Oliver Twist Essays - English-language Films,

Oliver Twist Charles Dickens, probably one of the most popular writer and humorist of his century was born at Landport in Portsea, on February seventh, 1812. His father, John Dickens was a clerk in a navy-pay office, and mother Elizabeth Borrow, along with his eight other siblings, which the other two died in infancy, lived in Portsea, and were fairly poor. Because of the arising poverty in his life time, Charles Dickens was forced to work as a child laborer when he was just twelve year of age. Although Charles Dickens faced many challenges in his young life, his love for writing dominated all of the challenges he faced in life. Perhaps, his book, Oliver Twist, was about, well, mainly about his life as a child. Although Dickens wrote Oliver Twist while he was finishing The Pickwick Papers and editing Bentley's Miscellany, he managed to make the novel remarkable for it's clarity of purpose and it's sustained intensity(The Cambridge guide to Literature in English; Ian Ousby). The story that lies behind the infamous story of a little orphan boy named Oliver is very different from his other previous novels. Other critics say that Oliver Twist is barely a novel, but more as a satire or sarcasm about the victorian era. First of all, the story begins with a young woman who gave birth to a boy whom they named Oliver. The young woman did not even have any time to hold her new born, but just in time to kiss him, then shortly died after that, the boy on the other hand survived, not knowing what kind of twist and turn his life would take as he grows and faces the real world. As the boy grew in a very vain and cruel environment, his turns in life was not going too good either. Having the parish not enough facilities for his care, Oliver was forced to move and work as a child laborer and in the care of a very greedy woman named Mrs. Mann. Child labor was very common back then, and there was an actual law that was set to eliminate poverty by starving the poor, that was called the Poor Law of 1834.(The Life of Charles Dickens;John Forester) Dickens used this law in his story to satarize the living in London, in the 19th century, and probably because he experienced child labor when he was growing up, and therefore tried to emphazise the way he lived back then. As soon as Oliver turned nine years old, Mr. Bumble, the beadle of the parish which where Oliver was born, took Oliver with him to work as an oakum picker. But because of the increasing of poverty, Oliver and the other workers were only fed little pieces of food. In the midst of starvation, one of Oliver's friend pursued Oliver to ask for some more food, and by that, Oliver was taken to a dark room for a week for his "disrespectfulness." Perhaps, Dickens was trying to tell the readers how the life of a poor boy be so unimportant to those who dominates him, and thus the other children living in povety also. This challenge of Oliver's life is just preparing him for the other eventful changes in his immediate future. Soon after, a reward was posted on a board for anyone who would like to take an orphan boy to their care, and will be offered five-pounds. Mr. Gamfield was willing to accept the boy for a bribe of five-pounds, but because of his bad publicity, meaning he had already lost the lives of several of his apprentices, he was told to be paid three- pounds and ten-shillings, instead of the five-pounds that was promised. Mr. Gamfield agreed to the proposition, and so did the board. Later, brought before a local judge for approval that Oliver was to be cared by Mr. Gamfield, the near sighted judge, searching for his ink bottel, caused him to look at the frightened face of Oliver, and then quickly realized that he would do something wrong if he let Oliver go with Mr. Gamfield, dropped and refused to sign the papers of approval, and told Oliver to return to the workhouse where the offering of five-pounds to anyone that

Heart Of Darkness Essays (612 words) - Congo Free State,

Heart Of Darkness The contrast between Kurtz's intended and black mistress The Heart of Darkness is a story about a man telling a tale of an adventure that he had on the Congo River. During this adventure he meets a guy named Kurtz. Kurtz was congregating with a tribe of people who worshiped him and did what ever he told them to do. Kurtz was a very special person in the way he influenced the feelings of two very different, but somewhat similar women. Among this tribe of savages was a woman that was said to have been Kurtz's mistress. Back home he had a woman who he was supposed to marry. Kurtz's black mistress and intended were two very different people, from different places, who shared the same devotion towards him even though there were many obstacles in the way of their love. Kurtz's intended was from the city and was well off with money. Kurtz's black mistress was in a tribe of savages in Africa. She to was well off in her possessions. You could tell she was well off or important in the things she wore and the way that Marlow described the way she carried herself and the way the other members of the tribe watched what ever she did. In the city the intended's family labeled Kurtz as being not good enough. Marlow says that it was because, he was not rich enough or something. (p.249) This is ironic because his black mistress' tribe or family treats him like a god. Both women felt the same undying devotion to Kurtz. When Kurtz was being taken away by Marlow on his ship the tribe came running and hollering trying to get him back. The woman even entered the water with her arms stretched towards the boat. Marlow blew the whistle to scare away the tribe. This worked and even made the ones closest to the shore fall down flat on their face as if they were dead. The whistle did nothing to the woman and she remained in the water with her arms out. The whistle did not scare the woman like it did the rest of the tribe because she was devoted to Kurtz and wanted to be with him. Kurtz intended shared the same devotion towards him as the black tribal woman did. Marlow went to see her, a year after the death of Kurtz, and she was still in mourning. The woman accepted Marlow into her home because he was a friend of Kurtz. She was glad he had visited, so she would have someone to talk to about him. She talked of how she loved him and of how he needed her. They talked of when he died and she got upset. She said, And I was not with him.(p.251) She said she would have treasured everything he did and said. Marlow tells her that he was with him till the end and that he heard his last words. She wanted to know what they were and said, Repeat them?I want-I want-something-something-to-to live with.(p.251) She says this so Marlow will tell her his last words. He tells her that his last words were her name. This makes her feel good and at the same time makes her weep in her hands. Kurtz played an important role in the lives of both women and had a tremendous impact on the way they loved him. Both women were very different and at the same time very similar in the way they loved Kurtz. Both went through very tramadic experiences to show their undying love for him.