Character Analysis of Oliver Twist 《雾都孤儿》角色分析 Purpose and Significance of the Study Charles Dickens, born in Portsmouth in 1812 and died in 1870, was widely viewed as the greatest writer of England in the 19th. Due to family difficulties, Dickens has no choice but to make a living away from home. Dickens suffered a lot in his childhood, so his novels revealed difficult lives of people lived during that time, and showed deep concern of unfortunate children. Dickens#8217;s realistic novels renewed the British literature, left far-reaching influence on world literature. As the first social critical novel written by Dickens, Oliver Twist occupied important position around the world. Oliver Twist, the main character of this famous novel, was clearly narrated as an abandoned boy whose was always suffering more than others. His mother was founded pregnant on the street. What#8217;s more, nobody knew who was his father. He was forced to work as an apprentice in order to get his stomach full. After went to London, he was trapped by a gang of thieves. After a series of ordeals, Oliver was adopted by Brownlow and lived a happy life. This paper will deeply clarify some characteristics of people appeared in Oliver Twist and give further explanation of the society which formed such an unbalanced deal. Besides, this paper will compare some characters and finally give reason for why those people are different. Literature Review Charles Dickens, one of the most outstanding novelists in England, began his writing career in 1832. He produced operas, comedies, novels and short stories. Among these works, novels was the most praised ones. There#8217;s an old saying, ”Novels come from life and above life.” All novels written by Dickens reveal real life. This exactly clarify this sentence. Song Jing (2000) thinks that all the evils of the capitalist world would be remedied if only men treat others kindly, fairly and with rational thinking. Oliver Twist could find his family earlier if that midwife took out the token and told the truth to Oliver. The death rate would not be that high if children in the welfare center could be treated kindly. Feng Tao (2013) believes that Dickens spends more time to describe Nancy. He also thinks that study the characteristic of Nancy may achieve some unexpected ideals. A lot of scholars studies the double-characteristic of Nancy. She is a combination of contradictions. Due to the hard life, Nancy was compelled to trade with those thieves and robbers. After seeing the dilemma of Oliver, she got up in front of those evils, but she was a victim of that society. Zhu Hong (2014) believes that the author not only reveals the tragic fate of children, but also sees the world from angle of children. At the beginning, all the children lived in the welfare center cannot fulfill their stomach. Workers in the center skimmed most of relief supplies and forced children go out to work. Such behaviors shows that they were lack of humanity. Methods and Procedures of the Study In order to figure out what exactly Charles Dickens wanted to reveal, first I have read the English version, as well as a Chinese version translated by Fang Huawen, because Dickens#8217;s work is full of archaic and obscure words and expressions. Then, a more visualized method is utilized- watching the adopted movie for several times. This great novel has been adopted into many films, but due to the limitation of resources, I have only watched the movie directed by David Lean in 1948, just because most of audience thinks that the film directed by David Lean restores most part of the novel. After reading the novel, I have a clear idea of its main plots. With the primary understanding, I watched the movie. I felt deeply sad due to Oliver#8217;s tragic experiences. However, I also felt happy, because Oliver didn#8217;t change his nature of kindness. What#8217;s more, by conducting new insights into Nancy, I cannot just maintain that Nancy is a bad woman because she stays with a gang of thieves and she has improper transaction with other men in the pub. In general, this thesis is make up of four parts. The first part is a general introduction of Charles Dickens and the background of this novel. The second part will be literature review and the significance and purpose of this study. The third part is the most important one, contains character analysis and social background analysis. And the last part is conclusion. A successful thesis cannot leave conclusion apart. Conclusion will be shown as how the society change people#8217;s thoughts, and how can people liberate from shackles of society. Conclusion After several centuries, people#8217;s enthusiasm for Charles Dickens and his works does not drain out with the passing of time. The up and down of the plots, refined language, intense conflicts and complex human natures inspire artists to create many more fantastic works. Oliver Twist, his first but most successful novel, does not only tell the suffering of an orphan, but also reveals human nature towards class confrontation and politics, from which the modern society and politicians can learn a lot about how to solve some intractable social issues. Works Cited Chen, Xiaolong[陈晓龙]. Humanities in Oliver#8217;s Personality[J]. Overseas English, 2014(6). Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist[M]. Simon Schuster, Inc, 2007. Duan, Shaojun[段绍俊]. 《雾都孤儿》中人物的创造性叛逆#8212;#8212;重塑[J]. Journal of Kunming University, 2011(2). Feng, Tao[冯涛]. 《雾都孤儿》中南希形象解读[J]. 文学教育, 2014. Ge, Yinghui[葛莹辉]，Zhen, Jingjing[郑静静].《雾都孤儿》折射出的乐观主义. 小说月刊，2014(2). Guo, Jing[郭静]. 《雾都孤儿》的双重矛盾性分析[J]. 新西部, 2015(17). Li, Yun[李允]. 《雾都孤儿》中的南希形象及其悲剧命运原因分析[J]. Bulletin of Chinese Language Teaching, 2016(11) Liu, Jianfang[刘建芳]. 《雾都孤儿》中的人物解读[J]. Read and Write Periodical, 2016(1). Song, Jing[宋静]. On the Character Nancy ”Oliver Twist”[J]. Journal of Jingzhong Teachers College, 2000(3). Zhu, Hong[朱虹]. 《奥利佛尔.特维斯特》#8212;#8212;现实与噩梦[J]. China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, 2014. Outline 1.Introduction 1.1Research Background 1.2About the author 2.Literature review 3. Analysis 3.1 Analysis of characters 3.1.1 Nancy 3.1.2 Oliver Twist 3.2 Comparison of characters 3.2.1 Oliver Twist and Noah 3.2.1.1 Character comparison 3.2.1.2 Character ending comparison 3.2.2 Nancy and Rose Fleming 3.2.2.1 Character comparison 3.2.2.2 Character ending comparison 4. Conclusion