Over the years, millions of people have enjoyed the stories told by Charles Dickens. Many believe, though, that his novel Oliver Twist was not written entirely for entertainment (although it did serve this purpose as well). Dickens" referral to the poor, rich, and other social classes shows that he may have been trying to prove a point. In the novel Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens seems to be trying to enlighten society, along with entertaining the reader.
The most recognized group in the entire novel is the less fortunate lower class. The main character, Oliver, is one of the only moral orphans, and is constantly faced with thieves and villains who are not far from his age. John Dawkins and Charles Bates are two young children who are master thieves. Even those who know little of them consider them, and kids like them, trouble. Older, low class citizens are also shown as evil. Bill Sikes is considered one of the most horrible characters in the book. After murdering his wife Nancy, he then accidentally kills himself. Another older low-class thieve is Mrs. Thingummy. She takes a necklace from Oliver's mother when she dies. This is supposed to symbolize the evil losing, which in this case, the evil is the poor citizens.
Another big part of the enlightenment that Charles Dickens was trying to implement into his book was the criticism of certain unpopular minorities in England at the time. The Jewish population of England was thought of very lowly since they were thought to be thieves and cheats, and Dickens tried to push this idea. The character Fagin (aka The Jew) is probably the best example of the dislike towards Jewish religion, since he is the head of a group of thieves. He uses his cunning to trick people into committing crimes for him, and he was successful many times. Fagin was able to turn John Dawkins (aka The Artful Dodger) and Charles Bates (aka Master Bates) into his own personal thieves.
