2. “ ‘The Old Story’ and Inside Stories: Modish Fiction and Fictional Modes in Oliver Twist” By: Robert Tracy

3. Presented By  Josh King  Rachel Miller  Robert Ulis  Rachel Weaver

4. Oliver who?  Connoisseur of stories: the Doctor  By the end of the novel, the reader feels as if they have just read a different story.

5. What’s in a Name?  Dickens often times uses the names of his characters to indicate their personality or profession  Swubble  Unwin  Mr. Bumble  Artful Dodger

6. Hidden Twists  Oliver’s surname has a variety of denotations in itself: - To hang - A story or yarn - to eat heartily  Connotations usually are negative, associated with perversion.

7. To be or not to be…  It is believed that Oliver Twist was not intended to a be a novel at first.  Perhaps part of the “Mudfog Papers” that Dickens contributed to Bently’s.

8. Parish Boy’s Progress?  Because of Dickens’s extraordinary writing, the meandering of the storyline is often times overlooked.  The plot never really develops, but changes direction.

9. Workhouse  The novel opens with the discussion of little Oliver’s experiences in a workhouse.  After he has had all that he can handle, Oliver runs away from Mr. Bumble and Mr. Sowerberry.

10. London Streets  Fagin and the Artful Dodger attempt to make Oliver a criminal, thus completing the second plot.  Mr. Brownlow attempts to remove Oliver from the streets, but he is taken again.  Plot culminates with Oliver’s being shot during the burglary.

11. The Missing Plot…  Jewel box of mystery…  It appears that Dickens was going to throw in another twist to the plot, but changed his mind.

12. Intermission  After being shot, Oliver disappears for four chapters.  Mr. Bumble finds himself a wife in Mrs. Corney.  The death of an old midwife throws light onto an almost improbable circumstance preceding Oliver’s birth.

13. Family Secrets  A mysterious man who goes by the name of Monks enters the scene with a strong desire to see Oliver turned into a criminal.

15. Monks’s and Oliver’s Parentage  Dickens may have added this plot as a way to stretch the story to novel length  “He abandons the satire of early chapters and the realistic drama of the Fagin chapters, for melodrama.”

16. Harry and Rose Maylie  Dickens again changes the plot to include the story of Harry and Rose.  “…weakness emphasizzed by Rose’s nearly fatal illness and Harry’s nearly thwarted courtship.”

17. Nancy  Oliver virtually disappears  Foreshadowed when she defends Oliver after his recapture  Nancy becomes the “chief opponent” of Monks and Fagin when she eavesdrops  She becomes the “principle of Good surviving through every adverse circumstance…”

18.  Originally, when she appeared in the pages of Bently’s, she wore a red gown, green boots, and yellow curl-papers, which Dickens removes from her to surpress her vulgarity

19. Nancy’s Conversion  “The emergence of her suppressed better self”  “More believable than Oliver’s instinctive good virtue and gentlemanly ideals…”  “Nancy offered Dickens a greater opportunity for sustaining and developing his story.”  Nancy’s devotion to Sikes may be paralleled to the story of “The Hospital Patient,” which describes a girl who is dying because her lover beats her, but she can’t give his name because she still loves him.

20. Change in Direction Two factors contributed to the the change of direction in the plot of Oliver Twist:  Dickens’s illustrator George Cruikshank

21.  His awareness of contemporary modes of fiction - Begins with grim tale of workhouse life, then goes to story of petty criminals, which moves into a story of “a lost heir and a fiendish brother” and ends with the death of Nancy. - “In effect, Dickens explored virtually every aspect of his new profession while writing – or teaching himself to write – Oliver Twist.”

22. Fagin  Dickens uses the story of Fagin and his way of controlling the boys to illustrate the way Cruikshank tried to control the novel  He also uses Fagin to demonstrate his fear that the novel will become a type, rather than an original work

23.  Finally, Fagin represents Dickens’s uneasiness of writing fiction.

24. George Cruikshank  The most popular illustrator in England  Employed to illustrate for Sketches by Boz for publication  Dickens admired Cruikchank and even suggested his name on the title, like “Sketches by Boz and Cuts by Cruikshank”

25.  Known for his portraits of grimness and despair  Dickens’s novel after Cruikshank’s drawings were mostly prison related and often had parallel characters to Oliver Twist  Dickens eventually became tired of Cruikshank’s suggestions for the novel - In fact, Dickens even said, “I positivey object to his touching it.”

26. Teamwork  At first Dickens was thrilled, but Cruikshank’s constant suggestions eventually annoyed him

27.  There were many disagreements about how the novel should progress and even about Oliver’s name. Cruikshank wanted him to be called Frank Foundling or Frank Steadfast.  “He forced Dickens, ‘with great difficulty,’ to provide a scene in the condemned cell at Newgate.

28.  Dickens didn’t want a picture of Sikes’s escape because, he said, it would be too difficult, but Cruikshank proved him wrong by depicting it wonderfully in a scene called “The Last Chance.”

29.  The final argument was over two more pictures that were already engraved and bound when Dickens returned  Cruikshank even took credit for many of the characters and incidents of Oliver Twist - Claimed to have created Fagin, the Artful Dodger, etc., and many of the incidents that occured

30. Article in The Round Table  The article stated that Cruikshank had drawn many pictures of the crew from Oliver Twist, and that he had made them to represent a story in art. Also, it sated that Charles Dickens had “ferreted out that bundle of drawings” and changed the plot to be among London thieves.  Cruikshank also reported that he was “…the originator of Oliver Twist, and…all the principal characters [were his].”

32. What may be Cruikshank’s role in helping to create the story of Oliver Twist.

33. Cruikshank  Cruikshanks wants some credit for Oliver Twist, claiming that Mr. Dickens borrowed many of his ideas, illustrations, and character descriptions.

34. “Nice Pretty Boy”  Different expressions show that Dickens does seem to be changing his concept of Oliver and of his story.  Changes from a limited role to a larger role as an honest boy fallen among the thieves of London – objects of Cruikshank’s special studies.

35. Picture Perfect  Cruikshank published drawings which had figures that could possibly represent Fagin, Bumble, or many other characters from the novel.

36. Influential or Stolen?  We do not know if Dickens knew these drawings existed, or that they played any role.  Because of the popularity of Cruikshank’s work and Dickens’s admiration for it, he probably was familiar with the illustrations.

37. Cruikshank’s Version Suggested to Dickens:  Write the life of a London boy -furnish subject and characters through personal experience  Raise boy from humble position to high respectable one.

38.  Bring habits and manners of London thieves up front for public to see  Boy should fall among thieves, but honesty and natural good disposition should get him through

39.  Dickens agreed to act on suggestions but differed as to what sort of boy the hero should be.

40. Who’s In Charge?  Cruikshank often made suggestions about the development of the story  Dickens sometimes followed them, but more often ignored or drastically altered them

41. Parallelism  Fagin’s eagerness to shape and control Oliver’s destiny  Cruikshank’s efforts to control Dickens’s book

42. Fagin  Creator of fiction in many ways  Red hair, red beard - Traditionally Jewish characteristics in 18 th - 19 th century - Red coloring associated with the Devil

44. Newgate Novel  Dickens seems to shift away from the Newgate novel mode after the robbery  But he introduces an almost “miniature Newgate novel in Mr. Blathers’ account of Conkey Chickweed.”

45.  Dickens can be credited with the destruction of the Newgate novel  His own Barnaby Rudge is the Newgate to end all Newgates.

46. Gothic Novel In the second half of Oliver Twist, Dickens shifts from the Newgate to the Gothic novel.

47. Gothic Components  A dark protagonist who is ultimately both doomed and damned is found in Fagin  A passive hero-victim threatened by death is Oliver  Elaborate plots and deceits, the half-ruined tenements where Fagin and his gang lurk, and the mean streets all represent ruinous and labyrinthine settings often found in Gothic novels

48. Monks Monks is a predominately Gothic character demonstrated in his  Appearance: pale face, dark hair and eyes, and peculiar scar or mark around his throat insinuate that he has survived a hanging or is the ghost of a hanged man.

49.  Association: - association with Fagin, a demon or tempter - carries a supernatural aura that brings about an atmosphere of haunting and terror - wanted to turn Oliver into a criminal, not for gain as Fagin would do, but to destroy him

50. Final Thoughts  Oliver’s unknown identity falls into the Gothic novel as well  Gothic novels often had twists at the end, much like the one in Oliver Twist

51. More Final Thoughts  Dickens makes use of two novel genres in Oliver Twist: - Newgate : If Fagin had been the author, he would have written a romance involving Oiver in the Newgate style. - Gothic : If Monks had been the author, he would have created a Gothic thriller with Oliver the unhappy victim.

52. In short, using both genres together allowed Dickens to create a novel not to be placed in a category, but to be in a class all of its own.

53. THE END

54. Any Questions?