Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist and Hard time analysis, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Inglese

Scarica Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist and Hard time analysis e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! CHARLES DICKENS Dickens is the author that best embodies the features of Victorian age. He became his writing career as a journalist and became a famous writer after “Pickwick papers”. Dickens’ novels are tragicomic: denounces the evil of the Victorian world using a comic tone. Tragic: what he tells, comic: the irony that he uses. His stories usually have a happy ending, resolved through surprise appearances rather than social reforms. OLIVER TWIST or the Parish Boy’s Progress PLOT Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse where the conditions are terrible and he constantly suffer from hunger. When he asks for more food [“I want some more”] provokes a furious reaction from the officials who send him away as an apprentice for an undertaker. Oliver runs away to London, where he is involved in thefts with a gang led by Fagin. Oliver is arrested and then rescued by Mrs. Brownlow (one of the victims of the thefts). Fagin’s gang capture Oliver and he is forced to take part in a burglar with Sikes, in which he is shot and abandoned. Oliver is taken by Mrs. Maylie and spends a happy summer with her. Nancy, a prostitute part of Fagin’s band discovers that Monks is Oliver’s half-brother and he wants to have Oliver back to get the entire inheritance that his father left. Nancy is killed by Sikes because she revealed those information to Mrs. Brownlow. Fagin, Sikes and Monks die in prison Oliver is adopted by Mrs. Brownlow and can finally enjoy a peaceful and happy life. THEMES - Different social levels in London Lower-middle-class  insensible to the feelings of the poor Criminal world poverty drives people to crime Victorian middle class respectable people, principles of human dignity - Workhouses Iniquity of Poor Law of 1834 (public charity was to be administered through workhouses). Conditions were harsh and the only alternative was a life of crime and prostitution [Dickens had a personal experience of poverty as an exploited worker in a factory, because his father was in prison for debts] - Morality and happy ending Young Oliver is a child with a pure heart and determined spirit Oliver’s happy ending comes as a result of the discovery of his true identity Cruelty and hypocrisy of Victorian England I want some more There is a tall boy who is very hungry and threatened to eat the boy sleeping next to him. A council was held and Oliver was extracted to go to the master and ask for more food. The master takes Oliver to Mr. Limbkins that decides to isolate Oliver. The day after is posted outside of the workhouse a poster offering 5 pounds to any man who would take Oliver as an apprentice CONTRASTS: between the children (starved to hunger) and the master (fat and healthy man); between the long prayers and the small amount of food DICKENS AND VERGA Wrote the living conditions of the children of the poor Bleak house - Charles Dickens Urban novelist description of slums housing, property speculations, overcrowded graveyards, contagious deceases and educational needs of children Omniscient and obtrusive (gives opinions) narrator Jo (protagonist) can’t read and identify himself more similar to the beasts than to humans, he feels alone in a world he couldn’t understand Rosso Malpelo – Giovanni Verga The story of a boy who works in a sand mine. Rosso is a fatherless boy Verga’s innovative technique is to present him by the eyes of the community, who sees the boy as nothing more than a brute unworthy of any consideration HARD TIMES Set in a fictional town called Coketown where Thomas Gradgrind brings up his two children Luisa and Tom to believe in facts and to reject any form of imagination and enjoyment. He has his daughter marry Josiah Bounderby, a factory owner in which factory worked Tom, 30 years older than the girl. Luisa’s marriage is very unhappy and she runs back to her family. Mr Gradgrind understand his mistake and protects Luisa. Tom (the son) became a dishonest and selfish man who steals money from Bounderby’s bank accusing Stephen, an innocent man working in the Bounderby’s factory. Gradgrind and Luisa, get Tom out of the country. At the end, Mr Gradgrind is extremely changed and devotes himself to helping the poor, while Luisa finds happiness in the love of her friends and family and Mr Bounderby dies alone in the streets of Coketown. MR GRADGRIND supporter of UTILITARIANISM philosophy: what creates the material happiness for the greatest number of people [Grinds intellectually his children] THEMES: - Contrast between the conditions of life of rich and poor denounce the gap between the rich and the poor and criticized the materialism illustrate the danger of allowing the humans to became like machines - Attacked Utilitarianism : exclude the full development of the individual forced into conformity through hard discipline 3 BOOKS: 1. Show the seeds planted by the Gradgrind education 2. Reveals the harvesting [raccolto] of these seeds 3. Gives the details Nothing but facts Mr Gradgrind’s material education depriving children of their critical abilities [square as a brick] Depersonalize individuals to have people who can only interpret facts (fundamental in life)