’ colorful description of London. Most of Oliver Twist, for example, takes place in London's lowest slums. The city is described as a maze, which, as Richard Ford put it “involved a mystery of darkness, anonymity, and peril." Many of the settings, such as the pickpocket's hideout, the surrounding streets, and the bars, are also described as dark, gloomy, and bland. But in creating this environment, Dickens makes Oliver a symbol for good or an archetypal figure like Christ or the Phoenix. For example, even while his life was in danger while in the hands of Fagin and Bill Sikes, two conniving pickpockets, Oliver refused to participate in the stealing which he so greatly opposed. Obviously, escape is an important topic in Oliver Twist. All Oliver really longed for was to escape from harsh living conditions and evil surroundings which he had grown up in. Oliver is seeking various forms of escape from conditions that make him unhappy like his loneliness and starvation. Since dealing with escapism, it is not surprising that death is also a major symbol in this story. In the novel, death and coffins symbolize a happy and peaceful manner of escape, expounding more on the somewhat morbid tone of this novel. Philip Collins said that Oliver Twist “announces two central concerns of Dickens's fiction: seeing characters in relation to institutions, and referring to important topicalities. How to deal with paupers, criminals, and children were urgent and controversial issues, in which Dickens took a prolonged and well-informed interest, outside as well as in his fiction.” Most of Oliver Twist seems to imply that it is better to be a thief than to be alone. This Guy 3tends to make the reader think that Dickens favors the criminal aspect of his novel over the moral side. However, the conflict between the individual and the institution leads to Dickens' criticism of social injustices such as injustices towards the po...
