Realism in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist1.IntroductionBeing one of the most prominent critical realists in the 19th century, Charles Dickens gave us a vivid picture of Victorian times. In Dickens’ whole life, he composed lots of works. His works are characterized by literal attacks on social evils, unfairness, and hypocrisy. In Oliver Twist, Dickens attempted to reveal the cruel, unfair, and corrupt society under the control of the capitalist and aroused the society’s concern to the weak groups, including the children, the women and the old.There are many definitions of realism. For example，it is a practical understanding and acceptance of the actual nature of the world, rather than an idealized or romantic view of it; or as opposed to nominalism, the doctrine that genera and species are real things or entities, existing independently of our conceptions.2. Critical realism in Oliver TwistCritical realism is any doctrine reconciling the real, independent, objective nature of the world with a due appreciation of the mind-dependence of the sensory experiences whereby we know about it. In Victorian times, the broad masses lived under severe conditions. As Dickens put it, the poor chose between “being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick o ne out of it.” It is the society, the government that should be responsible for it. No one can escape from their unfortunate fate; no one can break away from these continuous sufferings; and no one can flee from these bottomless abysses.2.1 Criticism of the capitalist societyOliver Twist was famous for exposing the dark sides of people lived out that time (Lu Jianguo 40). The misfortunes of the characters in Oliver Twist had a deep connection to the society. The corruption and indifference of the society made their people not get rid of their misfortunes. The harder they tried to break away from it, the more cost they should pay.In the Victoria capitalist society, there was a big conflict between the upper class and the lower class. No matter how bad the condition the lower class was in, the upper class didn’t do anything helpful to make it better. The hard life made the poor choose an unlawful way or unmoral way to survive, while in some degree, this provided another means to those oppressors who could never satisfy their own desires. On the other side, the corruption of the upper class made the poor’s life harder. The conflicts between the upper class and the lower class reflected the terrible conditions of the society at that time. It was the society that should take the responsibility of it.Besides, the society should be responsible for the death of its people. The capitalist society contributed to the corruption of the capitalist charity. Dickens gives a truthful presentation of the suffering of the poor and oppressed, and makes a bitter and complete exposure of the terrible conditions on the English workhouse of the time and the brutality and corruption of the oppressors under the mask of philanthropy (胡荟桐284). In the workhouse, the poor didn't receive the treatment the offices declared before. And the children, either in the baby-farm or in the workhouse, were never treated well. While in the baby-farm, the children could never feed themselves full even one time. The situation in the workhouse was no better than that of the baby-farm. The result of Oliver’s asking for more porridge was the ruthless treatment of the charity organization. These irresponsible actions of the charity organization fully reveal ed its corruption and hypocrisy.2.2 Criticism of the law system and the educational systemDickens’ criticism firstly focused on the law system. The injustice of the law system was one of his main critical contents (赵炎秋49). In 1834 the new Poor Law was passed. In accordance with it, the new poor-house was established, known as the workhouse. As noted by Fang Cunzhong, “The indigent were no longer objects of charity, but were collected in the prison-like buildings, the Poor Law Bastilles, administered by the officials who had no education an d often no sympathy with the people under their care”(178). Oliver Twist was born in the workhouse while his mother died there. Whoever lived in this workhouse would take their underline to survive for the conditions there were really severe. Just as Dickens said in the novel "And with this, the old lady applied herself to warming up, in a little saucepan, a basin full of broth strong enough to furnish an ample dinner, when reduced to the regulation strength, for the three hundred and fifty paupers, at the lowest computation" (119). Although this description was a little exaggerated, it revealed how terrible the living condition was in the workhouse.Education is an important aspect in one’s process of growth. To be a civilized person or an unprincipled person, even worse, to be a criminal person have closely related with one’s education, including family education, school education and the society education. 2.4 Criticism of the money worshipThere are lots of desires through one’s whole life. If one can n ot balance the desire of oneself very well, it would bring misfortune to others, even to themselves. Besides the evil feeling it may bring to oneself, the worship of money can bring misfortune to others too. The old woman Lisa suffered from the sense of guilt all her life. Even before her death, she could not unload this guilty feeling. It was her evil doing that made Oliver totally a bastard and suffer a lot of humiliation. If at the beginning Lisa didn’t conceal the ring belonging to that pity woman, Oliver might lead a completely different life.2.5 Criticism of the individualismIn the Victorian times, the capitalists believed that society can run smoothly if individuals search for their own benefits. If all the public held this idea, no one could foresee what the individuals would do to satisfy their own desire.Ironically, this clearest pronunciation of individualism came not from a legitimate businessman, but from Fagin, who operated in the illegal businesses of theft and prostitution. In order to meet his own interest, Fagin misled several generations of children to do the criminal actions, such as stealing the stuff from others, blackmailing the child who was on the shopping road. It was Fagin’s searching for his individualism that led to many childr en’s unfortunate fate.3. Romantic realism in Oliver TwistRomantic Realism is an aesthetic term that usually refers to art that deals with the themes of volition and value while also acknowledging objective reality and the importance of technique. Dickens is such a great writer who is characterized by his perfect combination of realism with romanticism in writing, forming his unique artistic style—mixture of the realistic and the widely improbable (Yan xiaoru 84). In this novel, it reveals many aspects of romantic realism.It was just like Dickens himself once mentioned, what he cared was to express his own moral concepts rather than seek perfect truth. Under such notions, he used romantic realism largely in his novels. Oliver Twist is one of these novels which reveal much of Dickens’ early romanticism. Lots of imaginations and exaggerations were used in his works. Dickens used a great variety of writing techniques in his novels. In Oliver Twist, it fully reveals Dickens’ early optimism through the whole novel. From this angle, it is reasonable to say that Charles Dickens is a romantic realist rather than a critical realist. Romantic Realism shows in Oliver Twist at 5 phases：Coincidence of the plot，the use of individual language，d ickens’ sympathetic imagin ation to the characters in the novel，the comparison between the different color tones and the comparison of the different characters’ personalities4. ConclusionAs one of the most outstanding novelists of England in the 19th century, Charles Dickens occupied a unique place in the world’s literatur e. His novels are famous for their extensive content, varied style, vivid description and profound meaning. They have a great impact on the other countries’ literatur e. Dickens’ writings were extensively popular in the world，so were the children’s books adapted from his works. Many forms of interpretation of his books were circulated in the world nowadays and his works have already beeninterpreted in many editions in China.Oliver Twist was Charles Dickens’ sec ond novel, by which he led the readers into a real but a horrible underworld. He criticized the corruption and brutality of the oppressors and shows great sympathy to the poor and oppressed. Therefore, he held a strong desire for change in his society. So there was a critical tone in this novel. But under the influence of The British Chartism, Dickens held positive attitudes toward England society (谭燧157). Being dreadful of violence and bloodshed, he did n’t agree to change the condition of the society through revolution. He was a reformist. He criticized capitalism and continuously exposed the corruption of the society, but he did not want to overthrow it. He hoped this situation can be changed through education and reform. He wanted to change it in a mild way. Thus, in his novel, there was a romantic tone.Charles Dickens is a writer of critical realism and romantic realism. The novel, Oliver Twist, exposed his critical realism and romantic realism deeply. As critical realism has been discussed a lot by many scholars, the romantic realism is made to be the innovative part in this paper. This paper first discusses the critical realism, and then introduces the romantic realism. The innovative part is explained through many aspects, such as the use of the individual language, the sympathetic imagination to the characters, and the comparison of the different characters’ personalities and so on. The discussion of both the critical realism and romantic realism deeply shows the realism in Charles Dickens’Oliver Twist.Works Cited[1] Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist. 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