Poverty and social stratification of Victorian society in Charles Dickens Oliver Twists

ABSTRACT

Literature is close to reality. How close it is, is affirmed in various ways, but the point remains that both have a two way relationship influencing one another. As what Teeuw said in his sastra dan ilmu sastra (1948) literature and reality is related each other, both need each other. Otherwise, poverty and social stratification in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist has a close relationship with the condition in England nineteenth century especially in Victorian period.

The story within the novel takes place in England nineteenth century during industrial revolution. As the industrial revolution progress there were a gap between the aristocrats, factory owners and their worker. This chaotic condition is caused by the rapid progress in science, technology, and even in literature that drove the Victorian to invent the modern idea of discovery. Social change and the increasing of science and technology and economic are the aspect of industrial revolution. Industrial revolution is the rapid progress caused by the new invention technology of industry and transportation. Thus Charles Dickens’s depicts this condition into his Oliver Twist. He tells much about the condition in Victorian society during industrial revolution i.e. the condition of poor peoples that lives in absolute poverty, in contrast the living of the upper class (aristocrats and the factory owner) which lives in prosperity. The contradiction of this condition inspires the researcher to criticize it into her thesis entitled poverty and social stratification of Victorian society in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist.

This research was aimed at answering the following question (1) what kinds of poverty does Charles Dickens describe in Oliver Twist? (2) What kinds of social stratification does Charles Dickens describe in Charles Dickens Oliver Twist? (3) Does the condition of poverty and social stratification reflect the real condition of Victorian society?

To achieve the above objectives of the study, the researcher applies the sociology of literature with Marxist criticism. Marxism had already flourished in nineteenth century as a pragmatic view of history that offered the working classes of society in opportunity to change their world and therefore their lives. Since this study is emphasized on the analysis of a literary work, it is, then, classified as literary criticism. The primary data of this study are collected from Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, and the secondary data are gathered from the social phenomenon during industrial revolution in England. The researcher herself becomes the research instrument in the process of data collection and data analysis.

Based on the researcher’s analysis, poverty portrayed in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist is absolute poverty, whether social stratification there were the upper class(the bourgeoisie and the factory owner) and the lower class(working class/) which also known as proletariats which lives in poverty. After comparing and contrasting the poverty and social tratification in Victorian society as portrayed in the novel and as reflected in the real life of Victorian society, the researcher then concludes that the novel truly reflects the condition of poverty and social stratification which has been captured by Charles Dickens’s in his Oliver Twist. Hence, industrial revolution in England brings the Victorian society into both poverty and prosperity.