Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Disguised or Mistaken Identities
The plot of Oliver Twist revolves around
the various false identities that other characters impose upon Oliver,
often for the sake of advancing their own interests. Mr. Bumble
and the other workhouse officials insist on portraying Oliver as
something he is not—an ungrateful, immoral pauper. Monks does his
best to conceal Oliver’s real identity so that Monks himself can
claim Oliver’s rightful inheritance. Characters also disguise their
own identities when it serves them well to do so. Nancy pretends
to be Oliver’s middle-class sister in order to get him back to Fagin,
while Monks changes his name and poses as a common criminal rather
than the heir he really is. Scenes depicting the manipulation of
clothing indicate how it plays an important part in the construction
of various characters’ identities. Nancy dons new clothing to pass
as a middle-class girl, and Fagin strips Oliver of all his upper-class
credibility when he takes from him the suit of clothes purchased
by Brownlow. The novel’s resolution revolves around the revelation
of the real identities of Oliver, Rose, and Monks. Only when every
character’s identity is known with certainty does the story achieve
real closure.
Hidden Family Relationships
The revelation of Oliver’s familial ties is among the
novel’s most unlikely plot turns: Oliver is related to Brownlow,
who was married to his father’s sister; to Rose, who is his aunt;
and to Monks, who is his half-brother. The coincidences involved
in these facts are quite unbelievable and represent the novel’s
rejection of realism in favor of fantasy. Oliver is at first believed
to be an orphan without parents or relatives, a position that would,
in that time and place, almost certainly seal his doom. Yet, by
the end of the novel, it is revealed that he has more relatives
than just about anyone else in the novel. This reversal of his fortunes
strongly resembles the fulfillment of a naïve child’s wish. It also
suggests the mystical binding power of family relationships. Brownlow
and Rose take to Oliver immediately, even though he is implicated
in an attempted robbery of Rose’s house, while Monks recognizes
Oliver the instant he sees him on the street. The influence of blood
ties, it seems, can be felt even before anyone knows those ties
exist.
Surrogate Families
Before Oliver finds his real family, a number of individuals
serve him as substitue parents, mostly with very limited success.
Mrs. Mann and Mr. Bumble are surrogate parents, albeit horribly
negligent ones, for the vast numbers of orphans under their care.
Mr. Sowerberry and his wife, while far from ideal, are much more
serviceable parent figures to Oliver, and one can even imagine that
Oliver might have grown up to be a productive citizen under their
care. Interestingly, it is the mention of his real mother that leads
to Oliver’s voluntary abandonment of the Sowerberrys. The most provocative
of the novel’s mock family structures is the unit formed by Fagin
and his young charges. Fagin provides for and trains his wards nearly
as well as a father might, and he inspires enough loyalty in them
that they stick around even after they are grown. But these quasi-familial relationships
are built primarily around exploitation and not out of true concern
or selfless interest. Oddly enough, the only satisfactory surrogate
parents Oliver finds are Brownlow and Rose, both of whom turn out
to be actual relatives.
Oliver’s Face
Oliver’s face is singled out for special attention at
multiple points in the novel. Mr. Sowerberry, Charley Bates, and
Toby Crackit all comment on its particular appeal, and its resemblance
to the portrait of Agnes Fleming provides the first clue to Oliver’s
identity. The power of Oliver’s physiognomy, combined with the facts
that Fagin is hideous and Rose is beautiful, suggests that in the
world of the novel, external appearance usually gives a fair impression
of a person’s inner character.
