Book Review: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Inspired by Will Eisner's Fagin the Jew, I decided to read Dickens's novel Oliver Twist this year. I've seen the musical Oliver! a few times on stage and on VHS (and maybe I'll revisit it on DVD--our local library has it) and liked it a lot. Eisner's book is based on the idea that Dickens's portrayal of Fagin reinforces a negative stereotype, specifically that Fagin is very often referred to as "the Jew" who is a scheming ne'er-do-well with no positive traits at all. So I came to the book with a lot of baggage.

The story follows the young life of Oliver Twist, an orphan born out of wedlock and left in a workhouse where he is raised by the local authorities under abysmal conditions. He's apprenticed to an undertaker, which does not work out (though plenty of comical and tragic events happen to Oliver there). He flees to London where he is taken in (both literally and metaphorically) by Fagin, who organizes young boys to pick pockets and commit other minor thefts on busy London streets and has a few young women (Nancy and Bet are the only ones Oliver meets) who are prostitutes (though they are never explicitly identified as such except in Dickens's introduction to the third edition.). He works for them until he comes to the house of Mr. Brownlow, who provides for his physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs. An unfortunate incident puts Oliver back in Fagin's gang. Fagin loans Oliver out to his compatriot, Bill Sikes, who is less the schemer and more the housebreaker. He and Oliver head to the outskirts of London to rob a home where more complications happen. The story eventually comes around to a happy ending for the good characters and a bad ending for the evil ones.

Only a few of the characters show growth or change through the book. Oliver is preternaturally good and remains true to his honesty and virtue, in spite of the influences of the workhouse where he grew up and the criminal gang where he spends a lot of time. He has good influences in his life too but they reinforce his good traits, they do not create good traits. The main villains, Sikes and Fagin, show little change. Both are rotten to the core and stay that way until their ends, though the hardness of their fates elicits some sympathy. Nancy is a bit more dynamic but remains true to her tragic course.

The narrative is a bit long and meandering. I found the first 300 pages slow going. The story started moving more quickly and the action became more exciting in the last 200 pages, especially when the focus switches from Oliver to Sikes or Nancy or Fagin. Some sections are slowed down by the narrator speaking in the first person about dramatic style or making wry, ironic comments about the situation and characters. While such prose is entertaining, sometimes it goes on too long. I have similar feelings about the unabridged Moby Dick--a bit of judicious editing would improve the narrative without sacrificing the point of the story.

Eisner's complaint about the novel is fairly justified, though Fagin is very different in the musical version of the story. There he has more joviality and considers going straight several times, something left ambiguous by the ending of the musical.

On the other hand, the novel is very frank about the squalid conditions of London and of the whole "workhouse" system. The high contrast between the better off and the poor is all the more shocking seeing the ease with which someone can fall or rise due to uncontrollable circumstances. The story is entertaining and sobering at the same time, not a small accomplishment.

I recommend it with the caveat that parts are slow going. Endurance pays off.

Book Review: The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens

The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849 by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens wrote The Life of Our Lord for his family, so that his children would have a simple and straightforward way to learn about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He never published it in his life time and bequeathed the manuscript to his son on condition that he not publish it. His son respected his father's wishes but did not lay such a restriction on his own son who published the book in 1933.

The book follows the gospel accounts, retelling the many events and teachings in Jesus's life with simple language. Each parable is followed with a paragraph by Dickens explaining what the parable meant (though not in detail--he doesn't get into the significance of the angry loyal brother in the Prodigal Son). The book is about the length of a gospel, making it easy to read in a short time.

I was a little surprised by two omissions. First, Dickens describes how, after being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus went into the wilderness to pray and fast. But he skips the temptations by the devil. Second, he misses the whole Eucharistic significance of the Last Supper! After explaining each parable in turn, it is very odd not even to quote Jesus saying over the bread, "This is My body." Maybe he thought the issue was too complicated for his children (the oldest was twelve in 1849) or he just wanted to focus on the gospel message as a model for behavior rather than a core set of beliefs. Saying anything with certainty is hard since the book wasn't published or discussed in his lifetime.

Dickens' summation at the end is typical:

Remember!--It is Christianity TO DO GOOD, always--even to those who do evil to us. It is Christianity to love our neighbours as ourself, and to do to all men as we would have them do to us. It is Christianity to be gentle, merciful, and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them, or of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to show that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this, and remember the life and lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes, and enable us to live and die in peace.

Book Review: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Normally I start a book review with a plot synopsis or enough of the set-up to make the story seem interesting. Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol hardly needs that since it has been produced many times and in many various ways on television and movie theaters. Any number of web sites have ranked the various versions of the story, but what about the original text? Is it worth going back to?

It surely is worth reading the original text, for several reasons. First, the story feels much more personal since Dickens often intrudes with observations and asides. The book reads as if he is telling you the story directly, face to face. His frankness and humor make it delightful. Second, the text has much more detail in it. The ghosts don't take Scrooge to see one or two things. Often they see quite a few different scenes, as when the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to see various Christmas celebrations. In addition to Bob Cratchit's and Nephew Fred's festivities, they visit strangers and even a ship at sea. The greater detail makes a greater impact. Third (and related), the text is much better at getting inside Scrooge's head, a natural difference between a written story and a performance. With the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Scrooge doesn't want to admit it to himself who the dead man is. The pathos of his cry, "Why show this to me if I cannot change it?" is all the stronger. Reading the original story is a richer experience.

Is the story worth all the repetition? Scrooge's conversion from a penny-pinching miser to a joyful philanthropist is an inspiring example and mirrors the promise of Christmas, when Christ came to redeem the world from sin and error. Scrooge seems to be almost universally flawed at the beginning of the story. When forced to confront his happier youth, slow decline, and the misery his current life is causing, his humanity is reawakened. Scrooge lets go of his former worldliness and strives to make the world around him a better place. As a late bloomer, he may not be a man for all seasons, but he is a man for the Christmas season.

A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast has a discussion of this book posting on December 27, 2016, which may be governed by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come or the Ghost of Christmas Past depending on when you see this, dear reader. If you are reading this on the 27th, then you're under the Ghost of Christmas Present, and in a paraphrase of Tiny Tim, "God bless you for being on the one!"

Book Review: Fagin the Jew by Will Eisner

Fagin the Jew by Will Eisner

Bothered by the stereotypical depiction of Jews in classic literature, Will Eisner wrote this story of Fagin, the leader of the youthful gang of pick-pockets in Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. Fagin is frequently referred to as "the Jew" and is depicted as a money-grubbing low-life. Decades after it was published, Dickens removed most of the references to Fagin as a Jew in the 1867 edition. By then, the book was already widely read. In response, Eisner wrote and illustrated a life story for Fagin, making him a more sympathetic character.

Eisner uses a framing device of Dickens visiting Fagin on death row. Fagin explains his story since it "has remained untold and overlooked." [p. 5] He came to London as an infant when his parents fled oppression in central Europe. The community was welcoming. Jews who had fled earlier from the Iberian peninsula were already established in society. The new wave of immigrants from Germany and Poland were looked upon as lower class but they still had opportunities to rise. Fagin had quite a few opportunities in his youth. A combination of bad luck and prejudice kept him in the lower classes, winding up in a penal colony working off a ten-year sentence of servitude. He finally returned to London where the novel's plot begins, leading back to Fagin confronting Dickens over his portrayal. The anger of the scene is mollified by an epilogue giving Fagin a beautiful though hidden legacy.

I haven't read Oliver Twist; I've watched one or two movies long ago; mostly my knowledge of the story is from the musical Oliver! which has a fairly sympathetic portrayal of Fagin. Eisner's work is certainly more sympathetic. His story is founded on historical research, giving the reader a look at different aspects of society and a fuller depiction of the times. Amazingly, this story doesn't suffer from the author's agenda. Eisner weaves a fascinating tale as he builds his case for the unfair negative stereotype reinforced by the novel. Eisner's work is a great companion piece and critique. I am inspired to read Dickens' novel, which shows the corruption of the London criminal world and the horrible treatment of orphans at the time.