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Social Injustice Issues as Reflected in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist: A

Sociological Approach

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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27907.14880

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 Social Injustice Issues as Reflected in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist: A
Sociological Approach

Ratna Wulandari

English Literature, Gunadarma University

Depok

ABSTRACT

Oliver Twist is a story about poor people in England who got unfair treatment from the society.
Dickens describes the poor condition suffered by people especially children during Victorian era.
Many poor, unlucky children during the Victorian period were born in then sent to workhouses.
The aim of this study is to find out social problems that is social injustice like social inequality,
discrimination and prejudice within Charles Dickens’s works. This study uses a qualitative
method and approaches of literary sociology to analyze Dickens’ works by exploring and
analyzing Oliver Twist as supporting data. Those theories succeed in answering problems
revealed in the study, especially about social injustice. The final conclusion of this study has
resulted the fact that social injustice occurred during Victorian era and it was portrayed by
Dickens within his novel. The social injustice disparity pictured within the characters occupation,
the way of their dressing, material wealth, obesity, the authority, and living environments.

Keywords: Poor condition, Social injustice, Oliver Twist

INTRODUCTION

Human beings are destined to live side by side with the people around. Every person
wants to be accepted in society, many kinds of people are different one from another in their
perception, thinking and feeling. Therefore, people in one society have to unite their perception,
thinking and feeling to make a good relationship. However, it is so difficult for people to accept
the others in society. Some groups in society have a principle that a person’s behavior verifies if
he can be accepted or not. Moreover, a lot of groups believe that material is the only way to
determine whether a person can be accepted in society. It means that someone will be seen if he
has a wealth of material. This principle makes these communities have a perception that money
is everything. And from this step, the social class gap happens in society.
Oliver Twist (1837-39), is a novel which represents a radical change in Dickens’ themes,
is his first novel to carry a social commentary similar to that contained in the subsequent
condition of England novels. Dickens explores many social themes in Oliver Twist, but three are
predominant: the abuses of the new Poor Law system, the evils of the criminal world in London
and the victimization of children. The critique of the Poor Law of 1834 and the administration of

1
the work-house is presented in the opening chapters of Oliver Twist. Dickens gives the most
uncompromising critique of the Victorian workhouse, which was run according to a regime of
prolonged hunger, physical punishment, humiliation and hypocrisy (Sudha and Kailash, 2012).
Oliver Twist, a novel by Charles Dickens shows up the life of a young boy who had to
face harassments during his life. Oliver had to struggle to gain his freedom and happiness even
though there were so many obstacles that he faced. Many poor, unlucky children during the
Victorian period were born in then sent to workhouses, and noted for its opposition to the New
Poor Law of 1837, Dickens’s Oliver Twist gives detailed accounts of the horrible fates that many
young people face.
The writer chooses the topic of social injustice issues because she is interested in
discussing the issue. Social injustice such as like social inequality, prejudice, and discrimination
are essentially a problem that has been widely known. It talks about the power of status in the
society based on the property that people have.
The reason why the writer is interested in this study is because Oliver Twist talked about
the children's condition in England in 1830s. The writer thinks that young children like them did
not deserve to face the torture. They also did not deserve to work at the workhouse or mills at
their age; they should get much love and good life. These conditions did not happen in England
in 1830s. Because of the Industrial revolution, the children had to face the hard life and as a
result, many of them died at the young age.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Sociological literary is the branch of literature that is reflective (Endraswara, 2008:77).
Reflective means literary works reflect his era successfully. Literary work cannot be separated
from social life. According Laurenson and Swingewood (1971) as cited by Endraswara
(2008:79) there are three perspectives relating to the sociological literary approach, namely (1)
the study that looked at literature as a social document in which a reflection on the current
situation of the literary works when it was written ,(2) The study that revealed a literature as a
mirror of the author's social life situation, and (3) the study literature as a manifestation of
historical events and socio-cultural circumstances. Those entire things can stand alone or be
revealed in a sociological literary approach.

Victorian Era of Great Britain

The Victorian Era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial
revolution and the apex of the British Empire. It is often defined as the years from 1837 to 1901,
when Queen Victoria reigned, though many historians believe that the passage of the Reform act
1832 marks true inception of a new cultural era. The Victorian era was preceded by the Regency
era and came before the Edwardian period. They would find that the Victorian did not consider
their age stable and secure.
In England during the Victorian era, social divisions of class were a major part of
people’s daily lives. Victorian views on class and social division in general are described in great
detail by Charles Dickens in many of his novels published during the Victorian period. Dickens’s
Oliver Twist is one of the examples of his works that tells the classification between the poor and
the wealthy.

Working Conditions in England

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 In the 18th century the population grew at a faster rate than ever before. There are four
primary reasons which may be cited for this growth declining in the death rate, increasing in the
birth rate and the most significant reasons was the people were consuming a much healthier diet.
In this time a half of the England's people were paupers because of the revolution. The most
suffered was the farmers because they had to change their job as workers in the mills or factories
(Mathias, 1969: 167).

Social Injustice
The word social injustice means a concept relating to the perceived fairness or injustice
of a society in its division of rewards and burdens. The concept is distinct from those of justice in
law, which may not or be considered moral in practice.

Social Inequality
In society, there is always a class or caste groupings that cause the social inequality.
Burke, (2009) clarified that in most communities there is a gap in the distribution of wealth and
other benefits such as status and power.

Prejudice
Prejudice is the thinking of someone to somebody else. Meanwhile, social prejudice is
the thinking of someone or groups to another group and that happens in the society. The
prejudice appears every time when there is a miscommunication and wrong information between
people.

Discrimination
Robin Williams (1947: 39) states that discrimination may be said to exist to the degree
that individuals of a given group who are otherwise formally qualified are not treated in
conformity with these nominally universal institutionalized codes.
Moreover, Aaron Antonovsky (1960:81) explains discrimination as the effective injurious
treatment of persons on grounds rationally irrelevant to the situation or a system of social
relations not an isolated individual act.
Discrimination is an unjustified negative or harmful action or behavior of prejudice
toward a group of people.

RESEARCH METHOD
McMillan and Schumacher (1993) reiterate that the research design is a very important
part of an investigation since certain limitations and cautions in interpreting the results are
related to the design and also because the design determines how the data should be analyzed.
The research design for this study is qualitative interpretative that is analyzed through
qualitative methods. This study produces descriptive data that contribute in the form of written
words from people and behavior that observed. Qualitative method is a research procedure that

3
descriptive data such as written word or verbal expression from the people and their behavior
that have been observed (Bogdan and Taylor, 1975:5).
The data of this research is a novel entitled Oliver Twist written by Charles Dickens
published in 1837, and its translation entitled Oliver Twist translated by Dion Yulianto 2013.

In collecting the data, the writer takes following procedures:

1. The researcher read the English novel to give a full understanding of the content.
2. After reading the novel, the researcher read thoroughly the translated novel.
3. The researcher reread the English novel and at the same time marked down the sentences
that will be analyze.
4. The writer identified the data in the novel concerning with the social injustice,
discrimination and prejudice.
5. Quoting sentences from the novel to give proof that the statements are based on the
novel.
6. Gathering all the data and organize the paper based on the theory on chapter 2.

To analyze the data, the researcher includes the following steps;

1. Checking all the data that has been collected. This procedure is done to know whether
the data which have been collected are right or not. First, the writer conducted the
research by reading the novel several times to observe the details of the social injustice
that happened in the novel. It will be done firstly by the writer to be more understand in
every plot of the novel. The details are analyzed using particular theory.
2. Second, the writer searches and collects sources which supports the analysis of this thesis. The
sources are taken from internet, text books, other thesis, and some articles. The selected
literature theory and some sociological books that are taken from Library and other sources are
used as points of references. After that, the writer starts analyzing the data based on the theory
from the sources. The last step is the writer composes her problem formulations using the
appropriate theory.

RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse in a small town about 70 miles from London,
England in the early part of the 19th century. His mother dies almost immediately after his birth.
Nobody knows who she was, but the doctor notices that she wasn't wearing a wedding ring.
The infant's father is unknown, and the orphan is placed in a private juvenile home. After
nine years of mistreatment, the boy is returned to the workhouse for even more abuse. After
representing his fellow sufferers in an attempt to get more food, Oliver is punished and is
apprenticed to Sowerberry, an undertaker. Noah Claypole, a charity boy working for Oliver's
master, goads Oliver to rebellion, for which Oliver is savagely flogged. Consequently, Oliver
runs away and heads for London.

Children Working Condition in England in 1830s

In the 18th century the population grew at a faster rate than ever before. There are four
primary reasons which may be cited for this growth declining in the death rate, increasing in the
birth rate and the most significant reasons was the people were consuming a much healthier diet.

4
In this time a half of the England's people were paupers because of the revolution. The most
suffered was the farmers because they had to change their job as workers in the mills or factories
(Mathias, 1969: 167).
In 1760s-1850s, England faced the Industrial Revolution. The country did not depend on
the agriculture anymore but it changed. The country was run the many industries at that time.
This made many workhouse were born when the Industrial revolution.

Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be
prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name,
there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse;
and in this workhouse was born...(Dickens, 1994: 1).

Industrial Revolution happened in England in 1760s - 1850s. At this time, the country
changed the status from the agricultural country become the Industrial country. The changing
statues pushed the country to leave the agriculture and face the machines. Therefore there were
many workhouses were built in the middle of the town.
After Oliver was born he was sent to the workhouse, because it was impossible to take
care of a baby in that place, so he was given to the parish then he lied there for nine years.

Oliver was the victim of a systematic course of treachery and deception. He was
brought up by hand. The hungry and destitute situation of the infant orphan was
duly reported by the workhouse authorities to the parish authorities. The parish
authorities inquired with dignity of the workhouse authorities, whether there was
no female then domiciled in ‘the house’ who was in a situation to impart to Oliver
Twist, the consolation and nourishment of which he stood in need (Dickens,
1994:7).

After his mother died, Oliver lives with the parish because at the workhouse there were
people who could raise him. The condition at the workhouse and the parish were quite the same
because the parish also have a workhouse, it was called branch of the workhouse. At this place
Oliver had to work therefore he could live. The condition in the workhouse is very pathetic so it
is not good for baby like Oliver. The workhouse also usually doesn't have any women to take
care the baby so it was better for Oliver to be sent out to the parish house until he was ready to
work at the workhouse. In the Industrial Revolution, many workhouses or mills were born. This
condition happened because of the changing statues from agricultural country to industrial
country. This condition made the workhouse or the mills had to gain many workers. Therefore
the owner of the workhouse or mills got the workers from the farmers. Many farmers had to
change their job at that time because work in the land did not help them to gain the income
anymore. These bad conditions not only happened to them but also to their children.

Working Children in the Workhouse in 1830s in Oliver Twist

The Industrial revolution was the hard moment for pauper children in England because
the country was in the crisis position. This caused many poor people live at that time.

5
 Although I am not disposed to maintain that the being born in a workhouse, is in
itself the most fortunate and enviable circumstance that can possibly befall a
human being, I do mean to say that in this particular instance, it was the best
thing for Oliver Twist that could by possibility have occurred (Dickens, 1994: 4).

Because of the hard life, the pauper people did not have any options to do many things.
They had to struggle hard to face the crisis moment. The pauper did not have any fortune things
at that time. But the pauper baby was fortune enough to be born in the workhouse. The hard life
pushed the pauper people to struggle hard to survive in order they could stay alive at the
wretched moment.
Oliver was not the only one poor child who suffered at that time. There were many other
poor children who had the same destiny like him at the parish's place. They were also treated bad
and fed unwell.

Upon this, the parish authorities magnanimously and humanely resolved, that
Oliver should be ‘farmed,’ or, in other words, that he should be dispatched to a
branch-workhouse some three miles off, where twenty or thirty other juvenile
offenders against the poor-laws, rolled about the floor all day, without the
inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing, under the parental
superintendence of an elderly female, who received the culprits at and for the
consideration of seven pence-half penny per small head per week (Dickens,
1994:)

Oliver had to work in the workhouse and mills every day. There were so many
workhouse and mills appeared at that time. This condition pushed the mill to gain more worker
therefore it pushed the children to work. In the Oliver Twist, there were about twenty to thirty
children who worked at the parish's workhouse. The numbers of the worker children in one mill
was different from the others. It depended on the adult workers in the workhouse or mills. If
there were many parents who worked in the workhouse, there would be also many children who
worked at that place because usually the owner of the workhouse or the mills pushed the parents
to bring their children in order to work in the workhouse or mills.

Social Injustice That Happen to the Children, Their Causes and Effects
In Oliver Twist, the children often get bad treatment from the society, especially children
who come from poor family. They got injustice like social inequality, prejudice and
discrimination.
The days that must be faced by the children at that time were very hard because they had
to get the torture every day in their life. These conditions were very hard for the young children
like them. They should be get love and good treatment from people around them not the
opposite; they got bad treatment from the society.

...where would be injury and injustice, the suffering, misery, cruelty, and wrong,
that each day's life brings with it'(Dickens,l994:268).

6
 The hard life that must be faced by the children at that time was very cruel because they
had to face many bad treatments from the people around them. The misery and cruel things were
the common treatment for them. And these conditions happened to their life in every day or even
in every minute of their life. The suffering was very frequent in their life. There was no justice
for them. There were so many inconvenience things that they had to face every day and the
environment was allowed them to get all of those harmful things.

Social Inequality
In society, there is always a class or caste groupings that cause the social inequality.
(Burke, 2009:85) clarified that in most communities there is a gap in the distribution of wealth
and other benefits.

Oliver was the victim of a systematic course of treachery and deception. He was
brought up by hand (Dickens, 1994: 6).

Since Oliver was born, he had to face the bad circumstances. He had to face the harmful
things around him in order they could survive to life. This condition was also the same like the
pauper children when the Industrial Revolution. They had to struggle since they were born. They
must work at the workhouse or mills at their young aged. They had to work hard at that place.
They also got many torture at that place.

Prejudice
Social prejudice appears in society because it has the differences of one from another.
The differences cover the objective differences, the environment differences, the wealth
differences, the social status differences, the religion differences and the social norms differences
(Ahmadi, 2007:195).
In the novel Oliver Twist appears that the children at the time got very unfair treatment
from the people who have much money. Children who come from the lower classes are not
regarded as a person who should get affection.
When prejudiced feelings or beliefs move into the realm of behavior, the result is
discrimination, which denies to individuals or groups of people equality of treatment. (Adams et
al., 2000: 22). Prejudice is in part the result of discrimination a way of rationalizing and getting
rid of guilt feelings that arise when one has treated an individual unfairly (Simpson
&Yinger, 1972: 29).

...and the people began passing to and from. Some few stooped to gaze at
Oliver for a moment or two, or turned round to stare at him as they hurried
by; but none relieved him... (Dickens,1994: 65).

Oliver was very weak because he did not eat anything. People stared at him because his
condition. He was very dirty. There was no one who wanted to help them or even to give their
bread for him to eat. At that time, there were so many children who were very suffered because
of the Industrial Revolution. An orphan did not have the same right like the other children; they
were just assumed to have lowest status in the community and did not deserve to get any
attention.

7
Discrimination
According to the writers in the earlier chapter, discrimination is an unjustified negative or
harmful action or behavior of prejudice toward a group of people.
The owner of the workhouse was very cruel at that time. They did not hesitate to do
violence to the worker if they tried against the rule in the workhouse. The rules at the workhouse
were also very tight at that time. If the children disobeyed it, they would get punishment. And it
happened to Oliver after the day he asked food for more food. The punishment given to the
worker who disobeyed the rules varied. Most of them got physical punishment. This condition
was unexpected to Oliver. He did not have any imagination that he would get this kind of
punishment, just because of he asked for more food.

For a week after the commission of the impious and profane offence of asking for
more, Oliver remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary
room...(Dickens.1994:17).

The life in the workhouse was very hard because if the children did something wrong.
They would get punishment. These all tortures were very cruel for the children who still needed
love and caring. It common to see children died in the workhouse.

CONCLUSION
Industrial Revolution happened in England in 1760s- 1850s, there was changing status
from agriculture became industrial country. This condition caused many machines industries are
made in England at this time. The changing status of the country made a big influence especially
to the environment, people and especially to the children. These all condition was reflected in
Oliver Twist, a story of a young orphan boy who had to face the hard life in The Industrial era, a
novel by Charles Dickens.
Oliver had to struggle from the bad situations that happened when the Industrial
Revolution. Oliver was pushed to work at the workhouse since he was very young. He did it
because the workhouse as needed many workers at that time. At the workhouse, he had to face
many bad treatments from the master. Oliver had to work from the morning until night. He only
got a little time to rest. He also could not eat enough food. The master only gave him and other
children diet food which only contained vegetables. This made Oliver very thin, weak and pale.
He could not wear appropriate clothes. These all harmful condition had to face by Oliver and the
other children at their young aged.
Writer concludes that England Revolution bring big impact for the nationwide and in
Children’s life especially in terms of population, economy, health, and labor. One major
development was the changing role of children in social life. Generally speaking it can be said
that the author reflects on the situation in society and he describes it in his novel. In mainly the
poverty and the awfulness of child labor are depicted. As an illustration that children had been
apprenticed from their early age Dickens employed the episode with chimney sweep or the
description of the work in workhouses. From the analysis of this paper, it shows that the effects
of the England Revolution have really strong connection with the character in the novel,
especially children.

SUGGESTION

8
 It is very interesting too analyze the social injustice issues as reflected in Charles
Dickens’s Oliver Twist by using sociological approach. After analyzing the research, the writer
finds that in every story there must be the reason why he author wrote the story, which may
come from the author’s personal experience. By reading, learning and knowing more detail about
the story in the novel of Oliver Twist, the writer would like to give some suggestion to the reader
especially the students of faculty of Letters who are interested in reading and learning more
about the story or the other study that would be analyzed.
There are many topics in this novel that can be taken as a research. It is better to other
researchers to analyze the main character by using psychological approach, moral approach,
semiotic approach, and so on. The writer hopes to next researchers that analyze with other
approach become an interesting and beneficial research.
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 Vickery, William &Opler, Morris.(1948). A Redefinition of Prejudice for Purposes of
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