OLIVER TWIST

BY CHARLES DICKENS
(CHILDREN-FRIENDLY ADAPTED VERSION, BY PAMELA STEPHANIE)
Characters
 Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Oliver Twist. He was born in a
workhouse in London. Unfortunately, his mother died after giving birth to him.
Therefore, he was sent to an orphanage that was 70 miles outside of London,
where he was supposed to live until he was nine years old. At the orphanage,
Oliver was treated terribly, beaten regularly and fed poorly. All the other
orphans experienced the same thing as well.

One night, after Oliver had finished his plate of gruel, he asked for a
second helping from the very stern director, Mr. Bumble. “Please sir, can I
have some more?” he asked. For that, Mr. Bumble had punished and banished
Oliver from the orphanage where he was sent to live and work with an
undertaker at a funeral home. There, Oliver was treated very badly too.
 One day, Oliver decided to run away to London. On his way, he met a boy
named Jack Dawkins who was better known as the Artful Dodger. They became
friends but little did Oliver know, his new friend was a very skillful thief. The
Artful Dodger convinced Oliver to come and stay with him. Oliver trusted him
and followed him home to an apartment owned by a man named Fagin. There
were many other little boys living in Fagin’s apartment. Oliver soon discovered
that Fagin was a criminal who trained children to become pickpockets. He
wanted to escape but could not. Under the power of Fagin, Oliver began his
nocturnal criminal life.

There was one secret that Oliver did not know. The secret was that Oliver
was born from a rich family. He had a half-brother named Monks. They shared
a father but came from two different mother. Monks had paid Fagin to turn
Oliver into a thief as part of his plan to destroy Oliver. He was greedy and
wanted to steal Oliver’s inheritance.

One morning, Oliver went out with the Artful Dodger. Not long after, they
saw an elderly man named Mr. Brownlow. The Artful Dodger told Oliver to
watch him steal from Mr. Brownlow. “Let me teach you how to steal. Watch
and learn”, said the Artful Dodger. When the Artful Dodger tried to steal Mr.
Brownlow’s wallet, Oliver took the chance to escape because he did not want
to work under Fagin. He ran away as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, Mr. Brownlow quickly realised his wallet was missing and saw
Oliver running. As a result, Mr. Brownlow thought that Oliver was the thief
and had Oliver arrested. When Mr. Brownlow asked Oliver why he stole his
wallet, Oliver told Mr. Brownlow his whole story. After listening to Oliver’s
story, Mr. Brownlow felt sorry for him. So, he decided to adopt and take care
of Oliver. Oliver lived happily with Mr. Brownlow but Fagin was not happy to
lose Oliver.

One day, Fagin kidnapped Oliver and forced him to go with the Artful
Dodger to rob Mrs. Rose Maylie’s house. However, during their mission, Oliver
was shot in the arm and was badly wounded.The mission failed. The Artful
Dodger managed to escape. He left Oliver behind although he knew that his
friend was badly injured because he did not want to get caught. Seeing how
Oliver suffer, he felt guilty for letting Oliver became a criminal.
 Mrs. Rose Maylie saw that Oliver was still a little boy and that he was badly
injured. She felt pity for him and treated his wound. “He is just a little boy,”
she thought to herself. So, she allowed Oliver to stay with her and she took
good care of Oliver just like her own son.

Once again, Fagin tried to kidnap Oliver with the help of Monks. This time,
the Artful Dodger decided to help Oliver. He planned to reunite Oliver back
with Mr. Brownlow. So, he ruined Fagin’s plan to capture Oliver by turning Fagin
in to the police. Fagin was arrested and the Artful Dodger was pardoned.

In the end, Oliver found out that Mr. Brownlow was his father’s best friend.
He also found out that he was rich and had a half-brother named Monks. He
gave all his inheritance to his greedy brother, Monks. Oliver was adopted by
Mr. Brownlow and they worked hard together to support their lives. His friend,
the Artful Dodger had turned over a new leaf. He left his criminal life and
worked hard as a farmer to rebuild his life. Monks however, remained lazy and
used up all the money he had until he had none left.

Answer the questions below.

1. Why was Oliver banished from the orphanage?

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2. Where did he go to after being banished from the orphanage?

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3. Who is Jack Dawkins? When did Oliver met him?

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4. Who is Fagin?
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5. Who is Mr. Brownlow? What did he do to help Oliver?

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6. Who is Mrs. Rose Maylie? What did she do to help Oliver?

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7. How many times did Fagin tried to kidnap Oliver?

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8. How did Jack Dawkins helped to reunite Oliver and Mr. Brownlow?
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9. Who is Monks? What happened to him at the end of the story?

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10. What happened to Oliver at the end of the story?
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11. What happened to the Jack Dawkins at the end of the story?
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Match the characters with the correct values based on the story.

Kindness

Hardworking

Honest
 Responsible

Helpful

Fill in the table with information from the story.

Characters What they did Moral Values Why

Oliver Twist
 Mr. Brownlow

Rose Maylie

Jack Dawkins

Draw your favourite character. Describe why

you like the character.
I like__________________because
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