Significance of the workhouse

Workhouse was a government run institution where children were forced to perform menial tasks in
exchange for essential things like food and shelter

It symbolizes the harsh and merciless circumstances that many destitute individuals in Victorian
England had to endure

The workhouse is a place where people are forced to give up their individuality and submit to the will
of the authorities. They are dehumanized and treated as objects.

Themes

a) The condition of poor children in Victorian England were bleak and dangerous
b) Many died of starvation and only few made it to adulthood
c) It highlights harsh realities and struggles faced by impoverished individuals, particularly
children in a society marked by social inequality and injustice

Child abuse

Children are considered the future of our society. However, in this picture, we come across a horrible
picture that wears down this very fabric of the society.

1) The severe punishment meted out to Oliver makes the reader empathize for him

The significance of beating

a) It acts as a starting point foe a number of crucial scenes and concepts in this narrative.
b) It sheds fear to the terrible realities of their existence by highlighting the extreme poverty
that many people experience
c) The fear that prevents them from asking for more food tells us about the rigid environment