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How can social justice be considered a major theme in the book Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens?

Social justice is a concept that has to do with equality and fairness in society. This could include ideas such as the fact that all members of society deserve to be treated fairly under the law, have access to making a living, access to adequate housing, clean water, food, health care, etc. In Victorian England, the setting of Oliver Twist and of all of Dickens' novels, there was a great deal of inequality in society, mainly because of the division of wealth and labor. Dickens sought to illustrate the problems with this system in his stories, and his novel Oliver Twist is a particularly strong example because it depicts one of the worst expressions of inequality in that culture: the treatment of orphaned children.


Dickens was able to raise awareness about the plight of orphans in the workhouses, and the general living conditions of the poor. He did this by depicting the lives of the poor via well-drawn characters like Oliver Twist himself, a spirited boy who responds to his cruel treatment with hope, kindness and determination. The fact that Oliver does not allow the cruelty and abuse he suffers to turn him into a bad person or lead him to a life of crime portrays a message that the poor are not lacking in compassion or decency, despite being demonized by the upper classes. Dickens portrays the living conditions of London's poor in ways that make it understandable why some of them are forced to engage in criminal behavior (theft or prostitution) in order to survive. By bringing attention to these living conditions through his very popular novels, Dickens hoped to encourage better conditions and social justice for the poor.

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