Oliver Twist - Book Summary
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Visit us at www.gradesaver... to read the full video transcript and our study guide for this classic novel, which includes a full list of characters, themes, and much more.
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, is a novel set in 19th-century Victorian England. A young-orphan boy is raised in a workhouse outside of London and is eventually taken in by thieves. The novel critiques the unjust consequences of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which took away the rights of citizenship from paupers and assigned them to workhouses.
Oliver is born in a workhouse to an unknown mother who dies in childbirth. He is first taken to a terrible orphanage, but when he is nine, he is sent back to the workhouse, where all the boys suffer harsh treatment and near starvation. One day, the boys draw straws to choose who will ask for more food. When Oliver loses, he must beg for “more” after his first serving of gruel and is banished as a result. He is sent to apprentice with an undertaker named Mr. Sowerberry, but runs away after suffering further neglect and the unkindness of a boy named Noah Claypole. Noah ruthlessly taunts Oliver over his mother’s death.
Oliver walks towards London but grows weak. He meets a boy named Jack Dawkins, who calls himself “The Artful Dodger.” The Dodger promises to take Oliver to a place where a gentleman will give him free lodging and food and indeed delivers him to an apartment in London and an ugly old man named Fagin.
Fagin is the leader of a gang of boys who are all pickpockets and thieves. After Oliver is falsely accused of stealing an old gentleman’s handkerchief, Oliver is arrested, but a bookseller who witnessed the theft testifies in court that he saw another boy commit the crime. In sympathy, the old gentleman whose handkerchief was taken, Mr. Brownlow, decides to take Oliver in.
Oliver is overjoyed with Mr. Brownlow, but Fagin and his co-conspirators worry Oliver will give away their hiding place. One day, as Oliver is returning books for Mr. Brownlow, a young prostitute named Nancy kidnaps Oliver and takes him back to Fagin.
Next, Oliver is forced to break into a house with Bill Sikes, a vicious thief who works for Fagin. Oliver is shot by a servant, while Sikes and his partner escape, leaving Oliver in a ditch. The next day, Oliver returns to the house, where the kind owner, Mrs. Maylie, and her beautiful niece Rose, protect Oliver from the police and nurse him back to health.
Oliver slowly recovers with the generosity of his new friends and the help of a kind doctor, Mr. Losberne. When Oliver is well enough, Mr. Losberne takes him to see Mr. Brownlow, but Mr. Brownlow has left for the West Indies.
Oliver enjoys spending time with Mrs. Maylie and Rose in their country cottage. One day, however, Oliver awakens from a nightmare to find Fagin and his mysterious partner, Monks, staring at him through his window. Oliver raises the alarm, but the two men escape.
When Nancy overhears Fagin and Monks plotting against Oliver, she decides to visit Rose and reveal her discovery: Monks is Oliver’s half-brother, who wants to destroy Oliver so that he-Monks-can keep their father’s whole inheritance. However, Nancy tells Rose that she will not betray Fagin or her abusive boyfriend Sikes.
Mr. Brownlow returns to London from the West Indies. Rose privately tells Mr. Brownlow about Monks’ plot. Mr. Brownlow and Mr. Losberne then strategize about how to find Nancy so that they can learn more about Oliver’s parentage.
Nancy meets with Rose and Mr. Brownlow near the London Bridge just past midnight. Fagin is suspicious of Nancy’s covert actions and sends his new boy, Noah, Oliver’s old nemesis, to spy on her. At the bridge, Nancy tells Rose and Mr. Brownlow what Monks looks like and how to find him. However, she still refuses to betray Fagin and Sikes. Noah having overheard this conversation, reports back to Fagin and Sikes what he knows. Sikes, enraged at Nancy, beats her to death with his pistol.
Next, Monks admits to Mr. Brownlaw that he has been plotting to disinherit his half-brother, Oliver. Monks’ real name is Edward Leeford. His mother burned his father’s will immediately after his death, in an effort to disinherit his father’s mistress-Oliver’s mother Agnes. This left Oliver without any parents or financial support after Agnes died giving birth to him. Monks, who is now known to everyone as Edward, further confesses that he paid Fagin to turn Oliver into a thief in order to destroy his life. He also gave Oliver’s identity papers to Fagin for safekeeping in order to hide the truth about Oliver’s true patronage and his rightful inheritance.
Meanwhile, Sikes is on the run for Nancy’s death. An angry mob chases him down and he accidentally hangs himself after falling off a roof.
Eventually, under pressure from Mr. Brownlow, Edward testifies under oath about how he tried to swindle Oliver out of his inheritance.
Oliver is probably the most precious little gem i’ll ever read about😭
Yes 😇
@@ayanglorybirds7249same here
Nancy is the real MVP of this story
RIP Nancy!
Exactly bro
Now this may be my bias because I’m about to play this role, but Fagin takes the cake for me. The musical version not the book version. The book version can burn forever.
props for being a prostitute
Is anyone gonna talk about how AMAZING the artwork is? Tremendous work to the artist!
Ikr!
Literally!
You just saved my grade right here
Read this book, and its fascinating!! I felt very sympathetic for Oliver having a miserable life and experiencing unfortunate events for a protagonist like him. Yet it ended in peace and an happy ending. Very nice work Dickens!
Yeah,I like it
I love the ending !!!
I just read it in a day 6 chapters at school and 7 at home. In one day lol
The Maylies, Mr Brownlow and Mrs Bedwin....... It hit me SO hard, that Oliver was able to find SUCH friendships in his life towards the end of his story. All of them became a family. RIP Nancy, you will always be missed. Charles Dickens wrote a masterpiece.
today we did our final performance of oliver at our school. we've been working for MONTHS! we did 3 shows, a full house every time. i was stage crew btw. everyone did AMAZINGGGG! literally the best show we've done.
I did an Oliver Twist production, it ruined my life, stay safe guys
Our Oliver Twist show at school was my villain origin story
I've forgotten so much about this book and was challenged on my knowledge of it. Thanks for this rockin summary lol.
Just watched the 'artful dodger' and had to come back because it's a really good show but since I read oliver twist so long ago I was so confused how the switched up the narrative. For a second I thought I remembered the story wrong
IKR! While I love the Artful Dodger, I was very confused by how they portrayed Oliver. Like some sort of alternate timeline or something???
Imagine watching the artful dodger lol
Even though Oliver was lucky to have Mrs.Maylies, Dr. Losberne, and Mr Brownlow, but for most other orphan children and teenager in this world, they’re far from being lucky.
And sadly in this world there aren’t many good people like Mrs. Maylies, Dr.Losberne, and Mr. Brownlow.
Just finished this novel myself. This is a great summary. Love the images!
Thanks you actually saved my grade
One of the first English books I owned, and it was the first English book I completed reading entirely. 🥺
Just finished reading the book, I may not be the best reader but I heard his works were good so I tried it out. Got a bit confused at some parts so watching this summery after reading really helped!
Charles Dickens was a great writer
i can finally finish my work thanks!
Same lol
Same
Same here
same
Imagine finishing your work that's so faginistic
This was perfect thank goodness for this video I needed this for school
me too, i have an english test tomorrow about this book.
@@malu76123me too on Friday exam
A fairly accurate summation of the story. The book is better and far more detailed than this summation allowed. I do think that of all the characters there are none I find as villainous as Mrs. Mann and the Bumbles.
Great work of literature with unique characters, but I can see why most film adaptations have cut Monks and certain scenes. A simple narrative flow helps.
That's so Faginistic
Oliver twist is a masterpiece
Exactly, haven't read it, but will read it
Yessss
Please make a summary of Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield and Little Dorett too.
Just watched the 2005 movie, crazy how much they changed the story to fit into a movie format
The 1940s one is more accurate
I love this site and the graphics are incredible!
As a youth reading Oliver Twist in our Brown Volvo on a country road trip I believe, I was impressed and quite touched with the Chapter entitled: 'Fagan's Last Night.' I had followed the plot with comprehension and Fagan's villainy and so forth, though it was Bob who I felt had to die for murdering Nancy; Perhaps Fagan had it coming, but the way Dickens portrayed the scene and the dreadful ruminations and grief-wracked limbs, I could only feel compassion and so wish that he might live and not suffer so. I do not believe in absolutes; But in the specific case of someone like Fagan, a psychiatric ward for life would be appropriate; and capital punishment not desirable in my reasoned view.
See in the in the movie 1968 Oliver bill and Oliver escape the house and Nancy gets beaten with a stick behind the bridge also Oliver’s mum was mr brownlows niece I wish they added this in the film. this is definitely different version thanks for this 😊😊
Imagine liking that movie
I think ur channel's name is just perfect
LOL, i just noticed it
I think my channel name is perfect
rip Nancy you will be missed
Thank you so much 😊
How do you make this animations?
It's great
*these
This story is one in the world
This the best story ever i read
IMAGINEEEEEEEEEEE
My favorite character is Oliver Twist
Seem a lot better than the musical
This is the only novel I remember from my elementary school.
just finished the book. rip Nancy
and Oliver
@@christyjophy7047oliver didn't die???
@@Hxsainenjoyer yes he did
The best character imo she had the most character development
I cried reading the novel
me too I was heartbroken
There was a point during my teenage years when I was so heartbroken that I had to pause reading the rest for a few weeks.
Imagine
@@ishsadeepa9359for me I just had to stop reading, I can’t remember the context, but there was a kid who gets beat to death via shovel, and the way the book describes it was so damn disturbing to me I just had to stop. I was 10 years old.
Mr brownlow and the bookseller 🤠 1:55
The best book i had ever read is oliver twist oh!
Thanks you so much
Imagine saying thanks, that's so Faginistic
Ty so much
Now summarize Huckleberry Finn PLZ!!!! Or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
This story is very interesting
Who’s here for a test other than me…
Uhhhh yep we r
Nah man Oliver the musical
Me
Thank you
Nancy = The best
Thanks
What is the story of Oliver Twist?
You serious 💀
I'm so confused cuz the story seems kinda different in other videos. I've an exam on Oliver twist tomorrow, can you guys tell me this story is 100% accurate to the original book
Yes
i''ll give you a summary
so basically there's this guy called fagin and he's really ugly and then something happens idk
As another person who also has a exam tomorrow about oliver twist, yes it's accurate
Why is this book in the GOAT conversation? Seems like a pretty simply story to me. What's the hype?
When's he gonna publish a new book? It's been ages since the last one...
🤣🤣🤣
It's good for project?
Thank you I understand it
poor Oliver! his mom died. right @gradesaver?
😔
imagine
Oliver sorry 😔😔😔😔
Just finished playing pubg. Now let's study cuz I have an exam tomorrow
I read this book while I walk the Desert to the USA
Imagine reading this book
You're#1
Nope, they weren't sent to court he was falsely accused of stealing, so the villagers followed him, throwing rocks and sticks at him. (I have a book right now with me)
Noo he was sent to court
I have this novel in my school
Same
my favorite disney movie is based on dis book
I was watching artful dodger and I thought Oliver was the bad guy
haha yeah, I think its clever that the writers did that, and it works well
Oh poor oliver
Bro stop being Faginistic
Yeah he is very poor paapa😢
wait so in the book nancy is not pregnant tho
Today is my birthday.
2:19
I’m so sad about Nancy bro
Nancy is good
No está completa la obra ..?
neither are you
Me
wow
Ciaooooooo
Oliver twist be to nancy-thnx bi**
oliver twist looks bored