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- Tom Chitling Another of the young robbers in Fagin's gang, Tom is mostly notable for his love of Bet and his dim wit—he is beaten by the Dodger repeatedly in cards.
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Tom Chitling. A rather dim member of Fagin’s gang. Tom has served time in jail for doing Fagin’s bidding.
- Oliver Twist
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- Oliver Twist
Jan 19, 2022 · Q&A with Connor Curren who plays Tom Chitling. Can you describe your character? Tom is Dodger’s adversary in the gang. Tom has broken out of prison and has found Dodger sleeping in his bed so...
This study guide and infographic for Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
CharacterDescriptionTraitsOliver TwistOliver Twist, an abused orphan, is the ...slight, observant, curious, naïve, ...FaginFagin is a fence who trains children to ...old, dirty, ugly, red-haired, sneaky, ...Rose MaylieRose is Mrs. Maylie's adopted niece who ...compassionate, young, beautiful, ...Mr. BrownlowAfter Oliver is arrested for picking his ...elderly, well-dressed, kind, generous, ...- Introduction
- Author Biography
- Plot Summary
- Media Adaptations
- Characters
- Themes
- Style
- Topics For Further Study
- Historical Context
- Critical Overview
Oliver Twist, published in 1838, is one of Charles Dickens's best-known and well-loved works. It was written after he had already attained success as the author of The Pickwick Papers. It has been adapted as a film and a long-running Broadway musical and has been considered a classic ever since it was first published. The book originally appeared a...
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsea, England. His father, John Dickens, was a navy clerk. In 1814, John Dickens was transferred to London, and in 1817, the whole family moved to Chatham, near the naval docks. Dickens's life during the next five years was stable and happy; he was tutored by his mother and later went to school in...
Chapters One through Nine
The book opens with Oliver's birth in a workhouse, as his unmarried and nameless mother dies. He is soon transferred to an "infant farm," run by Mrs. Mann, who starves the children under her care and pockets the money given to her for their food. Although many of the children die, investigations always determine that the death was "accidental." Oliver lives with her until he is nine, when the parish beadle, Mr. Bumble, arrives to tell her that Oliver is supposed to return to the workhouse. At...
Chapters Ten through Nineteen
Oliver sometimes takes part in this game, but he doesn't realize yet that it is practice for stealing. He thinks Fagin is respectable and is simply teaching the boys good work ethics. He begs to be allowed to go out with Charley and the Dodger and gets into trouble when they pick a man's pocket and then run away. Oliver doesn't run, and he's immediately grabbed as the thief. He is shocked, having finally realized that his "friends" are all thieves. He is taken to the police station, and the m...
Chapters Twenty through Thirty-One
Nancy shows up to take Oliver to Sikes's place and confesses to him that she wants to help him but can't do anything right now. She tells him it will be good for them both if he keeps quiet about her being on his side.
Oliver Twistwas adapted as a silent film in 1909, directed by J. Stuart Blackton and starring William Humphrey and Elita Proctor Otis; in 1912, directed by Thomas Bentley; and in 1916, directed by James Young and starring Marie Doro and Tully Marshal. 1. The book was adapted as a film in 1922, directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Jackie Coogan and ...
Barney
Barney is a waiter at the Three Cripples, a pub where the thieves hang out. He has a nasal condition, so everything he says sounds like he has a cold.
Charley Bates
Charley Bates is a member of Fagin's gang and is most notable for his habit of laughing all the time, even when it's inappropriate.
Mrs. Bedwin
Mrs. Bedwin is a comforting, motherly old woman, very clean and neat. She is Mr. Brown-low's housekeeper and takes care of Oliver when Mr. Brownlow takes him in. Even when Mr. Brownlow becomes disillusioned about Oliver's true nature, her faith in Oliver never wavers.
Good and Evil
According to George Gissing in Critical Study of the Works of Charles Dickens, Dickens once wrote, "I wished to show, in little Oliver, the principle of good surviving through every adverse circumstance, and triumphing at last." The novel does this but perhaps at the cost of depicting Oliver as a realistic character. Although he runs away from Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry, in the remainder of the novel Oliver has little initiative or drive. He is the tool of thieves or the protégé of kind Samarita...
Satire of the Poor Laws
Throughout the book, Dickens shows, and comments on, the effects of the laws on the poor. Confined to workhouses, starved, and mistreated, the poor have no way of redeeming themselves from unending misery and death except by running away or turning criminal. Statistics show that crime soared after the Poor Laws of 1834, despite the government's exultation that much money would be saved on feeding, housing, and clothing them. Dickens shows the effects of the Poor Laws in his depiction of the c...
Alienation
Many, if not most, of the characters in the book are alienated from their society and each other. Oliver is an orphan, the quintessential outcast, and with the exception of Dick, the people with whom he associates throughout his childhood are deeply selfish and mistrustful, interested in their own welfare and no one else's. Among the thieves, there is no camaraderie; they often spy on each other and are ready to turn on each other at a moment's notice if it will gain them more money or freedo...
Shifting Narrative Voice
Throughout the novel, Dickens employs a shifting narrative voice; as James R. Kincaid noted in Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter, "It is impossible to define the characteristics or moral position of the narrators in this novel, for they are continually shifting." At times the narrator is detached and wordy, as in the opening paragraph in which he says abstractly that he will not name the town or workhouse where a certain "item of mortality" was born. At the same time, he is mocking the con...
Oliver Twist attacks the nineteenth-century treatment of orphans by showing how they were abused. How are orphans treated in our society? Investigate and write about what happens to children whose...Fagin is sentenced to death for his crimes. Do you think this is justified? Why or why not?Oliver is remarkably "good," despite the starvation and abuse he receives during his childhood. Do you think this is realistic? Why or why not?Investigate what it was like to live in London during the middle of the nineteenth century. If you lived there, what job would you have done? What would your life have been like?In the mid-nineteenth century, England was suffering from economic instability and widespread unemployment. The economic instability was a legacy of the Napoleonic era, which lasted until 1815. During this time, England was at war with France. The English government had imposed heavy taxes to pay for the war, and although these did not really affec...
In Dickens and His Readers: Aspects of Novel Criticism Since 1836, George H. Ford quoted George Borrow, who wrote in 1838 that "Everybody was in raptures over a certain Oliver Twistthat had just come out." Readers of the time, far from being dismayed by the dark quality of the book, loved it. An exception was Thackeray, who mocked Dickens's portray...
Feb 19, 2013 · Answers 1. Tom is another of Fagin’s boys, Chitling is eighteen, but not as accomplished a thief as the Dodger, and has just come from spending six weeks in jail.He then meets Tom Chitling, who is an older one of Fagin’s boys and has just come back from prison.
Tom Chitling Another of the young robbers in Fagin's gang, Tom is mostly notable for his love of Bet and his dim wit—he is beaten by the Dodger repeatedly in cards. Mrs. Bumble (Mrs. Corney)
A guide to the many characters in Oliver Twist. In this, the second of Dickens’ novels, we already have a range of characters that have become immortal. Dickens was to go on with that creation of immortal characters, so many that now it would be difficult to count them. Amongst the classic Oliver Twist characters we have the unforgettable ...
