The story is more than a compelling tale: it is biting social commentary, attacking the terrible conditions that the English masses had to endure in the first half of the 19th century; it is especially critical of the unfair Poor Law.
I've seen a few versions of Oliver but, to tell you the truth, I didn't read the novel yet... I guess that will be my project for the weekend.
So long my friends,
Evalina
I have never read the novel---I remember playing the soundtrack from oliver the movie-over and over!
ReplyDeleteYes, Dickens was so much more than just a story teller - he was an astute observer of the world around him and not afraid to write it like he saw it.
ReplyDeleteGreat choice. Dickens really was ahead of his times for his attitudes to the poor. His stories which were serialised in the popular papers of the time really raised awareness of what was going on behind the scenes. Shocking to think that workhouses were still open when my grandmother was young, one of her uncles died in one. I wonder what Dickens would make of food banks being so necessary in our modern world?
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, the musical Oliver is one of my favourites, we performed it at school.
I have never read it either, it always sounded horribly depressing... which is not necessarily a problem with a book, but you have to be in the mood for it :)
ReplyDelete@TarkabarkaHolgy from
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I've only watched the films. Like you, several of them. It was a very harsh world they lived in.
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