Theme of Olive Twist

1. Name:-Hareshwari Kapdi Y.
Roll no:-6
Paper name:- The Victorian Literature
Topic:- Themes of Olive Twist
Batch:- 2019-2021
Paper no:-6
Enrollment no:-2069108420200020
Submitted:-Smt.S.B. Gardi departmentat of
English M.K. Bhavnager University
Email:-kapdihareshwari1122@gmail.com

2. Oliver Twist
Born:- 7
February 1812,
Landport,
Portsmouth,
United Kingdom.
Died:-9 June
1870, Gads Hill
place, United
Kingdom.

3. Oliver Twist, subtitled The Parish Boy’s
progress, is the second novel by English
author Charles Dickens, published by
Richard Bentley in 1838.

4. Themes of Olive Twist
Theme of Society and Class
Theme of Poverty
Theme of Criminality
Theme of Religion
Theme of Contrasting regions
Theme of fate and free will
Theme of Identity

5. Theme of Society and Class
One of the main
theme is class,
though the
opposition
between different
social classes.
Ex:- Olive Twist,
the difference
between the
children are the
masters.

6. Theme of Poverty
The theme of”Poverty” is obviously related to the
theme of “Society” and class.” But while the
“Society and Class” theme is concerned with
showing how the social class system is basically
just invented by society to justify the status quo,
Dickens is also very concerned in showing just
how miserabl the lower classes really were. With
Olive Twist, he doesn’t shy away from depicting
the conditions of the poor in all their misery with
gritty realism.

7. Theme of Criminality
Some novelists wrote about crime because they
had a particular point to make about the source of
criminal behaviour, or possible solutions to the
crime wave. Other novelists wrote about crime just
because they knew it would sell. Oliver Twist was
hugely popular, but Dickens definitely had a point
to make: he wanted to show how criminals really
lived, in order to discourage poor people from
turning to crime.

8. The theme of Religious
Organized, institutionalized religion
especially the Church of English gets a
pretty bad rap in this novel. Dickens was
Anglican himself, but he felt like the Church
was too impersonal and institutionalized,
and didn’t do enough to take care of the
poor and miserable folks who turned to the
Church for help.

9. Theme of Contrasting regions
In Oliver Twist, London itself seems to be part
of the overall system of control that
threatens and entraps Oliver at every turn.
The streets are like a filthy labyrinth – once
you turn wrong, it’s impossible to escape.
The country, on the other hand, is pristine
and harmonious.

10. Theme of fate and free will
Some characters in this novel are liberated
and live happily ever after. Others aren’t
able to escape the “labyrinth” that the city,
their social class, and the systems of justice
and religion seem to have created.

11. Theme of Identity
This novel is all about mistaken identities, changed
names, etc. Many characters don’t know where
their parents are, or even who their parents are.
Names are supposed to be society‘s main marker
for identity- the way everyone around you knows
you- and, in Oliver Twist, Oliver‘s name is thrust on
him almost arbitrarily by Bumble.