Realism in Romance: A Look at Health-, Penal- and Labor Issues in Oliver Twist

Realism in Romance: A Look at Health-, Penal- and Labor Issues in Oliver Twist



Charles Dickens was born in 1812 to John and Elizabeth Dickens. In 1822, after years of living in idyllic conditions, John was transferred to London for work, and it is here that Charles encountered poverty for the first time. Entranced by the busy and dirty streets of London and the conditions people were living in, he was known to skip school in order to ‘discover’ the city. Things turned for the worse though, when John could no longer afford to pay his bills and he sent Charles to work at Warren’s Boot Blacking Factory and even then John Dickens was placed in Debtors prison with the rest of the family. Only Charles seemed to be able to avoid this, and then only to be alone and very poor. At the age of 12 he was now fending for himself on the streets, determined to earn back everything that he had lost. Eventually Charles got work as a legal clerk and from there became a reporter.[1]
His history, like so many others of his day influenced the way he wrote. However, unlike other Victorian authors, Charles had a deeper understanding of the problems facing England’s society at the time having lived through most of the events he wrote about. The issues that he and so many others took onto themselves varied. Everything from labor issues to Parliament reform. They were all about change and how it wasn’t happening fast enough. They were concerned with the plight of the lower classes and that there was not enough being done to help those who had less money and/or were not aristocratic. Writing turned out to be one of the avenues used in order to gain support, or at least inform people on the broader scale on what conditions in certain areas of the country truly were like.
The majority of the readership of novels and newspapers were the upper classes. This was because they were the only ones with the time and money to read, and in some cases also the ones that could read as the rate of literacy at the time was still quite low. Therefore writing turned into an appropriate medium to reach a wide audience.
However, as well as informing people at the time there were a large number of people who critiqued Dickens’ work. They called it unrealistic and Romantic with too much melodrama to be other than it is. This does not mean that the novel fulfilled it’s duty: to entertain and enlighten, but it allowed for people to turn a blind eye and take it as fiction. A great example of this conundrum is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. It is not a realistic novel, but it incorporates realistic elements, such as health and Sanitation-, penal- and labor issues that Effected England in the 1800s. Therefore, though it is a melodramatic romance, it has a realistic layer underneath it.


Sanitation and health were problems people living in 19th century England faced. In the 1840s a public sanitary reform ensued which resulted in an acts being passed in the late 1840s. Dickens believed in the importance of good sanitation, and mentioned it in most of his novels. After coming to London Oliver quickly finds himself in the rooms of Fagin, which are described: “It was a dirty place. The rooms upstairs had great high wooden chimney-pieces and large doors, with paneled walls and cornices to the celing, which, although they were black with neglect and dust, were ornamented in various ways; from all of which tokens Oliver concluded that a long time ago, before the old Jew was born, it belonged to better people, and had perhaps been quite gay and handsome, dismal and dreary as it looked now.”[2] This is an example of what conditions were like inside homes. However, surprisingly enough, it is not Fagin, or one of the boys that ever gets ill in the novel. Sikes does fall ill, and considering the condition that Fagin lives in, Sikes and Nancy cannot live much better. Sikes also mentions that he has been sick for three weeks. Though we do not know the cause of his illness we can assume that if he were living in more sanitary conditions he might have recovered earlier. Lucky for Oliver, he seems to become unwell after leaving the horrid conditions and going somewhere where sanitation is of higher importance. For instance when Oliver gets sick and is brought to the house of Mr. Brownlow, or that after being shot he is taken in by Mrs. and Miss Maylie. In each time he is brought to an environment that is healthier for him and does not allow for contamination to spread.
The conditions of the streets also give pause. “Crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes with which to look upon the slime beneath; windows broken and patched, with poles thrust out on which to dry the linen that is never there; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud, and threatening to fall into it, as some have done; dirt besmeared walls and decaying foundations; every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage;- all these ornament the banks of folly ditch.”[3] It is of a comedic nature to state here that the mayor of London at the time was not only unaware of the condition of Jacob’s Island (mentioned above), but he also disbelieved its existence. It seems romantic, as if a foreign country, but Jacob’s Island is truly a section of London and did indeed suffer as badly as mentioned. Because of how casually Dickens creates ironical twists to injury, illness, and dirt in the rest of the novel, chapter 50 can be easily looked over as another one of his ironical and fictitious writings. It was only after the publication of Oliver Twist in the 1930s that the Sanitary Act was passed (1866). It was “a response to the failure of previous legislation and allowed action to be taken against local authorities providing inadequate sewer services and water supply. It called for comprehensive sewerage and water connection of all houses, street cleaning and legislated against overcrowding, to be enforced by Sanitary Inspectors.”[4]

The penalty for breaking the law was harsh. Also, there was no difference made between penalties for adults or children, as criminals were considered born into what they were. They also believed that there was little, if not no, way to nurture criminals in such a way that they would be able to resist a life of crime. Because of the way that Dickens handles criminals in the novel it is obvious to see that he does not believe in the theories that previously dominated society. He seems to twist humor into most, if not all sections of the novel pertaining to crime, penalties, prison, or hanging. The police officers, magistrates, and constables are caricatures and are usually made fun of in some way or another. For example, when Oliver lays injured in the home of Miss Maylie and the constables arrive to arrest him, the doctor keeps our hero from being arrested. However, the way this is done makes fools of the constables without them realizing it and then when they look at him oddly, he dares them to disagree with him.[5]
Dickens’ characters make light of what could be waiting for them throughout the novel. Hanging for instance is taken as much in humor as a warning. “’He’ll come to be scragged won’t he?’ ‘I don’t know what that means,’ replied Oliver. ‘Something in this way, old feller,’ said Charley. As he said it, Master Bates caught up an end of his neckerchief, and holding it erect in the air, dropped his head on his shoulder, and jerked a curious sound through his teeth; thereby indicating, by a lively pantomimic representation, that scragging and hanging were one and the same thing.”[6] This is another prime example why this novel is a romance. Even though the realistic elements are intertwined, the morbidity of the novel corresponds more to a romance than it does to a realistic text. Even the accidental hanging of Sikes at the end of the novel plays into this, as it seems very unrealistic that he could accidentally hang himself, however, Fagin’s real ending comes to the reader much more possible. This is also why the novel first discusses Fagin and only then turns to Sikes. By having the accidental hanging at the end of the novel, the author allows for the reader to put down the book with a feeling of stepping back towards reality. If the novel had ended with Fagin, the reader would have been more ready to believe that the actions taking place were of a more nonfiction nature.

The conditions that people had to work in were very bad as well. Dickens was a strong supporter of labor reform, especially those that pertained to children. Oliver’s life is typical of an orphan of his age. Orphans from poor families were sent to work houses and had to labor at a very young age. Only orphans from rich families could be put in orphanages. One of the most common occupations for children was with machinery, where they could replace or fix things that were really small. Also coal mining was often where poor children were sent to work. The conditions were awful and incredibly dangerous. A well documented case is that of “The young girls who worked in the match factories run by Bryant and May endured long hours and poor pay. They worked with dangerous materials such as phosphorous that could cause a disease known as 'phossy jaw' that rotted their lower jaw.”[7] For children in the country, like Oliver, things happened a little differently. People with various occupations were able to buy an orphan out of the poorhouse in order to apprentice. Children were not able to choose their apprenticeships, but rather were placed somewhere, which is unusual for Oliver. At first, Oliver is able to choose not to go with Mr. Limbkins who has a group of child chimney sweeps that he orders. “’It’s a nasty trade,’ said Mr. Limbkins, when Gamfield had again stated his wish. ‘Young boys have been smothered in chimneys before now,’ said another gentleman. ‘That’s acause they damped the straw afore they lit it in the chimbley to make ‘em come down agin,’ said Gamfield; ‘that’s all smoke, and no blase; vereas smoke aint o’ no use at all in makin’ a boy come down, for it only sinds him to sleep, and that’s wot he likes. Boys is wery obstinant, and wery lazy, gen’lemen and there ‘s nothink like a good hot blaze to make ‘em come down vith a run. It’s human, too, gen’lemen, acause, even if they’ve stuck in the chimbley, roasting their feet makes ‘em struggle to hextricate theirselves.’”[8] Here as the characters are making light of roasting feet and hextricating boys, Dickens is showing that there is little to no regard for the plight of child labor. It wasn’t until 1899 that all children had the option of going to school until the age of 12.
At the undertaker’s, though, Oliver seems to have it very well. He has a somewhat decent place to sleep, he gets meals- even though they are little more than scraps they are still more than he had previous to his employment there. Also the owner of the business treated him fairly, allowing him to go to things that he would otherwise take no one to. Therefore it can be construed that Oliver’s leaving there as seeing ‘a gift-horse in the mouth.’ It seems unrealistic that after achieving something that seems somewhat better than Oliver had before, he would choose to run away after a skirmish with Mr. Claypole, and go to London, where he has no friends, family, or connections. Even what seems like his only friend, Dick, does nothing but wish him well as he himself prepares for his death (a death that does not even happen in the novel, considering that he returns later, wanting to write a letter to Oliver giving his love.)

Realism plays a factor in this novel, however, does not take up enough of it in order to make it a realistic novel. Like the Route-Goldberg effect, one thing seems to happen after the next so rapidly, that the novel gives a romantic feel to it. The majority of the characters are two-dimensional and are caricatures, not to mention that the reader’s ability to distance him- or herself from the plot allows for the notion of a foreign place to be the backdrop. That is to say, it is as if one can still think that the events are happening elsewhere and not in London, because of the irony and unrealistic events that take place. None the less, there are a variety of elements that are based in truth. These elements predominantly surround the issues of Health and Sanitation, Penal law, and Labor. Dickens clearly gives his opinion within each issue of reform and cleverly hides information within entertaining tales. Each chapter deals with at least one of the three issues and each character flirts with them as well.
When it comes to Health, one sees how bad the conditions of the time really are. He places people live and their ability to recover from illness. Also, one sees how certain areas of London are so bad that they are almost detrimental to live in. Change in the Penal system was important to Dickens as seen in his constant bringing up of it. Also the way that Fagin is treated towards the end of the novel. However, more than just the way in which things are done have to be changed, as Dickens asks people to rethink their position on nature and nurture when it comes to criminals. Finally, Labor laws needed to be reevaluated. Because of Dickens’ experience with these laws he felt that they would have to be altered so that others would not be put in the same situation that he was in. This includes how children are used as well as for what occupations.
Clearly this is a novel based on personal truth and strife that has managed to bring the plights of the middle and lower class to the parlor of higher classes. By doing this, Charles Dickens has managed to create a name that transcends literature into politics, and history. The changes that occurred after his rule of the English language will be forever engrained in English society. When Dickens died in 1870 at the age of 58 his epitaph in Westminster was appropriately positioned stating: "He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world".[9]



Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992

Fisher, Julie & Cotton, Andrew. Learning from the Past: Delivery of water and sanitation services to the poor in nineteenth century Britain. WEDC, 2005, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/Publications/Briefing%20Notes/BN%20Learning.htm

London’s Children in the 19th century. The Museum of London, 2003, http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/wc/world_city_6.htm

The Charles Dickens Page. 1997. http://charlesdickenspage.com

Guide to Westminster, City Of London Press, leaflet.
[1] The Charles Dickens Page. 1997. http://charlesdickenspage.com
[2] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pgs 114-115
[3] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pgs 329-330
[4] Julie Fisher and Andrew Cotton. Learning from the Past: Delivery of water and sanitation services to the poor in nineteenth century Britain. WEDC, 2005, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/Publications/Briefing%20Notes/BN%20Learning.htm


[5] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pgs 199-200
[6] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pg 117
[7] London’s Children in the 19th century. The Museum of London, 2003, http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/wc/world_city_6.htm
[8] Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992, pg 16
[9] Guide to Westminster, City Of London Press