Oliver Twist: Intro comments and Chapters 1 - 8

[Chris]

Plateresca wrote: Mrs. Mann has a very unwomanly name, which quite corresponds to the way she goes about her womanly job. And Mr Bumble's name is, of course, cratylic. What are we to expect from Oliver Twist? :)

Thanks for reminding us with these examples about how Dickens uses proper names to give us more info about these characters!

[Karin]

Sue wrote: "The sarcasm really rips through this chapter as Dickens skewers everyone who is an official or has any kind of job working under this “care” system that doesn’t care at all. The policies definitely appear designed to cull the “herd” of poor and unattached people living in England. But no one need get their hands dirty. The poor can drop dead of hunger or overwork. ."

Yes, it does. The plight of orphans was one of Dickens' many causes, and obviously corruption always was.

When the first major orphanage reform was quietly started by George Mueller who apparently knew Charles Dickens. In 1836, around the time Dickens was writing this book, Mueller started his first orphanage where children were properly fled, clothed, taught education to a point and then they were taught a trade or trained for domestic service.

In fact, Dickens, who couldn't believe the stories he hears about Mueller, went to visit one of his orhanages and then wrote an article about his work in 1857, https://anthonybarbera.com/wp-content... -- it's also on the Dickens Journal Online website https://www.djo.org.uk/indexes/articl....

[Karin]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Greg - "half baptised" apparently means a short private baptism, formerly used where an infant was at risk of imminent death. They are are not recorded, though some clergymen make memoranda of them..."

Interesting, I wondered what that meant. Infant mortality was fairly high and much higher in institutions like this, but some survived.

[Greg]

Karin wrote: "Bionic Jean wrote: "Greg - "half baptised" apparently means a short private baptism, formerly used where an infant was at risk of imminent death. They are are not recorded, though some clergymen ma..."

Yes, thanks Jean for clarifying! It seems the footnote in my copy was incomplete and misleading on what that term meant. I'm glad I asked.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Karin wrote: "the first major orphanage reform was quietly started by George Mueller..."

"Quietly started" indeed! Thank you for the article in "Household Words" Karin - I hadn't heard of this man! He was apparently a Christian Evangelist, and one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...

He was evidently important among others in orphanage reform, as was Thomas Coram who we've learned about, in our group read of Bleak House, with the Foundling hospital (view spoiler)[Tattycoram (hide spoiler)] came from, and Dr Thomas Barnado. (Yes, your spelling was perfectly correct, Brenda!)

They are both mentioned in this general overview of the development of the orphanage, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphanage as are others, but not George Mueller, for some reason, unless I missed it! The connection with Charles Dickens is interesting though.

(By the way everyone, there are no spoilers in Karin's linked article or the wiki piece. Just a reminder to always check for this, if you would like to share one instead of rewriting the highlights.)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Kathleen wrote: ""Please, sir, may I have some more." Those words are so polite compared to the bold "Please, sir, I want some more." ..."

Oh yes, thanks for highlighting this Kathleen! So often Oliver is criticised by those hostile to Oliver Twist as being rather too middle-class and polite, given his origins. But this is hardly polite - it is animalistic - a real cry from the heart. That word "want" says it all, doesn't it?! In want not only of food, but of love, of care, of everything. And the concept of Want was to be personified later you will remember, in A Christmas Carol.

[Plateresca]

Jean, that 'by hand' joke is in the very first sentence of the second chapter of 'Great Expectations' (it's in the second sentence of the second chapter here, too, by the way), so I thought I could mention it without mentioning any particulars.

I am sure people would use the phrase 'brought up by hand' to mean physical abuse after 'Great Expectations', but I can't find anything to prove that it was used in that sense before (or to disproof it, for that matter). These Stanford University notes to 'Great Expectations' seem to imply that Charles Dickens was the first to add the connotation of physical abuse to this expression (people who haven't read 'Great Expectations' need not open the link):
https://dickens.stanford.edu/dickens/...
But I'll quote what might be more pertinent to our present discussion:

'Infants, in the absence of the mother, were either sent out to be fed by a wet-nurse (another lactating woman), or were spoon- or bottle-fed. <...> "by hand" <...> refers to the latter method. However, not only is the term used ironically <...>, but its literal meaning also suggests abuse. Susan Thurin, in a recent Victorian Newsletter article, summarizes the history and application of the term "by hand" as follows: She notes that artificial infant foods in the 19th century were un-nutritious, often being nothing better than pap (a thin mixture, for example flour and water) or gruel. Though cow's milk was often used as a substitute for breast-milk, "Cows were kept in filth, retailers skimmed and watered milk, and in the summer, bacteria spoiled it within twelve hours. The Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, which legislated sanitary conditions for the sale of milk, was not passed until 1878" (Thurin 29) <...>. In the 18th century, sixty-six percent of infants brought up "by hand" died, and methods had not greatly improved by the 19th century (Thurin 29). <...> the infant mortality rate in 19th century England was generally very high. Though spoon-feeding was especially likely to kill a baby, about 25% of all children born did not survive beyond the age of five (Mulhall 178).'

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chris - and Plateresca (Sorry I missed this) ... Thanks for the mention of how critical (and revealing) names are in Oliver Twist. We have 3 more coming up in just the next couple of chapters! Yet again, this is Charles Dickens working from an 18th century tradition, and you can probably think of examples, e.g from our read of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling there was Squire Allworthy and the Rev. Mr Roger Thwackum - but Charles Dickens was to make it all his own! Nowadays we probably think of him using this technique more than any other author!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Plateresca wrote: "However, not only is the term used ironically <...>, but its literal meaning also suggests abuse. ..."

Yes, thanks. To be honest we can't really know at what point Charles Dickens decided that "by hand" had a double meaning, although I strongly suspect it was in his mind here already! Hands can show care and love, but they can also hurt, and pinch, and beat.

[Peacejanz]

Erich C wrote: "Jim wrote: "When it came to style and approach in describing an unsavory situation, Dickens was an unparalleled master in the use of sardonic wit. It might be said that he invented that mode of exp..."

Great comment - "convulsing..." Thanks. peace, janz

[Peacejanz]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Plateresca and others - I think "brought up by hand" resonated with quite a few of us, mainly from children in Charles Dickens's later novels. It was clearly something he felt stro..."

Well, I need to tell you all - in the 1940s and 1950s and 1960s in the mountains of Appalachia (where I was born and raised), "raised by hand" meant being brought up by your parents or relatives, not hired help and the hand was to spank us if we misbehaved. I lived it. peace, janz

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

"Well, I need to tell you all - in the 1940s and 1950s and 1960s in the mountains of Appalachia (where I was born and raised), "raised by hand" meant being brought up by your parents or relatives, not hired help and the hand was to spank us if we misbehaved. I lived it."

Absolutely Janz! It does look like Charles Dickens may have coined this negative usage, (as he did so many words and expressions) as regards children, but at what stage we don't know, since irony needs a certain amount of interpreting by the reader. It's all to do with context.

I think "brought up by hand" in a workhouse must mean something very different than the current expressions "feeding by hand" in an animal rescue centre, or "made by hand" of craft work, though. They imply a lot of care.

It's after midnight here, but I can't wait for tomorrow's chapter!! 😀

[Kathleen]

So many great comments. I only have appreciation to share. One of my favorite parts of these slow reads is your “A little more” comments, Jean. I was fascinated to hear about the Barnardos homes, and your personal experience with the charity. And that picture of Jim Jarvis will haunt me, but it’s so good to see it as we begin this story! And I love all of illustrations showing different depictions. I especially like Pailthorpe’s Mr. Bumble!

Like Bridget, I’m appalled at the adults so far, and anxiously waiting for a Peggotty to appear.

[Laysee]

Thanks, Jean, for all the background notes and information on this book.

In Chapter 2, we learn this about Oliver: ‘He was brought up by hand.’ I recall that this was also said of Pip in ‘Great Expectations.’

What does it mean to be ‘brought up by hand’?

[Lee]

Michael wrote: "Dickens would forever set the idea of the Victorian workhouse as a cruel, and dehumanizing institution. He did this when the law he was eviscerating was only three years old; although the ideas behind the law were being discussed for decades prior to 1834."
Thank you so much Michael for all the historical details about the workhouses and the economics that were guiding the laws during the Victorian times. I have always said "Look to the money" when evaluating a political situation and public opinion.

So Dickens was really lighting a fire when he suggested the Poor Laws just might not be morally sound.

[Lee]

Laysee wrote: "Thanks, Jean, for all the background notes and information on this book.

In Chapter 2, we learn this about Oliver: ‘He was brought up by hand.’ I recall that this was also said of Pip in ‘Great E..."

Hello, Laysee. To help you go back and read the comments about being fed by hand I have noted the comment numbers for you to refer to. Begin with comment 189; 191;196-198; and definitely 207.

Comments come in fast and furiously and I find it easiest (though time consuming) to read ALL the comments following Bionic Jean's introductions to each chapter. It is so easy to get lost if you don't (and I am an expert at being lost !

[Peacejanz]

I have no idea where I heard this so take it with a grain of salt. Appalachia was and still is behind the times. Proof: A current US senator from Alabama was thought by most of us to be unfit for the job. He had been a successful football coach. I do not think that is adequate training in government to be a US senator voting on laws that affect me. Well, when he got to Washington, DC, the press knew that he was a dummy. Someone asked him if he know how many sections there were to the US government. He replied correctly that it was 3. So the next question was what are they - he replied, the Senate, The House of Representatives and the President. In fact, the House and the Senate are together and called the Legislative branch. Poor old Tommy Tuberville did not acknowledge/realize that there was a Judicial branch. Just a little example of how behind Alabama is. Well, some linguist studied thw language of Appalachia and found that it was old English, still using the terms that the British had used 100 years ago. Education in Alabama is hopeless (yes, I have relatives there and hear them speak sometimes). You will see other examples of this later in the book. peace, janz

[Laysee]

Lee G wrote: "Hello, Laysee. To help you go back and read the comments about being fed by hand I have noted the comment numbers for you to refer to. Begin with comment 189; 191;196-198; and definitely 207.

Comments come in fast and furiously and I find it easiest (though time consuming) to read ALL the comments following Bionic Jean's introductions to each chapter. It is so easy to get lost if you don't (and I am an expert at being lost !"

Thank you, Lee, for directing me to the relevant comments. You're right that the it is easy to get lost in the flood of comments. I get lost, too, especially, when I am late catching up with comments, which add so much to my appreciation of Dickens' writing.

[Michael]

For Chapter 2, Ms. Bionic posted an illustration by Henry Furniss of Oliver asking for more titled "Starvation at the Workhouse". One thing about the illustration that stood out for me was the elongated proportions of the workhouse boys. The boy in the foreground has a disjointed posture. Based on my limited exposure to the fine arts, it appears Furniss was inspired by the works of El Greco, El Greco was known for his distorted proportions to convey emotional and religions effect. The El Greco painting below, I have seen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, came to mind:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C...

Another interesting aspect of the illustration is, except for Oliver, Furniss does not show the faces of any of the other boys. The face of one boy facing us is covered by his bowl. Furniss is first dehumanizing the boys as just a anonymous mass. A second effect is to show the desperation of the boys, as their only focus is on getting their limited allotment of food. Thirdly, the viewer follows the boys in their focusing in on the grotesque and gluttonous server.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Kathleen wrote: "So many great comments. I only have appreciation to share. One of my favorite parts of these slow reads is your “A little more” comments, Jean ... I especially like Pailthorpe’s Mr. Bumble!..."

Thank you Kathleen! And I will write a little about Frederic W. Pailthorpe in the next couple of days. I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Janz wrote "Well, some linguist studied thw language of Appalachia and found that it was old English, still using the terms that the British had used 100 years ago."

Yes, I was interested to discover that when I read The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language. Time has stood still as regards the English used in some US States, where there was little outside contact. I hear it e.g. in "gotten", which has not been part of English people's English since the 18th century! It makes a mockery of the idea that language is static and can be "incorrect"- it changes. So perhaps in this case "brought up by hand" has been in use more recently, in some parts of the world. Thanks Janz!

Edit - By the way Janz, it's best if you try to avoid politics, as per our rule 3. To be honest it's never come up before, and I haven't a clue about American politics anyway, so I just focused on the point of your post! But one member messaged me that they didn't like it, and it really is outside our group's remit of "everything Charles Dickens". Thanks 😊

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Michael said - "One thing about the illustration that stood out for me was the elongated proportions of the workhouse boys..."

Thank you so much for alerting us to this, Michael, and for the interpretation. Harry Furniss (1854–1925) is one of my favourite illustrators of Charles Dickens, even though he was quite a lot later. The ones for Oliver Twist date from 1910. But I never made the connection with El Greco until you pointed it out. We have quite a lot of his oil paintings and drawings in the National Gallery, so since Harry Furniss - like Charles Dickens - lived in London, this is doubtless where he saw them 😊 Here are more https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=el+...

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Laysee said "You're right that it is easy to get lost in the flood of comments."

This is always in my mind! (Especially as I am someone who is partially sighted, and have to enlarge the screen. I scroll all the time to make sure I don't miss anything!)

Thanks Lee for coming to the rescue. I'll write some tips in the next post.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

TIPS FOR EVERYONE - IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ!

About half the people joining in with Oliver Twist are new to this way of reading. Others may not have been part of our group reads of Charles Dickens's novels, even if they have been members for a while. They are huge, very interactive, and live! This post is written for those friends. But if you were in for our first four novel reads, you'll know the score and will be really good at being part of this 😊

Being part of a massive group read like this one with 74 people reading and commenting every day (though hopefully not each person every day, except me!) is different from other GR group reads. So it needs a slightly different approach.

1. Please allow me to "conduct" it (to use Charles Dickens's own chosen term!) This means that I may write a lot, but I do try to make it interesting and relevant, separating the types of post: summary, commentary and information. Plus I indicate what you need to read, and what is optional. Please do not think your posts need to be this long! It is better if you are concise, or everybody will get lost. You will be most welcome to lead a read for us during the summer - I look forward to it!

2. Try to read as many as you can of the comments, or at least get the gist of them. We have days off built in, to catch up. Please use them for this if it helps.

3. Use the links at the beginning of the thread to orient yourself. There is a new one each day - and this will help you with the previous tip. If you are on an app which makes this difficult, then scroll back until you find a post with illustrations. This is where the day - the next chapter - starts.

4. In our group reads, friends sometimes come in with great additional information. This is welcome as long as it is focused on our read. If you have read an article, please check it for spoilers before linking it, or even better, put the main points briefly in your own words. Remember too that 73 others may be champing at the bit to share something - but may also feel obliged to cast an eye over yours - for fear of repetition.

5. Please don't hog the thread with one topic; let it go. It is not appropriate for a huge read, only for smaller group reads. We have a large number of knowledgeable people here, and some of them are holding back. Let them speak!

Please don't get too worried though, as you are probably doing everything right already! But this post might help. The main thing is to enjoy the read, and enable others to as well. I love these reads (even though they are exhausting), and don't want to curb anyone's enthusiasm, just focus it a bit ... We all love to chat, so please feel welcome to share thoughts in "Mrs. Dickens' Parlour" - or other threads either 😊 Thanks!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Installment 2

Chapter 3:

While waiting for an apprenticeship, Oliver is held for a week alone in a dark room and taken out each morning to wash in cold water while being caned by Mr. Bumble. Every other day he is taken to the dining hall to be whipped in front of the other boys. Every evening he is permitted to hear the boys pray that they will “be guarded from the sins and vices of Oliver Twist”.

The first person to offer Oliver an apprenticeship is the chimney sweep, Mr. Gamfield, a cruel man who, if one of his apprentices gets stuck in a chimney, lights a fire at the bottom to prompt them to “struggle to hextricate theirselves”. Mr. Bumble brings Oliver to meet Mr. Gamfield before the magistrates, who must agree to the arrangement. Most of the Board wish to rid themselves of the boy, as long as it does not cost too much. They bargain among themselves, and decide to reduce the £5 to £3 and 10 shillings (i.e. half another pound, 50p in today’s currency). But the old, “half blind; half childish”, shortsighted, and somewhat dimwitted but kindly chair of the magistrates can see the terror on Oliver’s face, and he asks the boy with genuine concern, “What is the matter?”



"Oliver Twist escapes being bound apprentice to the sweep" - George Cruikshank 1837

Oliver falls on his knees and begs that he be locked in a room, beaten, killed, or any other punishment rather than being apprenticed to go with the cruel-looking man.



"Oliver refuses to be Bound over to the Sweep" - Harry Furniss 1910

Mr. Limbkins is unnerved by this, and says that he hopes the magistrate will not call to account the workhouse’s treatment of their inmates. Mr. Bumble begins to protest too, but the chief magistrate now refuses to authorise the arrangement. As he had pointed out earlier: “It’s a nasty trade.”

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

After our day off, we are back now with a vengeance to Charles Dickens’s diatribe against the cruelty of the workhouse system, and in particular those who apply it. It seems relentless, and when there is any dialogue in this chapter, it comes almost as a relief!

The difference between the retellings of this story for children—even the longer ones—and the original text we are reading is very marked, isn’t it? Even Charles Dickens's daughter Mamie (Mary Dickens) retold her father’s stories for children, but I don’t think any of the overt sarcasm was included. Nevertheless readers were and are expected to draw their own conclusions. There’s also a huge difference in dramatisations (please see post 6 if you’d like to add your favourite!) Even modern ones which try to replicate the dirt and horror of the scenes and make it look authentic, do not have Charles Dickens’s incessantly bitter sarcastic judgemental words, unless there is a narrator interposing over the drama at odd moments.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

In fact I find this the most cynical chapter so far, with the appalling Mr. Gamfield knowing that workhouse boys are small and thin, easy to dominate and push up chimneys, and that the best way to acquire such a boy is to assure the committee that the boy will have an appalling—and short—life with a cruel master! He claims the opposite of course, but it is implicitly understood. I gave an inward cheer when Oliver’s passionate tears made a difference. And Charles Dickens makes it clear that this is all down to luck. If Mr. Limbkins had not been almost blind with age and senility, and feebly searching for the inkwell, he would not have even noticed the terror on Oliver’s face.

Victorian writers often seemed to imprison their hero/heroine, by locking them in a room, or a cellar, and it can be a sort of foreshadowing. We’ve found in our readings of Charles Dickens’s novels that imprisonment in its many forms and manifestations becomes a major trope, so it will be interesting to see if it is often features in Oliver Twist.

We read that Oliver: “remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary room to which he had been consigned by the wisdom and the mercy of the board.” What bitterness, irony, understatement and satire there is in this one phrase. Oliver crouches and trembles even drawing himself into the hard surface of the wall “as if to feel even its cold hard surface were protection in the gloom and loneliness which surrounded him.”

Poor Oliver! It seems he has survived against the odds so far, with the continual beatings and starvation. He had to be the spokesperson for the famished inmates, a role forced upon him through the drawing of lots. But although it was only by chance (luck, again) that he was singled out to be the scapegoat and ask for more, he is immediately identified as a troublemaker. Oliver is no longer “welcome” at the workhouse—and they are even willing to pay £5 pounds to get it done. That’s a huge amount of money as a bribe. I wonder how many mouths that would have fed.

And is there really much of a difference between “selling” a child out to be an apprentice, and the selling of slaves that had just been abolished in Britain?
Oliver Twist himself represents all that is wrong with the system of workhouses, but perhaps Charles Dickens is also telling us that workhouses had a whiff of the slave trade, in their complete disregard and disrespect of the humans in their charge. Oliver is almost a commodity. And like a slave, Oliver would also have no knowledge of the world and nobody to turn to to advise him from their experience. Cruelty and abuse seems to be an accepted part of life for those with no power.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

We are rooting for Oliver now, for sure! I liked the fact that Charles Dickens made one person humane and caring, even if he did have to be absent-minded, as this makes it more believable. Actually it’s interesting that the two men who listened to Oliver are the older magistrates. Perhaps they are not cold-hearted enough to be influenced by the new Poor Law, whereas the younger men such as the one in the white waistcoat, and Mr. Bumble are very keen to uphold it.

And I love the way that Charles Dickens can get inside a child’s brain. Oliver thinks that each of these men is a “board”, as he has been told so. And because each of them is wearing a powdered wig, Oliver wonders if they are born like that. It’s a child’s logic for sure!

I’ve been looking this up, and actually the board would not be acting within the law if Oliver had gone with Mr. Gamfield. The 1834 Chimney Sweeper Act said that the minimum age was moved from 8 years of age to 10. Also, according to the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, Oliver would have had to try the work out for 2 months before the magistrate would consider signing the paperwork, but here he is expected to do it immediately.

It seems odd that Charles Dickens wrote this, as he would have been well acquainted with the law, from his work as a reporter in the law courts over the previous few years. Perhaps he is saying that the more humane parts of the Act were not enforced.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Caricatures:

What many people love most about Charles Dickens’s fiction is his characters. But for some readers these early ones do not have a lot of depth. There are many cameos such as Mr. Gamfield, but even the main characters may seem a little underdeveloped.

Oliver Twist as we know is a very early novel by Charles Dickens; a late Regency one to start with. Queen Victoria only acceded to the throne in late June 1837 (at the end of installment 4). The Pickwick Papers are so episodic that Oliver Twist is the first one which conforms to our modern ideas of a novel. Later on, Charles Dickens was to develop the characters in his novels more fully, but in Oliver Twist they are more “types” than individuals, and some of them are simple caricatures.

This enables us to see clearly the allegorical nature of the story, in which some characters symbolise moral or political ideas. It might help if you think of Oliver more as an idea of inherent goodness and innocence sometimes, than a flesh and blood child. He is probably a composite of several boys, or a “type”. This is also in keeping with the writing’s melodramatic, emotional extremes we are reading right now.

It is similar to earlier Christian allegorical works such as John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. Oliver Twist’s alternative title, “The Parish Boy’s Progress” supports this idea, just as the removal of specific place names we noticed does. I hope you are enjoying the melodramatic tone; it can take some getting used to for 21st century readers!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Boy Chimney Sweeps

One such caricature in this chapter is Mr. Gamfield, the brutish chimney sweep, who is unrelentingly greedy and abusive. First we see him beating his donkey, which makes us realise how he must treat his apprentices. The discussion between Mr. Gamfield and the workhouse board, where Mr. Gamfield describes the best way to get a boy to come out of a chimney is hair-raising:

’“Young boys have been smothered in chimneys before now,” said another gentleman.

“That’s acause they damped the straw afore they lit it in the chimbley to make ‘em come down agin,” said Gamfield; “that’s all smoke, and no blaze; vereas smoke ain’t o’ no use at all in making a boy come down, for it only sinds him to sleep, and that’s wot he likes. Boys is wery obstinit, and wery lazy, gen’lmen, and there’s nothink like a good hot blaze to make ’em come down vith a run. It’s humane too, gen’lmen, acause, even if they’ve stuck in the chimbley, roasting their feet makes ‘em struggle to hextricate theirselves.”’

Yet again, the humour is uppermost, and Charles Dickens makes us “hear” the voice of this cruel, uncouth man in the phonetic way he spells the words. But the facts are far from amusing, and this is what Charles Dickens wants us to register. So he simplifies the picture to make us laugh, and not think about Mr. Gamfield too much as a person, but only as a type. He presents another one in Mr. Limbkins, head of the parish board: “a particularly fat gentleman with a very round, red face”. In fact as we noticed, all the Board are over-fed, at the expense of the inmates.

Mr. Gamfield is trying to make sure that he acquires Oliver as an apprentice, and explains that he treats his boys in the approved way, by describing his methods in great detail. Although he presents them as instructive, we can see that they are very cruel methods. This is another example of Charles Dickens using his characters as social satire. In fact cases have been on record of boys forced to work as chimney sweeps as young as three years old! Their masters starved them to keep them thin enough to go up and down the chimneys, and it was extremely dangerous work. Many boys died from falls or—if they got stuck in a chimney—of smoke inhalation. If the boys survived the work, then they often died of the long-term effects of breathing soot.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And a little more …

The Victorian Workhouse

The death rate of children in 18th century London workhouses was appalling, at 90%, and it had not improved very much by the time of Oliver Twist.

We’ve learned a little about The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, and how it resulted in workhouses of the Victorian period being run through brutal regimes.James Greenwood was to describe the dreadfulness of such institutions in his 1866 publication “A night in a workhouse” in regard to the Lambeth workhouse. (It's interesting to compare this with The Spike, where George Orwell did exactly the same thing, but in 1927.)

James Greenwood describes how he disguised himself as a vagrant, and observed “thirty men and boys stretched upon shallow pallets” in a space no bigger than 30ft. by 30ft. in what appeared to be “like the result of a railway accident.”

The reports of Joseph Rogers, the union’s medical officer, on the poor conditions at Cleveland Street, tell of appalling circumstances in Sickness and Cruelty in the Workhouse:

– Carpet-beating was continually performed by able-bodied inmates just outside the male wards.
– There were no paid nurses and nursing was performed by elderly female inmates who were often drunk.
– The nursery was damp and overcrowded.
– The laundry was located in a cellar beneath the dining-hall and filled the building with unpleasant-smelling steam.

He tried to institute reforms, but George Catch, a former policeman, regularly mistreated his inmates and obstructed much of Rogers’ reforms. However George Catch was soon dismissed from his post after extreme neglect of a woman who was severely ill in the lying-in ward.

This all took place very near to where Charles Dickens spent his early years, but we will read more about it in our upcoming side read Dickens and the Workhouse: Oliver Twist and the London Poor by Ruth Richardson.

And there is a comic song about a workhouse for music-hall audiences. The ironic song “Just Starve Us” was published around 1843, and cost two shillings (the price of 12 bottles of beer):



“Tell Ah! Tell us, can aught be worse?
Than hungry Maw & empty Purse!!“

with a cover illustration by Robert Cruikshank, the elder brother of George Cruikshank, who as we know was the first ever illustrator of Oliver Twist (see the next post).

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And even more …

About George Cruikshank and his claim:

The illustration for chapter 2 is for perhaps the most well known of Charles Dickens’s scenes out of all his novels, with Oliver asking for more food. It is certainly the most popular and best known of George Cruikshank’s illustrations over his entire life, with the overfed “master” of the workhouse scowling at the temerity of the scrawny waif, while the eight other survivors of the system (to punish by starving the inmates) look on, hardly daring to breathe, and the matron shows her utter astonishment.

The 24 illustrations by George Cruikshank that I am including were produced for the original installments, at the rate of one a month. But you might have seen coloured versions of these, and wondered how it came about …

More than thirty years after Cruikshank’s death, and 40 years after Oliver Twist, as the centenary of theCharles Dickens's birth approached, there was an upsurge in demand for “extra illustrations from Dickens”. This had been going since the 1880s, and publishers such as Raphael Tuck produced “Character Sketches from Dickens” for wealthy connoisseurs with expensive, limited edition chromolithographs.

George Cruikshank had produced water-colours for two of Dickens’s novels, based on his etchings:

“Cruikshank was a most dexterous artist in this monochrome branch, his earlier artistic experiences having been almost exclusively in the walk of aquatinted etchings; all his early book illustrations, his caricatures, and satirical plates—social or political—were uniformly etched by his hand in the most spirited fashion, after his ready sketches and rough studies, and when the outline etching was bitten in, Cruikshank elaborately worked out his colour suggestions, for dark and light shade, with a brush over the first-etched outline, in tones of sepia or India ink, for the guidance of the professional ’aquatinters’—the school of artists to whose trained skill was entrusted the task of completing these plates to produce the effect of highly finished washed drawings in monochrome.”—Frederic George Kitton

Just as with Robert Seymour with The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens’s illustrator claimed not only that he had originated the visual characteristics, but also most of the plot of Oliver Twist! (You may remember that Robert Seymour had killed himself after just a few illustrations.) The claim by George Cruikshank is referred to in Charles Dickens’s Prefaces—but please read these afterwards if you like (for fear of spoilers).

Charles Dickens’s worked extremely closely with his illustrators all his life—even often specifying the details of a particular scene he wanted illustrated. But who initiated ideas in Art is always hard to pin down, and often contested even now. So my personal opinion is the same as that of *Joseph Grego: that the author and illustrator are co-presenters of the story, and by implication co-originators. Grego describes George Cruikshank’s claim for “fuller recognition, to the point of feeling it a deep personal grievance that the respective ‘gifted authors’ had wilfully adopted all his best ideas, without the formality of acknowledging their literary obligations and indebtedness to the artist himself”.

George Cruikshank claimed that he had designed all the drawings for Oliver before Charles Dickens had written the serial installments, (despite the fact that the opposite is stated in the Cruikshank-Dickens correspondence in the The Letters of Charles Dickens Vol. 1, 1833-1856). George Cruikshank also wrote a letter to “The Times” newspaper, describing how he supposedly invited Charles Dickens to his own home (view spoiler)[to “describe and perform [the character of ’Fagin’] for Mr. Dickens to introduce into the work as a ‘receiver of stolen goods’”). (hide spoiler)] (This refers to a character coming up in chapter 8, so I’ll leave it up to you whether to reveal it).

*Joseph Grego reproduced George Cruikshank’s 1866 watercolours for the illustrations to Oliver Twist, and as an Art book it would have been very expensive in 1911, so would have had a limited appeal. Only three hundred were ever printed. There were also chromolithographs by Joseph Clayton Clarke (“Kyd”) in 1889 and 1892. I’ll include some of these studies too. Here's one of everyone's "favourite" Mr Bumble:



There were two books of “extra” illustrations and a Player’s cigarette card series in 1912.

Over to you!

[Erich C]

A narrow escape for Oliver. I loved this from the magistrate:

"You're a rough speaker, my friend, but you look an honest, open-hearted man," said the old gentleman: turning his spectacles in the direction of the candidate for Oliver's premium, whose villainous countenance was a regular stamped receipt for cruelty.

[Michael]

Oliver Twist in the Henry Furniss illustration looks like a dead man with his cheeks and eye sockets shrunk into his face. He looks more like Jacob Marley's ghost than a living human being.

One perhaps reading of the elderly magistrate showing the first concern for Oliver's well being in the novel is under the Pre-1834 Poor Law system magistrates yielded power in the parish's implementation of relief. Advocates of change argued the magistrates were too benevolent as they were not answerable to the ratepayers. Dickens could be invoking a remnant of this paternalism. The 1834 law stripped whatever power the magistrates yielded. The Poor Law boards, elected by the ratepayers, would be responsible for the running of the system.

The elderly nature of the man perhaps provides a hint because he would have grown up in the last third of the 18th century known for what is called The Sentimental Revolution. Part of this emphasis on sentiment was concern for the less well-off whether attempting to alleviate through charitable works or moral education. Another focus from that period was the plight of children workers.

The following from "A Polite and Commerical People: England 1727-1783" by Paul Langford spells out the life Oliver narrowly avoided and how the Poor Law parishes feeding orphan boys into the meat grinder of the chimney sweep industry was an issue going back decades or even longer from the start of publication of Oliver Twist in 1837:

"Parish authorities, desperate to rid themselves of the burden of care, 'sold' them as apprentices to indigent masters, they began their work, often at age of four or five, walking a mile or two in all weathers, with little on their backs (clothes got in the way of chimneys) and without benefit of shoes or stockings. Injuries of every kind abounded and the normal condition of the child chimney-sweep was characterized by abrasions, wounds, and contorted bones. Contact with soot, external and internal, caused a high incidence of urinary complaints and cancer of the scrotum. ..If they lived to reach the age of twelve or fourteen, they were too big for the trade and broken in health".

[Karin]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Karin wrote: "the first major orphanage reform was quietly started by George Mueller..."

"Quietly started" indeed! Thank you for the article in "Household Words" Karin - I hadn't heard of this man..."

Yes, I would never share any spoilers, but I'll remember to mention that next time! I have read a biography of George Mueller who started off as a rebellious university student in Germany and ended up in England. He wanted to help orphans, but he was also trying to prove a point of doctrine he held about faith. Thankfully for the orphans, things worked out!

[Kathleen]

I’m so glad you mentioned the melodramatic tone, Jean. I was thinking of that when reading this morning, even picturing the old Dudley Do-Right cartoon of my childhood. :-)

That tone made this chapter and the last a little hard for me to get into. To me, it was like Dickens was maybe trying too hard to entertain the audience, with an almost manic silliness that was a strange contrast with the serious sarcasm, which I am enjoying. Once I got into the chapters, they settled a little and I was okay, and I think I’ll get used to it more as we go.

[Anna]

Jean's summary states: Every other day he is taken to the dining hall to be whipped in front of the other boys. Every evening he is permitted to hear the boys pray that they will “be guarded from the sins and vices of Oliver Twist”.
This reminds me of a scene from Jane Eyre, when she has broken her slate and is commanded by Mr. Brocklehurst to stand on the stool in front of everybody while he condemns her, with these words, "it becomes my duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God’s own lambs, is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien. You must be on your guard against her; you must shun her example; if necessary, avoid her company, exclude her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse. Teachers, you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weigh well her words, scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible..."

[Greg]

Oh my, poor Oliver! I guess some of this "special" treatment is occurring because of his request for more food, which marked him as a troublemaker? He seems to be getting even harsher treatment than the already harsh treatment of the other boys.

I have a question about "register stoves" in this part though:

". . . knowing what the dietary of the workhouse was, well knew he would be a nice small pattern, just the very thing for register stoves."

It sounds to me like the "nice small pattern" has to do with Oliver being thin due to being underfed on workhouse food, but what is going on with the stoves? Is this a type of chimney that only someone small and thin can climb into or something?

[Jane]

Greg wrote: "Mr Gamfield, knowing what the dietary of the workhouse was, well knew he would be a nice small pattern, just the very thing for register stoves" ... Is this a type of chimney that only someone small and thin can climb into or something?

I think Mr Gamfield thought Oliver was small enough to fit into the front opening (and most probably the flue) of one of these, Greg. It is now more commonly called a 'wood burning stove'. The flue would likely be narrower than a typical chimney.

Antique Register Stove

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

This make me go quite peculiar, just thinking about it 😕

Great comments so far, everyone!

[Peacejanz]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Janz wrote "Well, some linguist studied thw language of Appalachia and found that it was old English, still using the terms that the British had used 100 years ago."

Yes, I was interested to disco..."

Oops - sorry - I never meant to be political but now I realize that I was. The item that is political was not meant to be political, it was meant to be an example of the poor education system in the South US - but now that you point it out, I see that it has political implications. I am genuinely sorry. Please forgive me. Sorry, everyone. I will be more careful. peace, janz

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

That's fine, thanks Janz. I took the meaning as it was intended, and found it interesting. I'm sure some of the Yorkshire dialect expressions my grandma used (she was born in 1880) are now virtually obsolete! And Charles Dickens often has us scratching our heads in this way.

[Greg]

Jane wrote: "I think Mr Gamfield thought Oliver was small enough to fit into the front opening (and most probably the flue) of one of these,"

Thanks Jane, that helps a lot. Seeing the picture brought it home for me - it's chilling to think about!

[Peacejanz]

BJ - my copy of Oliver Twist does not list sections - only chapters. Can you give us a clue what section 2 covers? When do we skip a day of reading again? Thanks, peace, janz

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Here it is Janz LINK HERE

[Sam]

I left off commenting on the second chapter, partially to make room for others and partially because I wanted to quietly enjoy a feeling of awe I had from reading the chapter. That sense of awe came in consideration of how curious that vast numbers of people from all over the world, from different ages and backgrounds, could all picture some variation of the same iconic image upon hearing those memorable words of Oliver, and thinking upon Charles Dickens legendary reputation for prescience, I wonder if he had any inkling, any slight hope of a future where his words and scene would thus be widely remembered?

And on to chapter three, where combined with all the various thoughts expressed in the comments, there is so much to consider.
Briefly, I also saw the possibility that Dickens was drawing a comparison to slavery. He certainly emphasized the economic costs and potential profits of the care of the orphans. He also emphasizes the inhumane treatment handed out without conscience and with an air of entitlement by caretakers, another similarity with slavery.

On another comment. I think the character types work exceptionally well here and more fully rounded characters would have changed the reception of the book, perhaps making it less of a classic. Once we get comfortable with what Dickens is doing, we look forward to more of it and Dickens social criticism makes up IMO for the lack of rounded characters.

Dickens has a variety of techniques employed to make us laugh and beyond what is already mentioned, I love his examples of gross exaggeration especially those stressing or leading to a negative outcome, like the lighting a fire in the fireplace to motivate a too slow chimney sweep. I think his talent for making us smile, while simultaneously getting us to consider the more sober and serious ramifications is quite striking, especially when compared to the attempts of present day comics.

Last, I like how Dickens, after getting us to bond with his narrating persona, backed that persona off slightly in chapter two while focusing on the story and getting us to sympathize with Oliver. The third chapter brings back that heavier-handed narration and it is a pleasure to see how Dickens balances all of it, sometimes almost pushing it to the point of absurdity or failure. I am enjoying the narration and time to shut up, hoping this isn't too long.

[Beth]

In the last couple of chapters I can't help but think that Oliver has a fair amount of animal canniness. I've certainly come across dogs or cats who act pitifully to get humans to behave in ways that benefit them! I don't see him as being a particularly "good" character, thus far--maybe that will require a change of environment, one where the basest needs of survival (food, warmth, no immediate danger of death by injury, etc) are addressed.

Here, again, we see that Oliver's acting against "the system" in the form of Bumble and the man in the white waistcoat, even in the most passive way imaginable, is seen as wickedness, an indicator of a base criminal character.

[Sue]

Kathleen wrote: "Thank you, Jean, for all of the background material and to everyone else who added more information. I previously read the book, saw one version of the play eons ago and then, of course, I watched ..."

I remember it that way too Kathleen! I think the film must have had the "may I" version.

[Lee]

I can tell from these first three chapters, written so early in Charles Dickens' career, that he is rather distracted from creating the groundwork for a complicated plot. It seems to me he is so intensely preoccupied in Chapters 1-3 with informing the reader of the hideous current conditions existing for the poor that he cares less for developing a character in Oliver or even perceiving a future for this child. "I should perhaps mar the interest of this narrative, (supposing it to possess any at all,) if I ventured to hint just yet, whether the life of Oliver Twist will be a long or a short piece of biography".

The sweeping and involved narrative that captures readers later in Oliver Twist will foreshadow the extremely complicated plots and themes of his later novels.

[Peacejanz]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Here it is Janz LINK HERE"

Thanks, janz