Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens

Reviewed by Aiden Behrmann

Charles Dickens wrote the novel Oliver Twist during the time when England was expanding and becoming more powerful in the world. It was a time when some people were getting ahead and becoming very rich while others were becoming very poor and jobs were hard to find on the farms where machines were taking their place. Many people moved to the cities to look for work. For those with no work and no money there were few places they could go to get help; and those places were not very caring. Oliver Twist was born at this time in the middle of winter in a workhouse. His father was unknown and his mother died in childbirth; he was alone in the world with no money or hope.
The way Dickens describes the first nine years of Oliver’s life highlights how little value was placed upon poor children at that time. There was very little help for the poor and the people who were supposed to care for them, often abused them.
Oliver grew up in the workhouse under the “care” of Mrs. Mann and the man in charge Mr. Bumble. He was mistreated and unloved and was forced to work long hours for very little food. At age nine, thin and undernourished, Oliver drew the short straw and was sent by the other starving boys to ask Mr. Bumble for a second helping of food. Shaking from fear, Oliver uttered his famous line, “Please, sir, I want some more." Deemed to be ungrateful, Oliver was apprenticed to Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker, who treats him cruelly. As a result, Oliver ran away towards London.
In London Oliver meets a boy named Jack Dawkins or The Artful Dodger who says that Oliver can live with him at a gentleman’s place where he will be well taken care of. The old gentleman, Fagin, is a notorious criminal who trains young boys to become pickpockets. Oliver, in his innocence, is grateful to join this gang where he feels welcome.
When Oliver is sent out with the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates to pick pockets, he is shocked to learn what is really going on and he is caught and brought before the magistrate who convicts him and sentences him to jail. What happens next makes Oliver happy for the first time in his life, but how long will this last?
After reading the novel Oliver Twist, things that I once took for granted, such as my education and my freedom, I now treasure. I learnt from this book about the lower class, and their resentment and jealousy of the upper class, the upper class, and how most of them took things for granted and how the authorities favoured the upper class.
Oliver Twist is a great and sad story, with a happy ending. It showed that without love, affection, mercy and benevolence, children can not grow up properly, but with that, they can. Dickens knowledge of the times is great; especially how the different classes of people viewed each other and how children can not grow up into proud and successful people without love and someone to care for them.

Goodnight Mister Tom

Goodnight Mister Tom is set in the middle of World War Two between September 1939-1941. William Beech, the protagonist of the novel is sent to the village of Little Weirwold where he finds Mr. Thomas Oakley, a recluse. Mr. Thomas Oakley became a recluse as a result of his wife and child passing away from Scarletina, an infectious disease. The death of his wife and child had such a huge impact on him that he isolated himself at home for 40 years. He did not socialize due to their deaths.

Prior to William Beech stepping on Mr. Thomas Oakley’s doorstep, he was continuously punished and beaten up by his religious mother. Her cold-hearted attitude made William feel unwanted and useless. When William showed up to Thomas’ house he had bruises and marks all over his body from his mother. Mr. Thomas Oakley cared, dressed and fed William till he was told to go back to his mother because she was ‘sick’. At this point in the novel, Michelle Magorian makes the reader feel sympathetic for William and we know that the mother has evil intentions of William returning back home.

Goodnight Mr. Tom is a story of Willie's recovery from severe abuse that is given an unusually rich and vivid setting. The novel reads like a page- turner, when Tom journeys to London to find Willie. Goodnight Mr. Tom is grim and horrifying. The novel is also very descriptive and if you are a good reader and interested in the Second World War then this is the sort of book for you to read. Goodnight Mr. Tom is a very good book and it includes sadness as well as adventure. I think that most people who read this book will enjoy it and I certainly recommend it. I don’t recommend this book for young children; I don’t think that they will understand it a lot. Overall I rate this book an 8 out of 10.

Double Crossing by Eve Tal

Raizel and her father leave their poverty-stricken life and their beloved family in Russia to make a new life in America. But although they are leaving behind their fear of pogroms, other fears grip them as they head into an uncertain future.
Papa’s illness on board ship is an immediate problem to be faced, as new immigrants must pass health checks at Ellis Island before they are allowed into the country. Raizel’s scholarly father must also battle the temptations to abandon some of his religious practices in order to acclimatise to life in America. The usual meaning of ” double crossing” , that someone has been cheated or betrayed, can be applied to Raizel’s father who never imagined how the Jewish life that was so precious to him would present so many difficulties after he left his little home village.
Timid Raizel develops into a tough and feisty character, as responsibilities and decision-making fall to her while her father is ill.
The author explores the issue of retaining one’s culture in a new land and while she writes about a Jewish family at the turn of the last century, Raizel’s experiences have much in common with immigrants in other places and times.
The author continues the story of Raizel and her family in “Cursing Columbus”.