Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble Essays

Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble Essays Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble Paper Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble Paper In Oliver Twist Dickens presents a powerful critique of Victorian society and its treatment of the poor. Paying particular attention to chapter two of the novel, explore the methods Dickens employs to achieve this. Oliver Twist was the second novel of Charles Dickens and the first one with the main protagonist a child. It was initially published in monthly instalments in Bentleys Miscellan magazine that began in February of 1837 and ended in April of 1939. Dickens based Oliver Twist on his own childhood and wrote it as a way of expressing his views in how the rich treated the poor, Dickens wrote in instalments because it would have cost more to publish and buy the book, this means when the book was published every chapter ends in a cliff-hanger, the instalments were mainly read by the middle class to give them a perspective on the lifestyle of a working class person and show why not to treat them in a unsatisfactory manner. The poor laws played a key part in chapter two of the novel because Oliver was forced to work in a workhouse where the poor laws came into play. The poor laws allowed the poor to receive public assistance only if they lived and worked in established workhouses. Beggars risked imprisonment. Debtors were sent to prison, often with their entire families, this is what happened to Charles Dickens father as he went bankrupt and Dickens was sent to work. Workhouses were deliberately made to be as miserable as possible in order to deter the poor from relying on public assistance. In this essay I shall be writing about how Charles Dickens presents a powerful critique of Victorian society and the poor, paying attention to chapter two of Oliver Twist. Chapter two marks one of the turning points of the novel. Firstly Oliver is sent to a workhouse because there was no female then domiciled on the house who was in a situation to impart to Oliver Twist, the consolation and nourishment of which he stood in need. This enabled the poor laws to act on Oliver as he would live and work in an established workhouse which allowed him to receive assistance from the public if he needed it. Dickens made us sympathise for Oliver in chapter two because of how he is treated and because of his physical state, on Olivers ninth birthday he and two other young gentlemen participate with him in a sound thrashing. A birthday for a nine year old at the time would be a momentous occasion, but because Oliver is needy, he is treated as a second class citizen. Mrs Mann does not feel he should have an adequate party but instead to mark the special event Oliver and some other innocent children should be beaten. Dickens makes us sympathise more for Oliver because of his lack of education, this happens when Oliver meets the board of fat gentlemen, they ask him You know youre an orphan I suppose? to which Oliver replies dumfounded Whats that sir? . Oliver was frightened at the site of so many gentleman This tells us that Oliver is shy and he is not used to speaking to adults because he is scared they will beat him as the only adult he knows well is Mrs Mann who beats him on a regular basis, the experience changes Olivers view on adults as in his opinion they are mostly all bad, the reader feels mercy for Oliver at this point because they know Oliver doesnt know that the board will decide on his future and if he does anything incorrect in the presence of the board the consequences will be dire. Lack of empathy form the gentlemen is shown by the quotes and also Olivers lack of common education, everything bad the board notice about Oliver is what they have not taught him, their own faults are shown in him. Dickens shows inhumanity of others towards Oliver because he is sent to the workhouse, which is meant for Juvenile offenders. He is also treated inhumanly as Mr Bumble gave the little wicket a tremendous shake. Wicket is a metaphor for Oliver Twist, referring to him as a thin object; he is treated inhumanly as without warning he is shook. Olivers only crime is being poor. At the time there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor due to industrialisation. This meant that the poor were left to survive in unpleasant, overcrowded conditions, and were treated harshly by the rich. Generally the upper and middle classes thought very little of the working class citizens in Victorian times. The English middle-class society saw those who could not support themselves as immoral and evil, Oliver is not immoral and evil he is the opposite, the immoral and evil are quite clearly the board, Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble. Dickens displays this in chapter 2; the attitudes of the upper class are illustrated in the form of the board and the beadle. Oliver is treated like an animal by Mr Bumble. Mr. Bumble gave him a tap on the head, with his cane, to wake him up: and another on the back to make him lively: Mr Bumble wakes Oliver up like a person would try and wake up a dog, he believes Oliver is not a real person but a dirty animal that should not be spoken or touched by his master and obey his master, the narrator gives his view of what the board think of the orphanage, The board made periodical pilgrimages to the farm . The narrator is implying that the board and upper classes refer to the orphanage as a farm and the children are animals who dont deserve to live. The board are described as eight or ten fat gentleman who sit around a table, Dickens produces humour by making a particularly fat gentleman in a higher position than the rest, Dickens ranks the gentleman in how overweight they are, so the most obese would have the highest authority. Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble are the two people, who are supposed to take care of Oliver Twist, but instead Mrs Mann physically abuses Oliver and the other children in her care and Mr Bumble treats him like a worthless waste of life. Mrs Mann and Mr Bumble role play when they are around each other, Mrs Mann acts as a good Christian woman as she uses religious language like bless-em but she is not a good Christian and Mr Bumble exaggerates his authority by using the method of repetition, he uses complicated language in his sentence like here upon parochial business with the parochial orphans? Are you aweer, Mrs. Mann, that you are, as I may say, a parochial delegate, and a stipendiary?

Free Essays on Superpowers

It is often wondered how the superpowers achieved their position of dominance. It seems that the maturing of the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, can be traced to World War II. To be a superpower, a nation needs to have a strong economy, an overpowering military, immense international political power and, related to this, a strong national ideology. It was this war, and its results, that caused each of these superpowers to experience such a preponderance of power. Before the war, both nations were fit to be described as great powers, but it would be erroneous to say that they were superpowers at that point. To understand how the second World War impacted these nations so greatly, we must examine the causes of the war. The United States gained its strength in world affairs from its status as an economic power. In the years before the war, America was the world’s largest producer. In the USSR at the same time, Stalin was implementing his ‘five year plans’ to modernise the Soviet economy. From these situations, similar foreign policies resulted from widely divergent origins. Roosevelt’s isolationism emerged from the wide and prevalent domestic desire to remain neutral in any international conflicts. It commonly widely believed that Americans entered the first World War simply in order to save industry’s capitalist investments in Europe. Whether this is the case or not, Roosevelt was forced to work with an inherently isolationist Congress, only expanding its horizons after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. He signed the Neutrality Act of 1935, making it illegal for the United States to ship arms to the belligerents of any conflict. The act also stated that belligerents could buy only non-armaments from the US, and even these were only to be bought with cash. In contrast, Stalin was by necessity interested in European affairs, but only to th... Free Essays on Superpowers Free Essays on Superpowers It is often wondered how the superpowers achieved their position of dominance. It seems that the maturing of the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, can be traced to World War II. To be a superpower, a nation needs to have a strong economy, an overpowering military, immense international political power and, related to this, a strong national ideology. It was this war, and its results, that caused each of these superpowers to experience such a preponderance of power. Before the war, both nations were fit to be described as great powers, but it would be erroneous to say that they were superpowers at that point. To understand how the second World War impacted these nations so greatly, we must examine the causes of the war. The United States gained its strength in world affairs from its status as an economic power. In the years before the war, America was the world’s largest producer. In the USSR at the same time, Stalin was implementing his ‘five year plans’ to modernise the Soviet economy. From these situations, similar foreign policies resulted from widely divergent origins. Roosevelt’s isolationism emerged from the wide and prevalent domestic desire to remain neutral in any international conflicts. It commonly widely believed that Americans entered the first World War simply in order to save industry’s capitalist investments in Europe. Whether this is the case or not, Roosevelt was forced to work with an inherently isolationist Congress, only expanding its horizons after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. He signed the Neutrality Act of 1935, making it illegal for the United States to ship arms to the belligerents of any conflict. The act also stated that belligerents could buy only non-armaments from the US, and even these were only to be bought with cash. In contrast, Stalin was by necessity interested in European affairs, but only to th...

Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Reflection Paper - Essay Example Hence, a student can be able to achieve success in some aspects of their life while at school. For example, there are students who will excel in sports, socialization, and other different aspects of development while failing to pose excellent grades in class. In effect, qualifying such students as failures and branding them as such is not appropriate. To me, I think I have been an overall good student this far. However, the adjective ‘good’ is relative since there have been incidences whereby I think I have not done my best to be a good student. In effect, this reflection paper analyses my student life and the adjustments that I can make to turn my failures into successes while make the successes only better to help me achieve a lot in future. Assignments and school projects form the foundation of a student’s life in school. In this case, the assignments and projects ensure that a student is graded and their progress determined depending on the grades they obtaine d. In effect, a student who fails many of their assignments is branded a failure once they fail to post good grades in their examinations while those who posted impressive grades become successful. For me, I value the challenge posed by assignments and projects since they have been important in ensuring that I posted good grades. In this case, I have been able to hand in my assignments and projects on time. However, I am not happy with the approach that I was taking towards completing these assignments. In this case, I used to work on my assignments a few days, or even hours, before the submission deadline. In effect, I do not think that the level of hard work and research I was putting on these assignments helped me produce and realize my full potential. I feel that the grades were not a reflection of the best that I could have done, which effectively means that the grades are far from what I should have achieved. On the other hand, group projects have been influential since I have been able to interact with diverse people and gain self-confidence. However, we did not conduct our group’s projects in an approach that brought the best out of every member. In this case, I feel that I was not a good a student since I did not speak to my colleagues about this issue. Rather, I chose to remain silent instead of asking my group members to change the way we engaged each other since we were not achieving our full potential. Maintaining silence was not reflective of the behavior that a good student should have observed and I regret this approach. In effect, I want to ensure that I adjusted the approach that we used to conduct our group activities so that I can achieve success as a student in the United States. I realized that I relied more on fellow students than I relied on my instructors. In line with this, relying on my fellow students was beneficial since I gained insights that helped me during my studies. However, I think that I should have engaged my instru ctors more than my fellow students in order to obtain informative insights due to the experience that instructors have in comparison to students. I want to adjust this aspect in order to become a successful student in the United States. Overall, I am a good student although there are some aspects of a good student that I have to accomplish. In this regard, I realize that I have not engaged in extra-curricular activities throughout the course of my