminal activity. One of the main problems was based around the differentiation in the class of people in the Victorian era. People from the middle classes were widely known think very little of the lower classes and often considered them the evil of society. He also uses the novel to raise the issues related to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 and the way that it involved sending poor or orphaned people like Oliver to ghastly overpopulated workhouses where they were poorly looked after. Dickens also fights against the negative stereotypes of criminals and prostitutes such as Nancy who eventually shows the good in herself to protect Oliver from the hands of the deadly wrath of Bill Sikes.
Great Expectations and Oliver Twist are representative of the works produced by Charles Dickens over his lifetime. These novels exhibit many similarities - perhaps because they both reflect painful experiences that occurred in Dickens' past.
Dickens had several real life experiences of poverty and abandonment in his life that influenced his work, Oliver Twist. The times of poverty and abandonment in Charles Dickens’ life instilled a political belief in Dickens’ mind against the new poor laws of Great Britain. Dickens’ felt the new poor laws victimized the poor, failed to give the poor a voice, and were in need of change. These points are shown in Oliver Twist through the characters, scenes, and narration Dickens’ uses throughout the book.
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.
However, the strong, yet subtle implications that Charles Dickens introduces to his novels, particularly “Great Expectations”, has made a strong impression during his time and even in the modern day. Dickens explores the wide gap among the “most wretched criminals (Magwitch), the poor (Joe and Biddy), the middle class (Pumblechook), and the very rich (Miss Havisham)” (Gupta, 18), a social hierarchy resulting from the Post-Industrial Revolution. “Great Expectations” demonstrates the role of social class in the society by emphasizing that social class does not define the character of the individual, the relationship with in the characters, and the value of the characters.
can be seen in Oliver Twist, a novel about an orphan, brought up in a workhouse and poverty to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the upper class people. Oliver Twist shows Dickens' perspective of society in a realistic, original manner, which hope to change society's views by "combining a survey of the actual social scene with a metaphoric fiction designed to reveal the nature of such a society when exposed to a moral overview" (Gold 26). Dickens uses satire, humorous and biting, through pathos, and stock characters in Oliver Twist to pr...