Oliver Twist

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below-bulleted outlines. Throughout your work, cite details from the novel that serve as examples and support.

1. Consider Oliver’s innate goodness—the fact that he is seemingly immune to the corrupting influence of Fagin and Sikes.

• Why does Dickens choose such a perfect child for his protagonist? (topic sentence)
• How does Oliver’s moral character highlight (or detract from) Dickens’s critique of the workhouses and poverty in general? Discuss at least three moments when Oliver’s goodness contrasts with his surroundings, using details from the text to support your ideas.
• Finally, discuss in your concluding sentence or sentences the relationship between humanity’s basic goodness and institutional corruption in the novel.

2. Consider the title of the novel and the many names and nicknames Oliver receives throughout the story (Work’us, Nolly, Leeford, etc.).

• How do names relate to identity in Oliver Twist? (topic sentence)
• What are three ways that Oliver’s identity changes over the course of the novel? Cite evidence from the text to support your claims.
• Finally, describe in your concluding sentence or sentences how the novel’s title reflects its depiction of identity.

3. Many characters in Oliver Twist (Fagin, Mr. Bumble, Mr. Grimwig, etc.) are not who they pretend to be.

• What do appearances say about inner character in Oliver Twist? (topic sentence)
• Identify at least one character who seems “good” but is actually “bad” and at least one character who seems “bad” but is actually “good.” Discuss how Dickens communicates each one’s “true” character, citing evidence from the text.
• Finally, discuss in your concluding sentence or sentences what Dickens might be trying to say about the nature of goodness with these portrayals.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. For most of the novel, Oliver’s identity—in the sense of his parentage—is a mystery. In fact, uncovering the truth of Oliver’s lineage proves key to the story’s denouement, not only in the sense that it at last provides Oliver with a family, but also in that it explains and resolves the main conflict in the novel (i.e. the plot involving Monks, Fagin, etc.). How does the ultimate discovery of Oliver’s identity change the meaning of the preceding story, if at all? Does this discovery suggest that identity is stable or even innate? What are its implications regarding the novel’s social critique?

2. The characters in Oliver Twist are extremely polarized between those that are “good” and those that are “evil.” Which characters blur the lines between these two groups? How does the novel convey this moral ambiguity (for example, through dialogue, imagery, or action), and what does its inclusion contribute to the novel’s overall meaning?

3. How are Dickens’s critiques of workhouses, homelessness, and inert charity programs relevant to our current day and age? What “solutions” does Oliver Twist provide to these problems, and do you find them compelling answers to our own societal problems? If so, what do they suggest about how we can affect change and help the vulnerable members of a society? If not, why not?