The Story of ‘Oliver Twist’
Fate and a vicious professional thief named Fagin conspire to trap orphan Oliver Twist into a life of crime.
1837
Fate and a vicious professional thief named Fagin conspire to trap orphan Oliver Twist into a life of crime.
1837
‘Oliver Twist, or, The Parish-Boy’s Progress’ is a novel by Charles Dickens. First published in February 1837, it has been dramatised for film and TV many times, and turned into a popular musical named ‘Oliver!’. Here is the first part of a two-part summary of the plot.
OLIVER TWIST was an orphan from birth, and left in the unsympathetic care of a government Workhouse. As soon as he was old enough, he was sent to work for an undertaker, a miserable existence from which he escaped by running away to London.
Penniless and friendless, he was spotted by a young pickpocket nicknamed the Artful Dodger, who took Oliver back to his gang’s hideout and to Fagin, their charismatic but ruthless leader. For the first time, Oliver knew something like comradeship - for a price: he was to be a pickpocket, and a burglar’s apprentice, in London’s heaving slums.
After a botched attempt to relieve one gentleman of his wallet, Oliver became feverish and the victim, Mr Brownlow, took pity on him, nursing him back to health in his own household. Fagin, however, could not risk Oliver telling Mr Brownlow all he knew, and the boy was quickly snatched away from the only loving home he had ever known.