Oliver Twist

 

"Let the tears which fell, and the broken words which were exchanged in the long close embrace between the orphans, be sacred."

There is nothing quite so comforting and wholesome as reading a Charles Dickens novel, and all the better if it is raining and a flickering candle casts its glow on the water-streaked windowpanes. For the first time, I chose to listen to an audiobook of a Dicken's novel, and may I just say that Oliver Twist turned out to be an excellent choice. The book has long been adapted into a stage play, and thus its theatrical value is well acknowledged. Hearing it read out loud has convinced me that, like Shakespeare, Dickens is meant to be experienced in this way! The nuanced accents that differentiate each person and the characteristically British sense of ordered revelation in each chapter come alive in the voice of a talented orator. I can't recommend it highly enough.

For some time, Great Expectations has remained one of my favorite Dickens works. However, I believe that my opinion is shifting after this latest interaction with orphan Oliver and his many shady or compassionate acquaintances. What I love about all of Charles Dickens' writing is his extremely memorable characters; he shows their flaws and their humanity, as well as the societal pressures that force them into character-shaping circumstances. Yes, the story is about Oliver Twist: an orphaned boy in his pre-teen years, seeking to escape the poverty and mistreatment of his youth, but consistently falling innocently into the clutches of evil influences who would abuse his naivety.

But the story is so much more than just one boy's journey to finally finding family and a rest from his sojourning in the sinister corners of London's less affluent boroughs. Dickens tells a tale of the inherent meanness of so many people whose positions in life allow them the freedom to raise up their fellow man, but yet choose arrogant mistreatment and manipulation of the disadvantaged instead. The characters who fight against these forces of selfishness and hatred may seem to falter for a time, but they succeed in the end by choosing to do what they can. Rescuing just one small boy from the street may seem insignificant, but showing kindness is reciprocal, and no villain will be left unpunished in the end.

What I love specifically about Oliver Twist is the desperation that Dickens first creates and then sequentially resolves. The reader follows Oliver's abandonment and imprisonment in a seemingly irreparable life of crime, but his goodness and innocence persist, and he eventually lands in the home of a widow and her adopted daughter who will do everything in their power to protect and preserve these qualities in him and also in the world.

The last reason I'll give for loving Dickens in general, but Oliver Twist specifically, is the inclusion of ironic humor. There is a satisfying poetic justice in how the villains find their demise, but there is also a morbid cheerfulness throughout even the darkest of situations. Throughout it all, the reader maintains hope, because there is still sarcasm in the world--a true talent of the author.