The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

This folder is for anyone to post background information about our author, this particular novel (no spoilers please!), or the political/social/historical setting.

Taken from the introduction of my edition,Oliver Twist.


Dickens began Oliver Twist in 1837 as a serial, when he was 25 years old and enjoying the success of The Pickwick Papers. The new Poor Law had been introduced in 1834. According to Wikipedia,
The Act has been described as "the classic example of the fundamental Whig-Benthamite reforming legislation of the period".[2] Its theoretical basis was Thomas Malthus's principle that population increased faster than resources unless checked, the "iron law of wages" and Jeremy Bentham's doctrine that people did what was pleasant and would tend to claim relief rather than working.[3]

The Act was intended to curb the cost of poor relief and address abuses of the old system, prevalent in southern agricultural counties, by enabling a new system to be brought in. Under this system, relief would only be given in workhouses, and conditions in workhouses would be such as to deter any but the truly destitute from applying for relief. The Act was passed by large majorities in Parliament, with only a few Radicals (such as William Cobbett) voting against. The act was implemented, but the full rigours of the intended system were never applied in Northern industrial areas; however, the apprehension contributed to the social unrest of the period.

So conditions in the workhouses were intentionally made grim-the diet was sparse, husbands and wives were separated, a special uniform was worn, and everything possible was done to keep the numbers in the work houses low. In theory children and orphans were to be treated differently as they could not yet go out to support themselves, but the reality was that they were treated equally harshly.

According to my introduction, Dickens began OT while PP installments were still running and the first monthly part of Nicholas Nickleby came out while OT was still a long way from being finished. Dickens was also editing the Miscellany and contributing his own columns.