Miscellany

Mark S
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Mr. Harry – Freshman Magnet English
Third Period

Orphanages, Workhouses, and overseers Oh My!
An Analysis of Tone, Moral and Theme in Charles Dickens’
Oliver Twist


	Workhouse. “The word alone was calculated to send a shudder down the spine of any honest 19th century worker. It signified the end of the line, the final indignity. It said: ‘Abandon hope, all ye who enter here’. Victorian England workhouses were public institutions that housed, fed, and took care of people who for one reason or another could not be self-sufficient. If such people were physically able to work, then the workhouse-overseer would put them to work. Sometimes, if an orphan grew too old for the orphanage but still could not take care of him/herself, they were put into workhouses. In Charles Dickens’ classic novel, Oliver Twist, he directs tone of disappointment and satire towards Victorian England workhouses; this reveals Dickens’ conviction that orphanages, workhouses and their upkeepers were miserable failures.
	In his book, Dickens is very critical of Britain’s social hierarchy and how it only benefits the extreme upper-class. He also has great pity for Oliver, and his living conditions. Dickens’ book starts with Oliver’s birth. As a result of the social hierarchy of Britain in the Victorian age, soon-to-be-orphan, Oliver, was denied adequate social status. Before stating such, Dickens takes a moment to describe Oliver’s potential, “he might have been the child of a nobleman” (5), but he was not. Soon after, Dickens criticizes the mistreatment of orphans by using a metaphor, saying “he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his [social] place at once.”(5) By using the metaphor of Oliver being treated like a piece of baggage, Dickens makes his outrage clear from the get-go: orphans and the poor were treated with no concern. From now on, young Oliver was deemed a “Parish child”, who would be “pitied by none”, except one, the ethical Charles Dickens. ###ANOTHER QUOTE ABOUT MISTREATMENT IN GENERAL### Because of Oliver’s social status, and because he was put into poor orphanages, there was hardly enough food for everyone to have a little. Both extreme hunger and peer-pressure from the fellow orphans, influenced Oliver to ask, “Please Sir, May I have some more”. Though tone is not evident in what Oliver said, because of the beadle’s outrage in result, Dickens’ point to develop the theme is that the caregivers, really didn’t care about the children. 
Until the mere end of the book, Oliver is treated terribly by one orphanage upkeeper to the next workhouse taskmaster. Dickens feels extreme sorrow and pity for Oliver. When Oliver becomes “too old” for the orphanage, Mr. Mann casually lets Mr. Beadle take Oliver Twist “to the [work] house” (10) where he will undoubtedly be treated even worse than at the impoverished orphanage. Charles Dickens expresses straight-forward sympathy for Oliver Twist’s and Oliver’s subsequent sense of inferiority to the “members of the [orphanage] board” (13). To communicate his feelings via tone, Dickens explicitly exclaims “Poor Oliver!”(13). Later on, Oliver is ‘placed’ with Fagin, “the Jew” (361). Like most other Victorian people, Charles Dickens greatly despised Jews. To emphasize the unfortunate events Oliver has to go through, Dickens ‘places’ Twist with Fagin and the other thieves, who turn him into one of their kind. Charles Dickens portrays Fagin as selfish, greedy, and snooty. By way of tone, Dickens criticized Fagin (and Jews in general) by saying he was a "wily genius" (361). Dickens is reiterating the idea that Jews are sneaky, crafty, thieves. Charles Dickens is being hateful to Jews, but also reiterating how poor Oliver is, that he must fraternize with thieves and Jews. Unfortunately, when young Oliver moves in with Mrs. Corney, his treatment is not much improved. Charles Dickens's tone is very ironic as he refers to Mrs. Corney as the "matron of the workhouse"(184). In Victorian England, there were matrons (usually a women), whose job in brief was to be a general caregiver. Dickens' tone is that of sarcasm and disgust when he refers to Mrs. Corney as the "matron"(184) of young Oliver. In actuality, Mrs. Corney is very selfish by taking money which should be going to the children's welfare. The message that Dickens is trying to make is that orphaned children in workhouses should be treated fairly by real matrons. Mrs. Corney is obviously not helping the poor children of this Victorian-age workhouse. 
	In conclusion to this book, and Dickens’ underlying theme of orphan/workhouse-mistreatment (and lack of care), these systems which were imposed to help the poor and weak ended up making things worst for them. Dickens is also exclaiming the overall failure of charity.