Name: ____________________________________________________ Day/Block: __________

Oliver Twist Reading Guide Chapters 15-18

DIRECTIONS: Read Chapters 15-18. Complete the following activities while reading.
Part I: Women in Victorian Society
1. Most characters in the Oliver Twist either represent goodness or embody evil. The
character of Nancy however does not seem to correspond either of these moral extremes.
Describe the character of Nancy. In what ways does she act against Oliver (page 123),
and it what ways does she act to help Oliver (pages 149-150)?

2. Why do you think Nancy suddenly shows concern for Oliver (pages 152-153)?

3. What rules did women have to follow in the Victorian Age as depicted in Oliver
Twist? Consider the character of Mrs. Mann, Nancy, & Mrs. Bedwin.

Part II: Children in Victorian Society

In Chapter 17, Mr. Bumble allows Dick to make a request.
'I should like, said the child, to leave my dear love to poor Oliver Twist; and to let him
know how often I have sat by myself and cried to think of his wandering about in the dark
nights with nobody to help him. And I should like to tell him, said the child pressing his
small hands together, and speaking with great fervour, that I was glad to die when I was
very young; for, perhaps, if I had lived to be a man, and had grown old, my little sister who
is in Heaven, might forget me, or be unlike me; and it would be so much happier if we
were both children there together.

4. How does this passage compare to the poem The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake? (See back
for poem.) What does the novel and the poem suggest about the outlook of many children in
Victorian England?

The Chimney Sweeper

BY WILLIAM BLAKE
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his
head,
That curl'd llke a lamb's back. was shav'd: so I
said
"Hush. Tom! never mind it, for when your head's
bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white
hair."
And so he was quiet & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned or
Jack.
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black.
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they
run,
And wash in a river. and shine in the Sun.
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark.

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy &
warm;
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.
Poverty
BY JANE TAYLOR
I saw an old cottage of clay,
And only of mud was the floor;
It was all falling into decay,
And the snow drifted in at the door.
Yet there a poor family dwelt,
In a hovel so dismal and rude;
And though gnawing hunger they felt,
They had not a morsel of food.
The children were crying for bread,
And to their poor mother theyd run;
Oh, give us some breakfast, they said,
Alas! their poor mother had none.
She viewed them with looks of despair,
She said (and Im sure it was true),
Tis not for myself that I care,
But, my poor little children, for you.
O then, let the wealthy and gay
But see such a hovel as this,
That in a poor cottage of clay
They may know what true misery is.
And what I may have to bestow
I never will squander away,
While many poor people I know
Around me are wretched as they.

Part III: SIFT Poetry Analysis

Directions: Use the table below to record examples of each of the poetic devices from the
poem. Then identify the effect of each device.
Title of Poem:______________________________________ Author:__________________________
Poetic Devices

Symbols
Examine the title
and text for
symbolism (the
use of object or
action that means
something more
than its literal
meaning).

Images
Identify images
and sensory
details (sight,
sound, taste, odor,
texture).

Figures of Speech
Identify and
analyze nonstandard use of
language, including
metaphor (a
surprising
comparison
between two unlike
things), simile (a
surprising or
unlikely
comparison using
like or as),
personification
(giving human
qualities to
anything nonhuman),
alliteration
(repetition of
beginning sounds
in a series of
words), assonance

Examples

Effect

(the repetition of
vowel sounds in a
series of words),
onomatopoeia (a
word that sounds
like what it means),
repetition, etc.

Tone and Theme

What is the tone of
the poem?
What is the theme
of the poem? Why
did the author
create the poem?

Directions: Use the table below to record examples of each of the poetic devices from the
poem. Then identify the effect of each device.
Title of Poem:______________________________________ Author:__________________________
Poetic Devices

Symbols
Examine the title
and text for
symbolism (the
use of object or
action that means
something more
than its literal
meaning).

Images
Identify images
and sensory
details (sight,
sound, taste, odor,
texture).

Figures of Speech
Identify and
analyze nonstandard use of
language, including
metaphor (a
surprising

Examples

Effect

comparison
between two unlike
things), simile (a
surprising or
unlikely
comparison using
like or as),
personification
(giving human
qualities to
anything nonhuman),
alliteration
(repetition of
beginning sounds
in a series of
words), assonance
(the repetition of
vowel sounds in a
series of words),
onomatopoeia (a
word that sounds
like what it means),
repetition, etc.

Tone and Theme

What is the tone of
the poem?
What is the theme
of the poem? Why
did the author
create the poem?