FREE ESSAY ON GREAT EXPECTATIONS AND OLIVER TWIST

GREAT EXPECTATIONS AND OLIVER TWIST

Great Expectations and Oliver Twist
During his lifetime, Charles Dickens is known to have written several books. Although
each book is different, they also share many similarities. Two of his books, Great
Expectations and Oliver Twist, are representatives of the many kinds of differences and
similarities found within his work..
Perhaps the reason why these two novels share some of the same qualities is because they
both reflect painful experiences which occurred in Dickens' past. During his childhood,
Charles Dickens suffered much abuse from his parents.1 This abuse is often expressed in
his novels. Pip, in Great Expectations, talked often about the abuse he received at the
hands of his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery. On one occasion he remarked, I soon found myself
getting heavily bumped from behind in the nape of the neck and the small of the back, and
having my face ignominously shoved against the wall, because I did not answer those
questions at sufficient length.2 
While at the orphanage, Oliver from Oliver Twist also experienced a great amount of
abuse. For example, while suffering from starvation and malnutrition for a long period of
time, Oliver was chosen by the other boys at the orphanage to request more gruel at
dinner one night. After making this simple request, the master (at the orphanage) aimed a
blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for
the beadle.3 
The whole beginning of Oliver Twist's story was created from memories which related to
Charles Dickens' childhood in a blacking factory (which was overshadowed by the
Marshalsea Prison).4 While working in the blacking factory, Dickens suffered tremendous
humiliation. This humiliation is greatly expressed through Oliver's adventures at the
orphanage before he is sent away.
Throughout his lifetime, Dickens appeared to have acquired a fondness for the bleak, the
sordid, and the austere.5 Most of Oliver Twist, for example, takes place in London's
lowest slums.6 The city is described as a maze which involves a mystery of darkness,
anonymity, and peril.7 Many of the settings, such as the pickpocket's hideout, the
surrounding streets, and the bars, are also described as dark, gloomy, and bland.8
Meanwhile, in Great Expectations, Miss Havisham's house is often made to sound
depressing, old, and lonely. Many of the objects within the house had not been touched or
moved in many years. Cobwebs were clearly visible as well as an abundance of dust, and
even the wedding dress, which Miss Havisham constantly wore, had turned yellow with
age.9
However, similarities are not just found in the settings. The novels' two main
characters, Pip and Oliver, are also similar in many ways. Both young boys were orphaned
practically from birth; but where Pip is sent to live with and be abused by his sister,
Oliver is sent to live in an orphanage. Pip is a very curious young boy. He is a child of
intense and yearning fancy.10 Yet, Oliver is well spoken. Even while his life was in
danger while in the hands of Fagin and Bill Sikes, two conniving pickpockets, he refused
to participate in the stealing which he so greatly opposed. All Oliver really longed for
was to escape from harsh living conditions and evil surroundings which he had grown up
in.11 However, no matter how tempting the evil may have been, Oliver stood by his
beliefs. 
Therefore, he can be referred to as ideal and incorruptible innocence.12 It is Oliver's
self-generated and self-sustained love, conferred it would seem from Heaven alone, that
preserves him from disaster and death.13 Unfortunately, many critics have found it hard
to believe that a boy such as Oliver Twist could remain so innocent, pure, and well
spoken given the long period of time in which he was surrounded by evil and
injustices.14
Pip, on the other hand, is a dreamer. His imagination is always helping him to create
situations to cover up for his hard times. For example, when questioned about his first
visit to Miss Havisham's house, he made up along elaborate story to make up for the
terrible time he had in reality. Instead of telling how he played cards all day while
being ridiculed and criticized by Estella and Miss Havisham, he claimed that they played
with flags and swords all day after having wine and cake on gold plates.15 However, one
special quality possessed by Pip that is rarely seen in a novel's hero is that he wrongs
others instead of being hurt himself all of the time.16 
Another similarity between Oliver and Pip is that they both have had interactions with
convicts. Fagin the head of a group of young thieves, spends most of his time trying to
demoralize and corrupt Oliver and prevent him from ever coming into his inheritance.17 To
Oliver, he is seen as an escape from all previous misery. He also helps Oliver to ease
any fears about starvation and loneliness.18
Just as Fagin is Oliver's means of escape, Magwitch, an escaped convict, is Pip's.
However, as Fagin provides Oliver with an escape from misery, Magwitch tries to provide
Pip with an escape from poverty by becoming his anonymous benefactor. 
Obviously, escape is an important theme in both Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. Even
though they both have different goals in mind, Pip and Oliver are seeking various forms
of escape from conditions which make them unhappy: Pip from his poverty, and Oliver from
his loneliness and starvation. 
Since dealing with escapism, it is not surprising that death also plays a major role in
both stories. In the two novels, death and coffins symbolize a happy and peaceful manner
of escape.19 In Oliver Twist, it is suggested that only loneliness and brutality exist on
earth. Supposedly, there is no sanctity on the planet, which is a belief that goes
against the idea of a Heaven on earth.20
Another important theme within the novel is the theme of the two separate and conflicting
dualisms: one, social, between the individual and the institution; the second, moral,
between the respectable and the criminal.21 Most of Oliver Twist seems to imply that it
is better to be a thief than to be alone.22 This tends to make the reader think that
Dickens favors the criminal aspect of his novels over the moral side.
However, the conflict between the individual and the institution leads to Dickens'
criticism of social injustices such as injustices towards the poor.23 Also in the form of
satire, Dickens attempts to challenge the pleasurability of fortune.24 
Aside from satire, Dickens uses various other devices in writing these novels. One of the
most common is that of coincidence. For example, in Oliver Twist, Oliver just happened to
end up, first, at the house of Mr. Brownlow, who at one time was a really good friend of
Oliver's father. Then, later on, Oliver ends up at Rose Maylie's house, who, as it turns
out is his aunt.
In Great Expectations, the use of coincidence is also noticeable. For instance, Pip finds
out that Magwitch and Molly, Mr. Jagger's servant, are the parents of Estella long after
he first met them. Then, later on, Pip just happens to be visiting Satis House (Miss
Havisham's old home) at the same time as Estella.
Written in abrupt, truncated chapters, Oliver Twist took the form of a new type of
English prose.25 Both Oliver Twist and Great Expectations depend heavily on the use of
abstraction, or the avoidance of various facts. 
However, the novels each have their own form of narration. While Oliver Twist is written
in the third person, Great Expectations is in the first person. Therefore, in Oliver
Twist, the reader gains a view of the story from the position of an onlooker or outsider.
They form their own opinions about the characters from watching them.
In contrast, when reading Great Expectations, the view is given through the character of
Pip. So, since we only know about Pip's feelings and what he tells us, our opinions of
the other characters are highly influenced by what he thinks of them. 
In conclusion, both books seem to have much in common such as feelings shared by the main
characters, themes dealing primarily in social injustices, and various writing techniques
such as the use of coincidental incidences and abstractions. 
However, they also differ greatly from one another. For example, Pip searches for money
while Oliver searches for security, and while Pip was raised in a home environment,
Oliver was raised in an orphanage. Yet, both books have a lot to offer society in terms
of pointing out many problems which still exist today, such as child abuse and injustice
to the poor. In order to conquer these evils, they must first be understood, and
explaining the severity of these experiences seems to be a job which Charles Dickens is
very good at.
Bibliography
Carey, John. Here Comes Dickens - The Imagination of a Novelist. New York:
Schocken Books, 1974.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: The Heritage Club, 1939.
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1949.
Johnson, Edgar. Charles Dickens - His Tragedy and Triumph. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1952.
Kincaid, James R. Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1971.
Marcus, Steven. Dickens: From Pickwick to Dombey. Great Britain: Basic Books, 1965.
Slater, Michael, ed. Dickens 1970. New York: Stein and Day Publishers, 1970.
Slater, Michael. Dickens and Women. California: Stanford University Press, 1983.
Stewart, Garrett. Dickens and the Trials of Imagination. Massachusettes: Harvard
University Press, 1974.
Welsh, Alexander. The City of Dickens. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1971.
Wilkie, Katherine E. Charles Dickens, The Inimitable Boz. New York: Abelard -
Schuman, 1970.
Footnotes
1 Steven Marcus, Dickens: From Pickwick to Dombey (Great Britain: Basic Books,
1965) 82.
2 Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (New York: The Heritage Club, 1939) 69.
3 Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1949) 16-17.
4 Katharine E. Wilkie, Charles Dickens, The Inimitable Boz (New York: Abelard -
Schuman, 1970) 77-78.
5 Marcus 71.
6 Wilkie 77.
7 Marcus 256.
8 Edgar Johnson, Charles Dickens - His Tragedy and Triumph (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1952) 273.
9 Dickens, Expectations 62.
10 Garrett Stewart, Dickens and the Trials of Imagination (Massachusettes: Harvard
University Press, 1974) 187.
11 Marcus 74.
12 Marcus 80.
13 Marcus 83.
14 John Carey, Here Comes Dickens - The Imagination of a Novelist (New York:
Schocken Books, 1974) 149.
15 Dickens, Expectations 71-72.
16 Alexander Welsh, The City of Dickens (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1971) 107-108.
17 Marcus 75.
18 James R. Kincaid, Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1971) 72.
19 Kincaid 51.
20 Kincaid 51.
21 Kincaid 53.
22 Kincaid 72.
23 Wilkie 78.
24 Welsh 82.
25 Marcus 55.