Oliver Twist: Chapters 9 - 17

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

This chapter is almost pure farce—except that the matter is so serious. Poor Mr. Brownlow is such a mild mannered, polite gentleman, but I really felt he wanted to punch that magistrate! And even the policeman is shown to have a compassionate heart, recognising that the boy is too ill to speak and giving him the name Tom White. Yet again he has been named by faceless authorities, but this time it is kindly meant, and not just as the “next name in line”.

Lori - "He ran off with the book and may not have paid for it!" - I love how Charles Dickens uses this humorously, to lighten the tension. And you spotted it first! 😂

Oliver has been rescued YAY! Is this the chance of a new beginning for him? But he sounds very ill indeed, and we know about the diseases prevalent in 19th century London. Will he survive?

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Facial Features:

It is becoming noticeable that in Oliver Twist, a character’s face tends to reveal his or her personality. Oliver’s face is sweet and open. This is one reason why Fagin believes he would be a valuable asset, if he can be “trained”. It’s also part of the reason why the kind gentleman Mr. Brownlow believes the boy must be innocent.

Of the others, Fagin’s face is “villainous-looking” and “repulsive”. Mr. Fang’s face is “stern” and “flushed”, as if he drinks too much (although his expression may just indicate that he is angry over the article he’s reading). He is certainly short-tempered with everyone in the court, including the ”polite and gentlemanly” victim, Mr. Brownlow. The illustration of Mr. Fang by Joseph Clayton Clarke may be the only portrait of him. He was not a favourite subject for illustrators of Charles Dickens nor—surprisingly—was this scene.

The belief that a person’s features indicate their character is not just a literary conceit. The ancient Greeks believed they could read a person’s character in his or her head size or facial shape. The 18th century Swiss writer and philosopher Johann Kaspar Lavater broke the face down into sections—eyes, nose, mouth, etc.—and discussed what different characteristics of each section meant.

In the 19th century many people subscribed to the centuries-old “science” of physiognomy. Terms such as highbrow, lowbrow, and stuck-up originate with physiognomy. A related “science” is phrenology, which can be traced back to Franz Josef Gall, an Austrian doctor, and was based on his belief that the shape of the skull reflects the shape of the brain and thus the intelligence and character of the person. Phrenology was in vogue in both Britain and America when Charles Dickens was writing.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Oliver’s brief trial takes place in a police court. The 1829 Metropolitan Police Act gave the power of prosecution to the police. Petty criminals were therefore taken before a magistrate, or more commonly two magistrates, where they would act as their own defence against the accusation of their victim, who acted as the prosecutor. There was no jury, and decisions often were not formally recorded.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Mr Fang’s real life counterpart

What a great name “Mr. Fang” is—implying that he has a very nasty bite!
And Charles Dickens based Mr. Fang on an actual ruthless London magistrate, named Allan Stewart Laing, (1788-1862) who was famous for being bad-tempered and rude. As we are discovering, Charles Dickens was often to base individual characters on actual people, such as Ikey Solomon for Fagin and Allan Stewart Laing for Mr. Fang, and possibly even the Artful Dodger had his start in an actual person.

In fact Mr. Laing might have been even more severe in reality than Charles Dickens depicted here. In a letter dated June 3rd, 1837, Charles Dickens wrote to his friend Thomas Haines:

“In my next number of Oliver Twist, I must have a magistrate … whose harshness and insolence would render him a fit subject to be ‘shewn up’ … I have ... stumbled upon Mr. Laing of Hatton Garden celebrity.

It occurred to me that perhaps I might under your auspices be smuggled into the Hatton-garden office for a few moments some morning [in order to see him]… ’“

John Forster records that, ‘The opportunity was found; the magistrate… brought before the novelist; and shortly after, on some fresh outbreak of intolerable temper’ Mr. Laing was removed from the bench.

Charles Dickens had used some subterfuge to meet the man upon whom he wanted to base a character for his next book. I find it amazing that their meeting provoked such a violent outburst of anger that Mr. Laing was subsequently removed from his post. (He sounds positively unhinged!)

Here is a fuller account: an extract about Mr. Laing From John Forster's The Life of Charles Dickens: The Illustrated Edition (I’ve put it under a spoiler tag just because it is so long! John Forster’s writing can be a little florid … There are no spoilers here:)

(view spoiler)[’A much earlier instance is the only one known to me where a character in one of his books intended to be odious was copied wholly from a living original. The use of such material, never without danger, might have been justifiable here if anywhere, and he had himself a satisfaction in always admitting the identity of Mr. Fang in Oliver Twist with Mr. Laing of Hatton-garden. But the avowal of his purpose in that case, and his mode of setting about it, mark strongly a difference of procedure from that which, following great examples, he adopted in his later books. An allusion to a common friend in one of his letters of the present date—“A dreadful thought occurs to me! how brilliant in a book!”—expresses both the continued strength of his temptations and the dread he had brought himself to feel of immediately yielding to them; but he had no such misgivings in the days of Oliver Twist. Wanting an insolent and harsh police-magistrate, he bethought him of an original ready to his hand in one of the London offices; and instead of pursuing his later method of giving a personal appearance that should in some sort render difficult the identification of mental peculiarities, he was only eager to get in the whole man complete upon his page, figure and face as well as manners and mind.

He wrote accordingly (from Doughty-street on the 3rd of June 1837) to Mr. Haines, a gentleman who then had general supervision over the police reports for the daily papers:

“In my next number of Oliver Twist I must have a magistrate; and, casting about for a magistrate whose harshness and insolence would render him a fit subject to be shown up, I have as a necessary consequence stumbled upon Mr. Laing of Hatton-garden celebrity. I know the man’s character perfectly well; but as it would be necessary to describe his personal appearance also, I ought to have seen him, which (fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be) I have never done. In this dilemma it occurred to me that perhaps I might under your auspices be smuggled into the Hatton-garden office for a few moments some morning. If you can further my object I shall be really very greatly obliged to you.” The opportunity was found; the magistrate was brought up before the novelist; and shortly after, on some fresh outbreak of intolerable temper, the home-secretary found it an easy and popular step to remove Mr. Laing from the bench.”’ (hide spoiler)]

Allan Stewart Laing served as a police magistrate from 1820-1838, before being dismissed by the Home Secretary for what certainly sounds like abuse of his power.

There does not seem to have been much objection to this portrayal, unlike Fagin, where the fact that he was a Jew is causing trouble even now. I think Charles Dickens just extrapolated the worst excesses from these people, and created his own characters from there. Sometimes it reads as if he is representing all beadles with Mr. Bumble (in his “bumbling” arrogance!) although he had also studied and written about beadles in Sketches by Boz. Sometimes a character is a composite and sometimes, as in the case of Mr. Fang, based soundly on one individual.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

An extra thought about Mr. Fang

My edition has a footnote by Charles Dickens himself, which gave me pause for thought. He never adds footnotes! (Or only very rarely… ) It is just four words “Or were virtually, then” and comes after the sarcastic comment about the “presiding Genii in such an office as this”, i.e. the magistrates and judges abusing their power: “enough fantastic tricks are daily played to make the angels blind with weeping”. Charles Dickens’s brief footnote related to his comment about the courts being “closed to the public, save through the medium of the daily press.”

Now, Charles Dickens had been a court reporter just a few short years before this (and so had his father, John Dickens). He was thus familiar with criminal cases from his days with the “Morning Chronicle” and reported on the Parliamentary debates concerning the New Poor Law of 1834, which had aroused such widespread protest during the harsh winter of 1836-7, a few short months before he was writing Oliver Twist.

This footnote seemed very personal and pointed. Sure enough, we find that Charles Dickens actually knew this man of old. In November 1835, as a court reporter he had written about Mr. Laing throwing a muffin-boy in jail “for ringing a muffin-bell in Hatton Garden while Laing’s court was sitting”.

So very probably Mr. Laing recognised Mr. Dickens too, when they met, and the “intolerable temper” he showed might well have been at the prospect of being represented in this young upstart’s fiction. He’d probably have had an apocalyptic fit if he’d known he would actually be immortalised on paper, and we’d still be reading about “Mr. Fang”, getting on for 200 years later!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

This is the end of installment 5. We now have a day free, to catch up with comments. We begin the next installment discussing chapter 12 on Thursday.

Over to you!

[Janelle]

The description of Mr Fang was so funny. The line about if he isn’t a drunk then his face is libellous is my favourite so far!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

😂😁

[Michael]

In a call back to the man in the white waistcoat, Oliver is referred to as "young gallows".

Dickens, among many critics, seems to argue the Metropolitan Police was an instrument of social control aimed at the lower classes; "men and women every night confined on the most trivial charges". That was the intention of supporters of the creation of the earliest police forces. Sir Robert Peel when he created the Metropolitan Police, why they are called Bobbies or Peelers, using utilitarian principles, wanted to install in people a "rational prudential calculation on the disutility of criminal behavior". This more rational viewpoint was combined with Middle Class Evangelicals who argued jailing for "trivial charges" was analogous to a parent discipling a child as a moral lesson, admonition not punishment. Among the causes that people rioted over in 1830 was opposition to the establishment of the Metropolitan Police. Broken Window theory is the modern name for the strict enforcement of misdemeanors as a preventive of more serious crime.

Dickens writes perhaps so far the most sublime passage of the novel with Mr. Brownlow reminiscing about people from his past trying to find a link to Oliver.

P.S.: I found another interesting footnote from a history book I have been consulting. This one concerned the street gangs, such as Fagin's:

"'Artful Dodger' is too cute a term to describe the way in such hooligans were regarded, but then Dickens represented a new wave of sensibility regarding childhood."

It is often said the Victorian invented the idea of childhood or children deserved protection from the coarseness of the outside world as opposed to thinking of children being small adults. Although the previous century the plight of children become a serious concern for Georgian society driven by the elevation of sensibility; perhaps explaining the use of "a new wave".

[Kathleen]

About Chapter 10:

Chris wrote:
Kathleen wrote: I found this line striking: “Oliver’s ratting on the two boys, and them shouting in triumph when he was caught and not them, kind of destroys the idea of a band of brothers! At least Oliver's not part of it yet.

"yet Dickens also wrote ...Oliver...was not acquainted with the beautiful axiom that self-preservation is the first law of nature."

Excellent point, Chris, and Oliver is certainly acquainted with it now! I'm glad you were able to rescue your comment. :-)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Me too!

I'm also very pleased that Michael has expanded on the police at the time, which I mentioned the other day but ran out of time to write yet another post ...

[Anna]

Oliver's crime is to be a "fogle-hunter," an expression I was not familiar with, although it probably means pickpocket. Anyone who can elaborate?

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Yes Anna "fogle-hunter" means a pickpocket because "fogle" is a slang term for a silk handkerchief.

[Lori]

I appreciate that Dickens has given the policeman a kind heart in regards to Oliver. Dickens was fascinated with the police and would later befriend a detective, Inspector Field. He was a champion of the police force and especially the detectives when they were formed much later in 1842. If I remember correctly, there is a gruesome murder of a woman named Eliza Grimwood that would have taken place while Dickens was writing Oliver Twist in 1938. But since this may have some bearing on our story, I’ll hold off until the time is right. But, Dickens would have been interested in these stories and crimes and would be likely shelving them away in his mind for future reference.
Jean if you think I need to edit please let me know.

[Bridget]

Lori wrote: "I appreciate that Dickens has given the policeman a kind heart in regards to Oliver. Dickens was fascinated with the police and would later befriend a detective, Inspector Field. "

Thanks for reminding me of this, Lori. I remember that from our read of On Duty with Inspector Field, which you lead so well. It's so interesting how the more I read of Dickens work, the more connected his work becomes.

I was so sad when I read about the cell they put Oliver in "intolerably dirty, for it was Monday morning, and it had been tenanted since Saturday night by six drunken people"
That description grabbed by heart. He's just a little boy after all.

Jean, I was very glad you started the summary for today calling out the farce in this chapter. I had that same thought but wasn't sure I was interpreting things correctly because of the tragic situation for Oliver. Now, I think the farce is there to balance out the bleakness. That's very like Dickens to write that way, I think.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Lori (and everyone... ) I've got it!

I was wondering why I too had a feeling there was an illustration missing in the threads, which I'd been looking at in my files when I prepared the text. Now I've found it, and it's LINK HERE

(the second one down, with the oval shape). I had been bamboozled by the fact that although Felix O. C. Darley only produced two pairs of illustrations for Oliver Twist, at different times, (and different media - this one looks like an engraving, not photogravure) two of them are in the same chapter here!

So I'm really glad you picked this up, so that I could add it. Chapter 9 now has 7 illustrations 😆 Thanks! 😊

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Chapter 10:

As others have pointed out, I was so heartened to see the old gentleman take compassion on Oliver, thinking that maybe at last, he would have someone in his life who truly cared for him. On re-reading the last paragraph of Chapter 10 where the officer takes Oliver into custody, I was again heartened by the fact that "The gentleman walked on with them by the officer's side.... So, the old gentleman still seems to want to help Oliver!

[Beth]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Of the others, Fagin’s face is “villainous-looking” and “repulsive”. Mr. Fang’s face is “stern” and “flushed”, as if he drinks too much (although his expression may just indicate that he is angry over the article he’s reading)."

"If he were really not in the habit of drinking rather more than was exactly good for, he might have brought an action against his countenance..."

To me, the underlined part of the sentence implies, "but he was," i.e. that Mr. Fang was, indeed, a little too inclined toward the bottle. That's a tiny part of this chapter though.

Bridget wrote: "I was so sad when I read about the cell they put Oliver in "intolerably dirty, for it was Monday morning, and it had been tenanted since Saturday night by six drunken people"
That description grabbed by heart. He's just a little boy after all."

Same here. What that cell must have smelled like after six drunks had been expelling who-knows-what in it over the course of a day and a half! 🤢

This chapter gives us a good impression of the "roll 'em in, roll 'em out" process of justice in this local court. Oliver being sentenced to three months of hard labor after little or no testimony being presented against him, may not have been too exaggerated a depiction.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Will he survive?"

Since we're less than a quarter of the way through the book, I think he must, but I guess we'll find out! :)

Michael wrote: " This more rational viewpoint was combined with Middle Class Evangelicals who argued jailing for "trivial charges" was analogous to a parent discipling a child as a moral lesson, admonition not punishment."

Easy enough to say, when one is in no danger whatsoever of receiving those lil' admontions oneself...

[Franky]

@ Chapters 9 and 10. I think what I love about Dickens' protagonists is their young naivety in looking at the world, and so, having to learn from it. We see this in young Oliver as he is in over his head about what they boys are up to until he sees them in action, and then, of course, takes the blame for their thievery when he is charged for something he didn't do.

[Greg]

I haven't commented in a few days so just a few highlights from Chapters 9-11:

Claudia already mentioned how actively the chase is portrayed in Chapter 10, but I loved how beautifully Dickens executed this scene - so thrilling! I can see why people were willing to wait that month for the next installment!

Like Lori I was stumped by "fogle-hunter" (thanks for the explanation Jean). Some other words I was able to figure out from the dictionary - I love that word "battledore!" So much more expressive than "racket". 😃

I've been enjoying the irony and humor, but I've been appreciating even more the small kindnesses of a few ordinary people throughout. Like the older woman who is kind to Oliver earlier as she thinks of her son abroad, this kindly distracted gentleman in Chapter 11 sees Oliver's humanity and he wants to be fair to him. And the shopkeeper too goes through a great deal of trouble to run to the court and tell the truth about the theft, despite much trouble finding someone to mind his shop. I appreciate these flickers of the kinder side of human nature amidst an almost overwhelming sea of petty cruelties inflicted on poor Oliver!

Finally, thanks so much Jean for all the wonderful insights and illustrations, especially your comments on Dickens' evolving understanding in terms of Jewish characters. I appreciated that larger perspective of change throughout his work and life.

[Sue]

Great summation, Greg. I will second all you say.

My favorite section in terms of Dickens’s prose was the description of magistrate Fang’s face and its liability to his whole being for libel. I also liked the general humanity shown in the final scene of this chapter. As one who has not read this book before, this course of events has me thinking that Oliver’s story will not be quite as straight line as I had anticipated when he met the Artful Dodger. But also knowing this is Dickens, I should know that anything can happen.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Beth - Oh yes, in case you didn't think I "got it" 😂 - of course that is exactly what Charles Dickens is implying to hit you in the face with his wonderfully sardonic comment. Isn't it perfect? There are so many we could quote, even in this early novel 😊

But there's also something else. If you read my post about Allan Stewart Laing (as I'm sure you did) you will know that there's no doubt about who Mr. Fang was based on in real life, because we have statements by Charles Dickens himself, whereas as we've seen, the theories about some characters such as the Artful Dodger are speculations by others (even if they seem reasonable!) But Mr. Fang was a portrait of Allan Laing - him to a "T" - the "very life", as Charles Dickens would say, just as he did about Harold Skimpole in Bleak House being a portrait of Leigh Hunt.

Now, we know from our other group reads that Charles Dickens often observed medical conditions, and put them into his writing. Sometimes they are well enough known by the medical establishment to have a name, such as epilepsy (the grieving widower, or senility (the mother of the dead woman) and sometimes it is only later that we general readers recognise it, such as that in David Copperfield, (view spoiler)[Uriah Heep (hide spoiler)] had dystonia. (Dystonia is characterised by repetitive movements resulting from the involuntary contraction of muscles.) There are many more examples like this in his work.

Mr. Fang is a great comedy character. We love to be appalled by his abuse of power, his foul temper, and blatant unfairness 🤣 But I can see a glimmer of a medical condition here. It's well known that people subject to heart attacks, or high blood pressure are often quick to flare up; to show their temper and frustration. That's what I was fumbling towards in my mind, and put in my commentary (and probably should have explained better 🙄 - but as you say it's just one small part of the chapter and I moved on to other things) ... although of course it would not excuse him! Plenty of people cope with such sensations, and do not exhibit them for all to see, or use them to get their own way.

But the fact that Mr. Fang is based so specifically on a real person, just as the example I gave in David Copperfield was based on Hans Christian Andersen, makes me think that Charles Dickens has built this observed medically based phenomenon into Mr. Fang. And if Allan Laing did have a heart condition, as well as drinking too heavily, then what Mr. Fang read in the newspaper would certainly make him even more angry. His actual expression would be enraged - and Charles Dickens does use the word "countenance", thereby drawing attention to his demeanour - in addition to his face being flushed with the drink.

I think John Forster refers to this regularly happening when Allan Laing himself read newspaper accounts (very probably in particular those written by Charles Dickens, as per the example I gave in my extra information posts!) So this is probably why Charles Dickens included that snippet about Mr. Fang reading a newspaper at all! The key word here therefore, is "countenance", which is not an exact synonym for face, but can additionally imply its expression (the Oxford English dictionary defines it as: "a person's face or facial expression").

To recap:

If you look, you will see that in my summary, I put no interpretation there, but just quoted Charles Dickens's words:

"If he were really not in the habit of drinking rather more than was exactly good for, he might have brought an action against his countenance."

Plus the only known illustration I can find of Mr. Fang. You quoted my interpretation in the brackets, "Mr. Fang’s face is “stern” and “flushed”, as if he drinks too much (although his expression may just indicate that he is angry over the article he’s reading)." This I believe is part of Charles Dickens's subtext. The proof is that once you know of the real life original, plus Charles Dickens earlier encounters with him, you realise that Charles Dickens's reporting about Allan Laing's behaviour in the newspaper must have been a source of great resentment to him! It's a portrait yes, but only one which Charles Dickens could have written with his personal experience of the man.

Gosh, I'm writing a book here, about just one sentence! But that's what Charles Dickens is like: layer upon layer of meaning, not just the top level.

Charles Dickens course encapsulated this very succinctly, rather than my laboured account, but that was the thought in my mind. I can't find out what Allan Laing died from, except that he was 73 or 4, but if it was a heart attack exacerbated by his boozing, I wouldn't be the least surprised!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I love all these insights - not one of them is off kilter - and I'm so pleased you've all found this thread, Franky, Greg, Shirley, Sue and others.

[Kathleen]

I agree with Beth:
This chapter gives us a good impression of the "roll 'em in, roll 'em out" process of justice in this local court. Oliver being sentenced to three months of hard labor after little or no testimony being presented against him, may not have been too exaggerated a depiction.

I really appreciate Jean's explanation of the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act. Terrifying! But isn't it wonderful how fiction can bring a fact of history like that to life for us?

And Jean, I'm so glad you found that illustration. A feast for the eyes with all those wonderful details!

[Sam]

As everyone has been adding such wonderful comments, I have been happy to sit back and enjoy but I will mention the pacing in this novel is quite rapid so far. I think it is Dickens' attention to details that makes the pace feel slower than it actually is since those details give us much to ponder and that gives the illusion of the reading experience seeming longer.

I want to add that Dickens also seems to have a knack for selecting characters we know by type and would have recognized from literature or real life. I think we probably all new a bully like Noah, or a "cool" kid like Dodger that broke the rules and seemed to get away with it. My feeling is that Dickens is purposely selecting characters with whom we already feel familar.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Sam wrote: "My feeling is that Dickens is purposely selecting characters with whom we already feel familar ..."

This is an excellent observation Sam, and makes me wonder if his training as a reporter had something to do with this
- as well as his natural brilliance, of course! But Charles Dickens, unlike many writers of novels, was used to instant feedback from his public, and this continued all his life, of course.

As a reporter Charles Dickens would want people to empathise with what he was writing, i.e. he was writing far more for an audience than for self-expression. We've commented about how angry he is, about the Poor Law Amendment Act, and and other social issues; and this is persuasive literature at its best. And I think by making us feel we know these people already adds to the veracity, and makes us want to read more, and feel indignant, or sympathetic, along with him.

"Dickens' attention to details that makes the pace feel slower than it actually is" Another good point! And I will say that a heck of a lot happens in the next two chapters, even though it is just two chapters!

I can see why it is tempting to just read the comments, and it is tricky to get the balance right, but please anyone, if you have something to say then do say it!

Actually, I think 3 people so far have messaged me to say they are thoroughly enjoying this read, and love everyone's comments - but they have not said anything here, which is so sad. It's great for everyone to know who is reading this with us, so if you recognise yourself, then please do join in and say something now and then! It's never too late! Thanks!

Kathleen - Yes the practical application of that Police Act as we see it here, is terrifying indeed!

[Beth]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Beth - Oh yes, in case you didn't think I "got it" 😂 - of course that is exactly what Charles Dickens is implying to hit you in the face with his wonderfully sardonic comment. Isn't..."

There's some leeway for plausible deniability there. To paraphrase the quote from Foster you provided under the spoiler tag in message 54, it seems that Dickens got more cautious about inserting recognizable analogs of real-life people into his stories as he got older.

Thanks for the very long response about Laing and taking the time to compose it, Jean. There's the difference between a dilettante and a true enthusiast, right there. (self being the dilettante, of course.)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Beth wrote: "it seems that Dickens got more cautious about inserting recognizable analogs of real-life people into his stories as he got older ..."

Well, I think John Forster worked very hard to persuade Charles Dickens to desist with this! But of the two later novels that I mentioned, the original for Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield threatened to take him to court, so he had to rewrite part of the novel, and that is novel number 8. Then even later, Charles Dickens admitted - boasted even - about Leigh Hunt as the original in Bleak House, novel number 9! There were only 5 (and a half) more novels to go, but those seem to be what finally did it. After that you can still see the originals, as he rewrote aspects of his mother and father over and over again, but lots of authors use real life people they know in that way. I'm not sure there was any more threatened legal action.

I'm not quite sure what this has to do with Mr. Fang though, as his depiction and Harold Skimpole's depiction (after time had passed with 7 more novels) match their originals about equally. I think Charles Dickens just couldn't help himself, and I for one would have been very wary about spending much time with him ... 😉

"Thanks for the very long response about Laing and taking the time to compose it, Jean."

You're welcome! The trouble with subtext is that it is open to "deniability" as you say, so it seemed important to put it all in context, for those who had not picked up just how recently Charles Dickens had been working as a journalist (up until November of the previous year) and writing scathing criticisms of the very man he based Mr. Fang on. The newspaper he is reading is such a great "tell"!

Another whopper of a clue is Charles Dickens's footnote about newspapers.

Thanks for your observation Beth! I think you are being a little harsh on yourself with the word "dilettante". In common with everyone here, you seem to be pretty keen on Charles Dickens 😊

[Chris]

OH I was so happy that I was right about Mr. Brownlow. He was very concerned about Oliver and not sure if he indeed was the thief!! I was actually quite surprised about the efforts of the bookseller to go out of his way to make a witness statement. He ( as well as the concerned policeman) was a nice balance to the cold-heartedness of Mr. Fang!! And tee hee JEAN about your comment that his name alludes to his nasty bite HA!

I see that Dickens made another indictment of the differences in the confinement of the those who were charged with petty crimes and those of hardened criminals In our stationhouses, men and women are every night confined on the most trivial of charges - the word is worth noting- in dungeons, compared with those in Newgate, occupied by the most atrocious felons: tried, found guilty, and under sentence of death: are palaces.

The description of that awful cellar is then followed by what MICHAEL described as "sublime" (I agree) visualization of the memories of people Mr. Brownlow recalls as he searches his mind for a facial connection with Oliver of which he feels so strongly but can't seem to find. Foreshadowing?

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chris wrote: "OH I was so happy that I was right about Mr. Brownlow. He was very concerned about Oliver and not sure if he indeed was the thief!! .."

Yes, so am I, Chris, well done! And I really like the bookseller too 😊 It shows that someone is this sorry crowd of characters has some moral standards! As you observe, dramatically it is a perfect way to contrast and heighten the appalling abuse of power exhibited by Mr. Fang.

Charles Dickens is certainly "present" more in Oliver Twist, freely giving his opinions as well as showing them through the action.

He was such an angry young man!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Installment 6

Chapter 12:

Oliver wakes up in a clean, soft bed and is attended by Mrs. Bedwin, who is Mr. Brownlow’s housekeeper. Oliver is in Mr. Brownlow’s house. Three days later Oliver is strong enough to be taken downstairs where he is fascinated by a portrait of a young woman with a “beautiful, mild face” The way the eyes seem to look at him “makes my heart beat … as if it was alive, and wanted to speak to me, but couldn’t.” Mr. Brownlow looks at Oliver and then at the portrait and realises that the boy’s features and expression are the same as those of the young woman:



"Oliver recovering from Fever" - George Cruikshank August 1837

After escaping with Mr. Brownlow’s handkerchief, Jack Dawkins and Charley Bates return to Fagin’s. Charley finds the whole thing riotously funny, especially how they chased Oliver crying, “Stop, thief!” But Jack Dawkins asks, “What’ll Fagin say?” and decides they had better tell Fagin a lot of nonsense.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

What a lovely “feel-good” chapter. I think it might be the first, and must have been such a relief to the original readers after all the grim descriptions and routine cruelty towards young children.

We have another example of someone calling Oliver “my dear”, but how different this is from Fagin! Oliver is now safe in Mr. Brownlow’s home, tended to by “a motherly lady”. It is she who watches over a sleeping Oliver, and calls him “my dear” when he wakes, not Fagin. Even the kind doctor call him this! At last Oliver is in safe hands.

Both here, and at Fagin's den, Oliver is exhausted, but wakes full of hope in a new place and situation. But what a difference there is between Fagin’s den and Mr. Brownlow’s comfortable home. This same phrase, “my dear”, helps us to be aware of the similarities and contrasts between these two worlds. The motherly figure Mrs. Bedlow piles on the pathos and intrigue when she says:

“what a grateful little dear … pretty creature! What would his mother say has she sat by him as I have, and could see him now!” and Oliver replies

“perhaps she does see me … perhaps she has sat by me. I almost feel as if she had.”

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

At the end of the previous installment, Michael and Chris both drew our attention to the beautiful way Charles Dickens described Mr. Brownlow puzzling over an expression in Oliver’s face, and his look of innocence. Now we have Oliver drawn to a particular portrait.

We know that Charles Dickens loved coincidences, revelations and unveilings in his novels. Could this one of Charles Dickens’s first examples of this? Or are we making too much of it. Is it too early in the book for this to be significant? Charles Dickens still did not know how long his serial would be, but we know there is a lot more to come!

I’m also wondering about the book Mr. Brownlow inadvertently took without paying. And there’s a book in this chapter too … are we to have a continuing motif here, alongside the portrait? Tell us your hunches!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And a little more …

Writing style

You may notice that this is the first time we have a split scene, rather than simply following Oliver himself. Did the switch seem a little “clunky” to you? Charles Dickens said it:

“affords the narrative an opportunity of relieving the reader from suspense, in behalf of the two young pupils of the Merry Old Gentleman; and of recording—

That when the Dodger …“

Charles Dickens is not an experienced novelist yet! And what's more, before we get to what we really want to know—and that Charles Dickens had promised us—all the action back at Fagin’s den, we have to read a long hectoring sardonic speech about the ills of so-called “philosophers”, (those responsible for the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, as we’ve discussed before). But we do get there eventually!

Nursery rhymes and Nonsense:

“.Toor rul lol loo, gammon and spinnage, the frog he wouldn’t, and high cockolorum,” said the Dodger: with a slight sneer on his intellectual countenance.'

This sentence is clearly nonsense, so Dodger is saying they will tell Fagin a lot of waffle, or as we would say “a cock and bull story”, and bluff their way out of it:

If we break it down, “Toor rul looo” is from an old Irish lullaby:

http://www.lullaby-link.com/irish-lul...

“gammon and spinach” (Dodger mispronounces it) and “the frog he wouldn’t”, both come from a very popular nursery rhyme. The version I was taught was “Froggy would a wooing go”, (and now the tune is running through my head as I type!) and clearly Charles Dickens must have had this sung to him by his mother or the young woman who was his nurse, when he was tiny, and it stuck in his mind, as he goes on to quote “gammon and spinach” to mean nonsense (or legal waffle) in several of his novels!

Here are the words:

https://www.mamalisa.com/blog/a-frog-...

and here is wiki on its orgins. It is a 16th century Scottish folk song:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_We...

This frog will not go wooing!

“High cockalorum” both refers to Fagin as self-important sort of person, but also a traditional children’s game rolling a hoop. Plus there’s another nursery rhyme which I can’t quite bring to mind “High cockalorum, my old nandy”, anyone?

So we see that the Dodger is truly “intellectual”, as Charles Dickens sarcastically says, and thinks a great deal of himself!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Any thoughts about chapter 12? Has Oliver found his fairy godmother figure in Mr. Brownlow, and will he have true happiness at last?

[Claudia]

The portrait, as well as Mr Brownlow's impression when he is looking attentively at Oliver, and Oliver's fascination for the lady in the portrait, are creating an additional thrill for us readers, as it raises questions and stimulates our further interest.

Later in his novels, Charles Dickens uses a similar technique, a portrait of a lady in James Carker's living room.

Portraits in Victorian novels may sometimes used as a mise en abyme of something important, or a mere plot device to keep our interest alive.

[Janelle]

This chapter was a lovely change of pace with so much kindness shown to Oliver including the doctor who is nice but seems pretty useless and Mrs Bedwins wonderful broth that at the correct strength would feed 350 paupers.

[Michael]

"Angel at Islington" seems to serve both to designate a specific geographic place and given the context a metaphorical meaning.

Oliver comments he felt his mother was sitting by him during his illness. Dickens would go back to this theme, much more explicitly, of a motherless child at the threshold of death feeling her presence.

Another stock character Dickens would utilize in future novels is the useless doctor in the profession for socioeconomic reasons; "his boots creaking in a very important and wealthy manner".

Mrs. Bionic makes reference to the portrait in Mr. Brownlow's home. One of the most famous uses of a portrait as a plot device is in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Lady Audley's Secret".

This statement by Mrs. Bedwin piqued my curiosity, "The man that invented the machine for taking likenesses might have known that would never succeed". Is she referring to early experiments in photography? Prior and contemporaneous with Oliver Twist, among various inventors, two Frenchmen, Nicephore Niepce and Louis Daguerre, worked on what would be called photography. Although the Daguerreotype would not be introduced to the wider public until 1839.

Mrs. Bionic drew attention to Dickens' "long hectoring sardonic speech". Dickens places the actions of Dodger and Bates as exemplars of philosophical behavior. Dickens immediate target was the Utilitarians but I would not be surprised if a reader in 1837 might reflect on the French Revolution. A modern reader might invoke events long after Dickens passed away. The sentiment of "to do a great right, you may do a little wrong" and "indeed the distinction between the two, being left entirely to the philosopher concerned" has been used to justify the death of millions during the 20th century. As Lenin stated in 1921, "We repudiate all morality that proceeds from supernatural ideas or ideas that are outside class conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of class war. Everything is moral that is necessary for the annihilation of the old exploiting social order and for uniting the proletariat".

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Michael wrote: ""Angel at Islington" seems to serve both to designate a specific geographic place and given the context a metaphorical meaning ..."

Yes Michael, the Angel is a famous part of Pentonville, which was mentioned before as where Mr Brownlow lives. This describes the area (no spoilers) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ang... If you've been to London you will probably have noticed the Angel tube station. It has a lift up to ground level which I feel must be about the earliest one on the entire tube system, complete with an iron lattice closure, and where you walk in at one side, and out of the other. It's also a square on the English Monopoly board!

Charles Dickens says that the Angel is where "London began in earnest". London is an unusual city in that you can walk round a corner, and find that instead of tatty deserted or neglected buildings, you are suddenly in a smart well-to-do area. Charles Dickens knew that the city's financial area was right next to slums. So yes, he was making a metaphorical point about the new stage of Oliver's life, his changing fortunes, and the journey he was making through life.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Claudia's French term "mise en abyme" is primarily used in European Art history, but can be extended to literature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en...

Nice examples of other Victorian literary novels which include portraits which are significant Claudia and Michael.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Janelle - I too thoroughly enjoyed the humour in this chapter, with Mrs. Bedwin so indignant at what she saw as her rich soup not being fully appreciated, and the doctor pretending he was always right, when he was actually wrong on every count! 😂

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Werner wrote: "Until we see characters as individuals, not as official representatives of Group X, Y, or Z, we're still categorizing human beings in racial boxes...."

Werner, this was so insightful and I couldn't agree with you more.

[Kathleen]

Claudia wrote: "Later in his novels, Charles Dickens uses a similar technique, a portrait of a lady in James Carker's living room."

And in Bleak House!

I see several similarities with Bleak House here, including our hero being whisked away to the home of a kindly old man.

[Sue]

getting behind and haven't had time to comment but making a post so that I'll get notifications on the new thread.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Good idea Sue!

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Jean! I can't thank you enough for all of the illustrations you have found and all of the additional information and back stories you are including. All of this information is adding so much to my understanding and appreciation for Oliver Twist!

I particularly was intrigued by your account of "A Real Artful Dodger", Samuel Holmes. The historian Cameron Nunn was researching child convicts sent to Australia during the Victorian era, when he came across the account of 13-year-old thief Samuel Holmes in Message 24. It made me so sad and angry that children like him were shunted off to penal colonies, sometimes never to return. Did Cameron Nunn publish a book on his research, Jean? England's answer to juvenile delinquency and crime reminded me of America's own method in the 19th and early 20th centuries - The Orphan Train. Many of these children found loving homes, but many of them also merely became servants or worse, slaves to the families they were placed with.

In your discussion of phrenology in Messsage 52: "A related “science” is phrenology, which can be traced back to Franz Josef Gall, an Austrian doctor, and was based on his belief that the shape of the skull reflects the shape of the brain and thus the intelligence and character of the person. Phrenology was in vogue in both Britain and America when Charles Dickens was writing", I remember studying this in a freshman psychology class many moons ago. According to the "experts", people could be classed as born criminals based on the shape and bumps of their heads, and their punishment would be tied to their phrenological diagnosis. Thank goodness, scientific thought is never settled, but is constantly changing with greater knowledge.

[JP]

My Penguin edition seems to separate the scene with the Dodger into Chapter 13. I wonder whether my Chapter 14, "Comprising Further Particulars of Oliver's Stay at Mr Brownlow's" is what others will be reading as Chapter 13 for tomorrow...

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

JP wrote: "My Penguin edition seems to separate the scene with the Dodger into Chapter 13. I wonder whether my Chapter 14, "Comprising Further Particulars of Oliver's Stay at Mr Brownlow's" is what others wil..."

It looks like it, JP. According to the scholarly article "The Chapter Numbering in "Oliver Twist" by Joan Schweitzer, which I Iinked to in the first thread, the installment for August 1837 included both chapters 12 and 13 (as I have done here) but later editions varied, "of necessity with little regard to artistic considerations".

Thanks for adding this! Hopefully we'll all be back together again tomorrow 😊

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Jean! I can't thank you enough for all of the illustrations you have found and all of the additional information and back stories you are including. All of this information is adding so much to my ..."

Oh I'm so pleased, Shirley! Coordinating all the illustrations makes me tear my hair out sometimes, and I promised myself I'd just include those by George Cruikshank this time ... but I have to admit that some of the later ones are so interesting, and add a lot of pleasure. I'm glad you think so too 😊

I can't find any evidence of a book by Cameron Nunn relating to this research; only the research itself, in a few different places on the internet. It was expressed in a very "journalistic" way, if you understand me, so I had to rewrite it. But it's certainly worth a book, I'd say! I find the idea fascinating, and so close to Fagin's lair that it makes you wonder.

How amazing that you studied (about) phrenology, Shirley! I remember at one time having a little book about it, which seemed to view it as a science ... I can't imagine where I go it from! Some quirky little bookshop, I expect.

Thank you for such a nice comment.

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Bionic Jean wrote: "“High cockalorum” both refers to Fagin as self-important sort of person, ..."

I was shocked to see the expression "high cockalorum" in this chapter! In Louisiana in the 1930s, notorious governor Huey P. Long (who was assassinated at the height of his power) often used the phrase "high popalorum and low popahirum" to parody the two main political parties in the U.S. Now, I'm wondering if he wasn't so original after all, but borrowed from our friend Mr. Dickens!