Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, follows the harrowing journey of an orphaned boy born in a Victorian workhouse, where he endures starvation and brutality before famously asking for more gruel, leading to his expulsion. Fleeing to London, innocent Oliver falls into the clutches of the cunning Fagin, who trains a gang of child pickpockets including the Artful Dodger, drawing him into a criminal underworld marked by figures like the violent Bill Sikes and his conflicted lover Nancy. Through kidnappings, failed robberies, and revelations about his mysterious parentage involving a half-brother’s schemes, Oliver finds kindness from benefactors like Mr. Brownlow and the Maylies, ultimately escaping poverty’s grip in a tale critiquing social injustice and the Poor Law.