Oliver Twist
Enregistré dans:
| Auteur principal: | |
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| Autres auteurs: | , |
| Support: | Livre |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Publié: |
Oxford :
Oxford University Press,
2008.
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| Collection: | Oxford World's Classics
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| Autres localisations: | Voir dans le Sudoc |
| Résumé: | Oliver Twist is born in a poor house. The mother dies shortly after the birth, leaving only a small, mysterious medallion that an old poor house worker takes from her. The boy grows up as an orphan with twenty to thirty other children under the care of Mrs. Mann, with no knowledge of his parentage. At nine he had to go to the poor house because he was too old for the orphanage. One day when Oliver is sent forward by the other boys to ask for more food, the poor house is forced to punish the "insolent fellow" who "will surely end up on the gallows". Oliver is given away five pounds to the undertaker Sowerberry to do an apprenticeship with him. But there, too, fate means poor Oliver badly, and before he falls victim to another accident, he flees to London. Once there, he falls into the clutches of Fagin, an old Jewish fence who trains orphaned children to become criminals.Together with the Baldowerer and his buddy, Oliver is supposed to learn the trade of pickpocketing, but although the boy can only watch the act in horror, he is caught by the police. The injured party, a kind man named Brownlow, speaks out for Oliver and takes care of him. Oliver is treated well for the first time, but his luck doesn't last long. He is caught again by Fagin and has to commit a break-in with one of London's greatest criminals. This goes wrong - Oliver is left unconscious and shot in a ditch. Fortunately for him, he is taken in by the family he was supposed to steal from beforehand. However, a new hunt for Oliver begins and a creepy person named Monks comes into play.With Oliver Twist, Dickens denounced the social grievances of the time. The orphaned boy Oliver is physically and mentally abused and only experiences kindness and mercy from a few people. The poor and sick appear as nothing more than lepers in a world of the stronger and socially superior. Injustice, hunger and death are not the exception but the rule. Charles Dickens adorns his story with ironic, often cynical descriptions. Child labor is discussed in the work as well as child crime. The descriptions of the brutalities towards the poor and the weak are - from today's perspective - often so absurd that one can hardly believe them. After the novel was published, the poor law was discussed and successfully changed for the first time. |