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Example research essay topic: London Oxford University York Schocken Books - 1,066 words

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... d the inability of the upper classes to realize the problems they have caused. Similar symbolism is found in the conviction and lonely death of Fagin. Here the reader is reminded that the wealthy are only a trial away from ending up in the dirt themselves, and in fact are already dirty with guilt. Therefore, Fagin represents the unfeeling system that dances and jokes around the misery of others. He also represents the underworld itself.

This is the opposite of power and the home of the underworld. Dickens treats Nancy as the tragic victim of the cruelty the social system has created. Although she lives in a world where she receives no love, she is still able to have compassion and courage. There are several scenes in which Nancy is characterized in these two dimensions.

One of these is in Chapter 20, in which Nancy explains to Oliver why she has come to take him back to Sikes. She shows him the bruises on her arms and neck, and tells him that every word from him is a blow for me (Dickens 148). She points out that if others had fetched him, they would not have been so kind (Dickens 147). Even as she carries out her heinous assignments, they are committed out of love for Sikes, and it is her compassion for Oliver that brings about her downfall, which is foreshadowed in this passage. In his review of Oliver Twist, Richard J. Dunn quotes Dickens observation that the countenances of the dead subside into the long-forgotten expression of sleeping infancy (Melada 218).

This picture of the death of innocence in the face of cruelty is the subject of Dickens use of Nancy's face, according to Dunn. He writes that it is precisely because Sikes murders Nancy by brutally bashing in her face, disfiguring her so badly, that this murder is so horrible (Melada 218). Bill Sikes is intrinsically evil, but the readers do not have to discover this for themselves. One automatically hates Sikes, we are told that he is a bad man (Stoddard 4). Sikes is not like the unfeeling system represented by Fagin. He is a character of passion set up to destroy all that home represents, home being Great Britain (Melada 218).

It is through the passion of Bill, that Dickens makes his point about the helplessness of trying to bring sanity to the definition of this class. In this dimension, he is a representative of the system and its passion for money at the expense of others. Sikes has a goal much like that of Fagin, but he will go to any means to reach it. But the other dimension of Sikes is that of a home wrecker. Dickens means to show, through Sikes, that the passion of the underworld could be rolled up into one person. This person must act and do so violently against the home of Great Britain (Melada 218).

Sikes is furious and murderous against all that should represent home, because in this class, there is not such place as home. As Sikes takes Oliver to the house where he is shot, the reader sees that he is completely unfeeling. Oliver is only a means to an end, and that end is wealth. In the wake of that desire, any violent harm that comes to Oliver or to anyone is simply a matter of business and the unfeeling character of true greed. This moral judgement is supported when Bill kills Nancy. She is the angelic, trusting wife with the upturned face, but when that last ounce of innocence in his life is killed, she is a ghastly figure to look upon (Dickens 362).

He cannot kill Oliver. He cannot kill whatever it is that is jeopardizing his ability to accumulate wealth, so he kills the messenger that is standing in his way. This is the same messenger that loves him and has compassion for Oliver. Through such descriptions, one sees the inhumanity society has created in Bill Sikes. This dimension of character is also revealed in the actions of the characters as well.

Critic Arnold Kettle wrote: When [Oliver] walks up to the master of the workhouse and asks for more gruel, issues are at stakes which make the whole world of Jane Austen tremble. We care, we are involved, not because it is Oliver and we are close to Oliver (though that of course enters into it), but because every starved orphan in the world, and indeed everyone who is poor and oppressed and hungry is involved (Morton 3). Like other philanthropists, it was Dickens intention to profile the meaner side of a society. This side of society has become so wealthy and removed from the poor that it has lost all recognition of them. In the novel Oliver Twist Charles Dickens makes his characters larger than life so that those they characterized would be noticed and remembered. Blount, Trevor.

Charles Dickens: The Early Novels. London: Longmans, Green & Company, 1968. Daleski, H. M. Dickens and the Art of Analogy. New York: Schocken Books, 1970.

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. London: Oxford University Press, 1838. Faulkner, Peter. The Companion to Oliver Twist. The Review of English Studies, Vol 46, 1995.

Himmelfarb, Gertrude. The Age of Philanthropy. The Wilson Quarterly, Vol 21 No 2, 1995. Melada, Ivan. Oliver Twist: Whole Heart and Sole. Studies in the Novel, 1995, Vol 27.

Online. America Online. 19 Jan. 1998. Morton. Dickens, Oliver Twist. Online. America Online. 19 Aug. 1997.

Romano, John. Dickens and Reality. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978. Stoddard, Greg. Dickens and Victorian Culture. 2 Feb. 1996.

Online. America Online. 15 Jan. 1998. Bibliography: Works Cited Blount, Trevor. Charles Dickens: The Early Novels.

London: Longmans, Green & Company, 1968. Daleski, H. M. Dickens and the Art of Analogy. New York: Schocken Books, 1970. Dickens, Charles.

Oliver Twist. London: Oxford University Press, 1838. Faulkner, Peter. The Companion to Oliver Twist.

The Review of English Studies, Vol 46, 1995. Himmelfarb, Gertrude. The Age of Philanthropy. The Wilson Quarterly, Vol 21 No 2, 1995. Melada, Ivan. Oliver Twist: Whole Heart and Sole.

Studies in the Novel, 1995, Vol 27. Online. America Online. 19 Jan. 1998. Morton.

Dickens, Oliver Twist. Online. America Online. 19 Aug. 1997. Romano, John.

Dickens and Reality. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978. Stoddard, Greg. Dickens and Victorian Culture. 2 Feb. 1996.

Online. America Online. 15 Jan. 1998.


Free research essays on topics related to: london oxford university, york schocken books, charles dickens, oliver twist, york columbia university

Research essay sample on London Oxford University York Schocken Books

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