The
Irony of Charity
Kelly Rogers, Mary Shorten, Elizabeth
Potter, Emily Van Bridger
In Oliver Twist, Dickens uses satire
to depict the corruption, inhumanity, and alienation of charitable institutions
in early 19th Century
Upon the introduction of the “baby
farm” early in the book, the reader meets Mrs. Mann, who is paid a weekly
allowance of seven pence-halfpenny by the church to be the “parental
superintendent” of 20-30 young boys under the age of nine – the age when they
were legally allowed to work 8-hour days (http://www.victorianweb.org/). This money
is intended to be used to buy the children their necessities, but when the
children are ready to enter the adult workhouse they are found to be “thin,
somewhat diminutive in stature, and decidedly small in circumference” (Dickens
5). Dickens uses satire when pertaining to Mrs. Mann by saying that the
“elderly female was a woman of wisdom and experience; she knew what was good
for children; and she had a very accurate perception of what was good for
herself” (Dickens 4). If she knew what was good for these children, though,
they would be in better health and body when they left her care. The little
money that she does use on the children, she uses to purchase gin – which she
herself drinks. She justifies the gin by saying, “it’s what I’m obliged to keep
a little of in the house to put into the blessed infants’ Daffy, when they
ain’t well” (Dickens 7). Her behaviour causes the reader to be suspicious of
her motives in buying the gin. If it was for the children’s use, then she
should not be drinking it, or even going as far as to offer it to Mr. Bumble,
the Beadle – which she does. You would also think after Mr. Bumble saw the
shape of the children and knowing very well that the gin is not for their use,
he would have declined it, but he doesn’t and this is
in itself a lead into the inhumanity that these officials express towards their
charges.
Inhumanity was extremely prevalent
in the both workhouse and baby farm. On Oliver’s birthday at the “baby farm,”
he is beaten and locked up. He often faces these problems; nevertheless, Mr.
Bumble describes Mrs. Mann as “a humane woman” (Dickens 7). There was an
obvious lack of nutrition and clothing among the children at the baby farm, and
Dickens satirically comments, “they never had the
inconvience of too much food or too much clothing” (Dickens 4). One of the best
examples of the inhumanity in the story is the famous line “Please Sir can I
have some more” (Dickens 13). It illustrates how children in the workhouse were
kept near starvation, and were hardly given enough to survive. Dickens
describes the children as being so “wild and voracious with hunger” (Dickens
12) that they claimed they could eat their companions. The authorities excuse
their behaviour with the notion that giving the children more food will make
them more rebellious. From the time that Oliver innocently asks for more food,
the authorities look for ways to rid themselves of him. They view his request
as a questioning of their authority and a threat to their power.
Alienation was a common way of
exercising power over the children in both the main workhouse and the branch
workhouses like the baby farm. The children are restricted from forming
relationships of any kind within the workhouse or the outside world. At the
baby farm, the children are locked inside the confines of the yard. When Mr
Bumble comes for inspection, Mrs Mann says, “I should have forgotten that the
gate bolted on the inside, on account of them dear children” (Dickens 6). This
shows that the children are prohibited from interacting with the outside
society. As Oliver leaves the baby farm to go to the workhouse he is forced to
leave the few companions he has, and in the gloom of the workhouse the “sense
of his loneliness in the great wide world, sank into the child’s heart for the
first time” (Dickens 9). This illustrates Oliver’s first feelings of
alienation, as he has been isolated from the only friendship he has ever known.
As well, within the workhouse Oliver is ordered into
instant confinement because he asks 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 to which he had been
consigned by the wisdom and mercy to the board.” (Dickens 14) Dickens
satirically exemplifies the board’s kindness in providing Oliver with some
society for the duration of his punishment. “As for society, he was carried
every other day into the hall where the boys dined, and there sociably flogged
as a public warning and example” (Dickens 14).
Dickens’ satire throughout the novel
describes the charitable institutions as places that breed corruption,
inhumanity, and alienation. In Dickens’ time society’s failure to recognise
these problems destroyed the lives of many innocent children. By exploring the problems
of the past, perhaps we will be more capable of identifying the downfalls that
may arise in the institutions of our time.