Social Criticism In Oliver Twist

Being the age of contrasts, the Victorian society suffered from a number of social issues such as poverty, class distinction, criminality. The industrialization deepened the problems involving children as well. They were forced to work in factories and workhouses, which became prisons for them. It is of great importance to deal with Charles Dickens ( 1812-70 ) to represent the nineteenth century social life in all its drastic changes and development. In Oliver Twist, Dickens’s second novel, Dickens tries to reveal the existence of oppression in England. Oliver Twist reflects the England society during the Industrial Revolution in the late of the nineteenth century. Charles Dickens criticizes the social conditions inside the country which reveal the social injustice such as poverty, criminality, victimization of children, the New Poor Law system and the evils of the criminal world London. Charles Dickens portrays characters …show more content…
He suggests that Dickens is, “ attacking a whole social system in all its complexity wherever it seems to impede or prevent the flow of general impulse between man and man, the exercise of natural kindness and trust. ”1 It must be emphasized here that Dickens is not a revolutionist who wants to tear society apart and rebuild it. Nor is he a radical committed to a political movement, but a conscious artist who tries to reveal social conflicts through his novels, an artist who tries to deepen his readers' awareness of the evils of an unjust world. Dickens's attack on society's indifference, his distrust of institutions and educational systems are recurrent motifs in his novels, but the treatment of these motifs varies with each novel. “ Dickens's feeling about the poor had been transformed from an edifying sympathy to a disturbing and vindictive indignation.”2 He is condemning institutions that can victimize the innocent and the