I have prepare my presentation on "Oliver Twist as a 'Puer Aeternus' and 'Senex' - Oliver Twist as a Divine Child' from thee novel "Oliver Twist" by great novelist 'Charles Dickens"

2. Charles Dickens
Born 7,February, 1867,
Landport,Hampshire, England.
Died 9 June 1870
Kent, England.
Notable
works
The Pickwick Papers
Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
David copperfield
Bleak house
Hard Times
Little Dorrit
A Tale of two cities
Great Expectations

3. What is ‘puer aeternus’

4. The puer in mythology
• The word puer aeternus come from
Metamorphoses, an epic work by the Roman
poet Ovid dealing with Greek and Roman
myths . In the poem, Ovid addresses the child
god Iacchus as puer aeternus and praises him
for his role in the Eleusinian mysteries.
• The puer is god of vegetation and resurrection
, the god of divine youth such as Tammuz,
Attiz and Adonis.

5. The puer in Jungian Psychology
Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung developed a
school of thought called analytical psychology.
in analytical psychology (often called Jungian
Psychology) the puer aeternus is an example
of what Jung called an Archetype, one of the
primordial , structural element of the human
psyche.

6. Carl Jung

7. senex
• The shadow of the puer is senex ( Latin for
“OLD MAN” ) associated with the god Cronus-
disciplined, controlled, responsible, rational,
ordered.
• The positive side of puer appears as the Divine
Child who symbolizes newness, potential for
growth, hope for future.

8. Oliver through out retains the
fortitude of saint
• For the first 8 chapters Oliver, an illegitimate child
born to his dying mother in work house, context
& language show the hero at the behest of
unaccountable institutions, run by people driven
by ideology, finance & selfishness.
• His Naming
• Raise
• Run away to London _Fagin & gang pick
pocketing

9. images
• Oliver will be considered both ‘puer aeternus’
and ‘senex’.

10. • “ I wished to show, in
little Oliver, the
principle of good
surviving through every
adverse circumstances ,
and triumphing at
last”- ‘Dickens's
preface to Oliver Twist’.

11. • Oliver’s unchanging grace makes him an agent
of redemption in the fallen angel.
• Oliver is a saint, an unchanging exemplary of
sacred essence, a stable icon in a violently
fallen world.

12. Oliver is the representative of the child Archetype in that he
brings redemption, over coming darkness and providing a
‘high consciousness’ through his capacity to overcome or
shed light on the unconscious.