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Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens' gritty tale of social injustice, revisited in 10 frames
'Please, sir, I want some more.' Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist remains one of the most iconic fictional orphans, rivaled perhaps only by JK Rowling's Harry Potter. Set in the underbelly of 19th-century Victorian London, the novel follows the journey of an orphan who is entered into the system in infancy. He is then promptly swallowed up and spit out by that notoriously corrupt, sluggish, and bureaucratic entity: the State. As a ward of an indifferent government, Oliver Twist's simple request for more food, an act of innocent defiance, lands him in a world where he must fight to retain his virtue amid cruelty and exploitation. Dickens' second novel is a powerful indictment of England's broken social safety net, specifically the Poor Laws Amendment Act of 1834. Under these reforms, the impoverished were granted food and clothing only in exchange for labor in dehumanising workhouses. Dickens knew this world intimately. At just twelve, he worked in a blacking factory pasting labels on bottles after his father was jailed for debt. The workhouse, presented as a tool for moral uplift, is a machine of degradation. The legal system is capricious, and even religious figures frequently fail to embody the virtues they preach. Dickens strips away the Victorian fantasy that institutions exist to protect the vulnerable. This installment of 'Lit in 10' distills the serialised novel—published monthly from February 1837 to April 1839—into 10 defining moments that reveal the soul of Oliver Twist. Scroll down for a visual retelling of this literary classic, and when time allows, dive into the original. Its portrait of poverty, justice, and survival in a fractured society remains as powerful today as ever. A child is born in a grim English workhouse to a young woman who dies moments after childbirth. Her name is never recorded. The parish surgeon delivers the child, and a drunken pauper nurse mutters a half-hearted blessing. There are no celebrations, only bureaucratic procedures to welcome his arrival. Mr Bumble, the parish beadle, gives him the name 'Oliver Twist' as part of an alphabetical system (following 'Swubble' and preceding 'Unwin'). 'Badged and ticketed,' the orphaned Oliver is reduced to a number. Fed on a diet of thin gruel and endless sermons, Twist and other boys endure sanctioned suffering. After drawing lots, Twist is chosen to request another portion of food. His plea, 'Please, sir, I want some more,' shocks the authorities and brands him as a troublemaker. The outraged board of guardians decides to remove him from the workhouse, offering five pounds to anyone willing to take him. This moment marks Twist's first resistance to injustice. The iconic scene turns hunger into an act of political defiance. A cruel chimney sweep named Mr Gamfield offers to take Twist as an man known to have 'bruised three or four boys to death.' He wants a small boy to force into narrow chimneys, to get a five-pound bonus. The board, eager to rid themselves of Twist, almost agrees. But Twist's visible terror before the magistrate, his pale face and pleading eyes, spares him. Twist is apprenticed to Mr Sowerberry, an undertaker instead. He sleeps under the counter near empty coffins and eats leftover scraps meant for the dog. For the first time, he earns a wage. When the undertaker's apprentice, Noah Claypole, insults Twist's dead mother, he lashes out in rage. The punishment that follows is swift and brutal. The funeral trade becomes a metaphor, Twist is alive, but surrounded by death in every sense. Beaten, starved, and unwanted, Twist runs away to London. The journey is long, hungry, and dangerous. On the final stretch, he meets Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, a streetwise boy who offers him shelter. The Dodger leads Twist to a new 'home' under Fagin's roof. This is a trap. Twist's new family is a gang of pickpockets overseen by Fagin, who grooms children for theft. Fagin offers food, shelter, and even affection, but at a price. In his den, lined with stolen watches and silk handkerchiefs, Twist is taught to steal without understanding it is a crime. On his first outing, Twist is wrongly accused of pickpocketing a kind gentleman, Mr Brownlow. But instead of punishment, Brownlow offers him refuge. In his home, Twist gets warmth, books, and clean clothes, and feels he might be loved. It is a short interlude of peace. This sanctuary is snatched from him when Fagin's gang violently abducts Twist. Twist is forced to assist in a house burglary by the violent Bill Sikes. Nancy, Sikes's companion, secretly helps Twist and later takes a great risk in informing Mr Brownlow of the boy's whereabouts. She sees her younger self in Twist and in trying to help him, seeks redemption. Sikes, paranoid and cornered, brutally murders Nancy. His descent into guilt and madness mirrors the city's shadows, cloaked, chaotic, inescapable. Hunted by mobs, Sikes accidentally hangs himself trying to flee across a rooftop. The murder of Nancy, though horrific, becomes the event that finally causes the collapse of the criminal world that held Twist captive. Finally, Twist is revealed to be the son of a naval officer and the rightful heir to an inheritance. The people who mistreated or exploited him—Fagin, Sikes and Bumble—are exposed or punished. Mr Brownlow formally adopts Twist. Reading only the plot summary, anyone unfamiliar with the novel would be forgiven for mistaking Oliver Twist as a somewhat grotesque picaresque tale where a young boy, standing in for the archetypal innocent maiden, defends his virtue from villainous predators. Oliver himself may appear a one-dimensional cardboard cutout. So what makes this a literary classic? For me, it is Dickens' empathetic and layered portrayal of criminality. He does not romanticise crime like the popular Newgate novels (named for a London prison that was destroyed in a fire in 1780) of his day. Instead, he draws a realistic portrait of London's seedy underbelly and those who inhabit it. Dickens' criminals are neither evil nor heroes rebelling against an unjust society, they are human beings struggling to survive in an apathetic city. They are people shaped, and often broken, by an uncaring system. Who is the greater criminal: Fagin, who gathers those discarded by society into a makeshift family, or Judge Fang, the cold embodiment of institutional cruelty? One preys on the desperate, the other represents a system that created that desperation. Dickens does not offer easy answers. Fagin is manipulative, yet provides laughter and shelter. Nancy is both kidnapper and protector. Even Bill Sikes, brutal as he is, is more than a monster, he is the product of poverty and pain. In a novel full of morally ambiguous characters, Oliver's unblemished innocence may seem implausible, but perhaps he is not meant to be realistic. Instead, he serves as a moral anchor, a fixed point of purity around which the chaos of the city swirls. Dickens uses caricature and satire to great effect to expose the hypocrisy of respectable society. Now, in the 21st century, Oliver Twist has become a cultural touchstone. Its characters have entered the popular imagination, and its themes have inspired generations of writers and reformers to confront injustice with empathy. It has been adapted both for stage and screen, and the iconic musical, Oliver! (Disclaimer: Lit in 10 aims to distill the essence of great works, not to replace them. To fully experience Dickens' humor, horror, and heart, the original novel is still essential reading.) Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics. She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks. She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year. She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home. Write to her at or You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
Indian Express
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott's coming-of-age classic, revisited in 10 frames
Over 150 years after it was first published, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868) remains a subject of debate: is it a relic of domestic oppression or a manifesto of female empowerment? It is the story of four sisters who grapple with poverty, ambition, personal loss, romantic entanglements, and expectations of womanhood in the 19th century. The novel, set during the turbulence of the American Civil War (1861-1865) between the United States (the Union) and the Confederate States of America, is often dismissed as a 'domestic' novel. Critics of this school of thought argue that the March sisters ultimately conform to traditional roles: wives, mothers, and homemakers. The women in the novel are embodiments of sacrifice, Marmee encourages the girls to give up their limited luxuries, Meg compromises for marital peace and motherhood, and Beth sacrifices herself her life for society and is suffers uncomplainingly till her tragic death. Others laud the female ambition despite the limitations on women in those times: Jo wants to be a writer and ends up running a school for boys, and Amy becomes a painter and a woman of the world. They contend that Little Women suggests that empowerment can coexist and does coexist with tradition. Rather than rejecting marriage or motherhood, Alcott shows through Jo how women can have it all. This installment of Lit in 10 condenses the story into 10 moments that capture the soul of Little Women. Scroll down for a visual retelling of this literary treasure, and do read the original when you can. The novel opens in a modest home in Concord, Massachusetts, where the four March sisters —Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March— brace themselves for a cold Christmas without gifts and their beloved father, who is serving as a chaplain in the Civil War. Their mother, Marmee, instills in them the values of sacrifice and empathy, and they decide to share their Christmas breakfast with a destitute immigrant family. The girls are caught between the innocence of childhood and the expectations of adulthood. They have big dreams, Meg yearns for elegant clothes, Jo for literary fame, Beth for domestic harmony, and Amy for artistic renown. Jo March (Generated using AI) Adventurous Jo befriends the boy next door, Theodore 'Laurie' Laurence, a wealthy orphan living with his strict grandfather. Their friendship is charged with affection, mischief, and a possibility for romance. Laurie, who has always been alone, is drawn to the warmth of the March household, becomes a surrogate brother to the girls. For Jo, their bond is a lifeline as he is one of the few people who do not condemn her for defiance of gender stereotypes. She shares her stories, dreams and ambition with them. As the two grow up, Laurie fancies himself in love with Jo, and wants their easy companionship to turn into romance. Meg is invited to spend two weeks with her wealthy friends, a dream come true. However, she finds herself thrust into a performative world of corseted parties, flirtatious suitors, and carefully curated drawing-room conversations. At a lavish ball, she wears borrowed silks and paints her face, temporarily becoming one of the high society girls she has always envied. However, she realises how vanity can erode self-respect. A stern conversation with Marmee reminds her that personal worth must not be measured in gowns. Meg's journey teaches her to define her own sense of dignity in a world that values women by their marital prospects. After tending to a destitute German family, Beth contracts scarlet fever. The illness physically weakens her and leaves a lasting shadow on the family. As she recovers slowly in Jo's care, Beth becomes the novel's moral compass. Her brush with death is the first intrusion of mortality into the March sisters' lives. It reveals the depth of their interdependence. Beth's bravery in the face of suffering inspires Jo's own moral and emotional growth. Though she survives the fever for the time being, it is clear that she has been greatly weakened. Her convalescence has been transformative for her whole family. Laurie confesses his love for Jo in an impulsive proposal. But Jo, fiercely independent and uncertain about her capacity for romantic love, turns him down. She has the foresight to see that their passion would eventually combust. She realises that a rejection might jeopardise their friendship, but she refuses to give in to Laurie's childish infatuation. Rather than compromise for the sake of their friendship, she takes the difficult path and does the right thing. She departs for New York soon after, hoping to realise her ambition in a world where women's role remains constricted. The youngest sister Amy is given the chance to travel abroad with their Aunt March. In the art salons of Europe, she trades her childish vanity for ambition, and self-discipline. She studies painting and begins to evolve into a young woman from a precocious, if impetuous girl. When Laurie, now older and wiser, reappears in her life, their companionship blossoms into love. Beth's health, never fully restored after her illness, steadily declines. Jo becomes her constant companion. They sit together at the piano, in the garden, in silence. When Beth dies, she leaves behind no legacy of great deeds, only a memory of kindness and love. Upon her death, a devastated Jo funnels her grief into creativity. In New York, Jo teaches at a boarding house and meets Professor Friedrich Bhaer, a German academic with a gentle disposition and a critical eye. He challenges her to write with truth rather than sensationalism. They learn to respect each other. After Beth's death, Jo returns to Concord with a renewed purpose. She inherits Aunt March's estate, Plumfield, and transforms it into a progressive school for orphaned boys. Amy and Laurie get married in Europe and return as a couple. Jo is surprised by the match but not embittered. Their union represents a compatibility Jo knew she could not offer Laurie. The three are uncomfortable initially, but not jealous. They begin to repair their bond. Amy, once vain and selfish, now embodies grace and generosity. Laurie, once reckless, has matured. Their nuptials once gain bring happiness and celebration to the house. Jo's school, Plumfield, becomes her life's work. She marries Professor Bhaer despite his poverty. Theirs is a bond of respect and a shared desire to do something meaningful with their lives. Surrounded by children, books, gardens, and music, Jo refines her dreams and expands it to make space for others. She takes Beth's example and tries to selflessly make the world a better place through service to society. In the 21st century, where materialism is on an all time high, and empathy is a rare commodity, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women takes us back to simpler times and remind us is important: morals, family and self-respect. It is no wonder that the 19th century classic was adapted for the screen in 2019 by renowned filmmaker Greta Gerwig, whose films, whether Lady Bird or Barbie, reimagine the world through a feminist lens through transgressive protagonists. I n Little Women, Jo, frustrated by the limitations society puts on women yearns to be a boy so that she can be useful to her family. While Jo wants to go out and work rather than pin her hopes on a rich suitor, her sisters forge different paths to empowerment. Meg, the oldest and prettiest of them all has to make do with a man of modest means, but creative and elegant Amy, the youngest sister, is able to make a match with the wealthy and loveable Laurie despite her family's humble origins. Beth, otherworldly and grace personified, does not let her debilitating illness embitter her, but makes a mark through her kindness in her short life. Today, fewer young readers turn to Little Women as may dismiss it as sentimental or 'just for girls.' However, it is a recommended read as it offers readers an honest look at ambition, sacrifice, and the quiet courage of ordinary life. Alcott's story is not only about girls, it is a story where idealism meets hardship. It speaks to anyone trying to make a meaningful life in a changing world. The novel is one of the best examples of the transformative and didactic potential of literature. (Lit in 10 is a creative series that condenses literary classics into 10 key moments with illustrated frames. It offers an interpretive summary and is not a substitute for reading the original work.) Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics. She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks. She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year. She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home. Write to her at or You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
Indian Express
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Anna Karenina, Tolstoy's timeless tragedy, revisited in 10 frames
'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' More than a century after its publication, Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina remains eerily relevant. Its themes of love, family, betrayal, infidelity, and the weight of social judgment feel not only timeless, but urgent. In our hyperconnected world, where curated lives are on constant display and social media serves as judge, jury, and executioner, the novel's emotional landscape feels eerily familiar. This installment of Lit in 10 tells the tragic story of Anna Karenina in 10 frames. Scroll down for an illustrated summary of one of the greatest works in Russian literature. We also recommend that you sometime read the novel in its original. Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, a novel of epic length and scope, is less a story than an entire world rendered with extraordinary nuance. Rather than sermonising, Tolstoy observes—with a dispassionate precision that only heightens the emotional weight of his characters' inner lives. Love, loss, and the soul's quiet yearnings lie at the heart of this enduring classic. (Image generated using Open AI) The novel opens in 19th century Russia. Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, travels from St Petersburg to Moscow to reconcile her brother, Prince Stepan "Stiva" Oblonsky, with his wife, Darya "Dolly" Alexandrovna, after his infidelity. At the train station, Anna meets Count Alexei Vronsky, a cavalry officer. Vronsky is courting Dolly's younger sister, Ekaterina "Kitty" Shcherbatskaya. Parallely, Konstantin Levin, a landowner and friend of Stiva, proposes to Kitty but is rejected. Kitty is infatuated with Vronsky, but he has his eyes set on Anna, a married woman with a son. (Image generated using AI) Anna returns to St Petersburg. Kitty, realising Vronsky was never serious about her, falls ill from emotional distress. Vronsky follows Anna to St Petersburg and aggressively pursues her. Anna is married to Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, a senior government official, but nonetheless begins an affair with Vronsky. Their public interactions are cause for gossip. Karenin notices a tension in their relationship, but prioritises his career and social image over confronting the issue directly. (Image generated using Open AI) Anna becomes pregnant with Vronsky's child. During a horse race in which Vronsky falls and Anna's distress all but confirms the rumours. Karenin confronts Anna, who confesses. Karenin demands that she maintain appearances. After a traumatic childbirth, which nearly kills Anna, Vronsky attempts to shoot himself. Karenin unexpectedly forgives Anna and offers to raise her illegitimate daughter as his own. However, Anna interprets his forgiveness as weakness and leaves him to live with Vronsky, abandoning her son. (Generated using AI) Anna and Vronsky leave Russia and live in Italy temporarily. Anna gives birth to a daughter, Annie. Their relationship deteriorates due to social isolation and differing expectations. They return to Russia, settling on Vronsky's estate. Anna is shunned from society and cannot obtain a divorce as Karenin refuses to oblige. She becomes increasingly dependent on Vronsky's affections, which begin to fade. Their social isolation and lack of legal recognition contribute to Anna's mental instability. (Image generated using AI) After Kitty's rejection, Levin returns to his country estate. He immerses himself in agriculture and contemplates faith, mortality, and the peasantry's role in society. Kitty undergoes emotional and physical recovery at a German spa. She and Levin meet again through mutual connections. Kitty now values Levin's sincerity. Levin proposes again, and Kitty accepts. They marry and lead a relatively stable domestic life, contrasting the instability of Anna and Vronsky's relationship. (Image generated using AI) Anna, cut off from her son and rejected by society, becomes increasingly anxious and dependent on laudanum, an opioid. Her behavior becomes increasingly erratic. Vronsky becomes frustrated and spends more time away. Anna suspects him of infidelity and feels abandoned. She visits her son in secret, bringing her into conflict with Karenin. Without a formal divorce, she remains socially ostracised. Her fear of losing Vronsky intensifies her dependence on him. (Image generated using AI) Anna and Vronsky frequently quarrel. Vronsky, now politically ambitious, seeks to re-enter society and begins spending time in public without her. Anna accuses him of infidelity, and he distances himself further. Anna writes a desperate letter to Vronsky, then travels alone by train. She interprets his delayed response as rejection. Convinced of total abandonment and societal ruin, she acts impulsively. At a train station in Moscow, Anna throws herself under an oncoming train. It is the same station where she first met Vronsky. Her extreme step is a result of accumulated emotional distress, social alienation, and the breakdown of her relationship. She leaves behind a daughter, an estranged son, and an unfinished life. Her death causes a public sensation but has little long-term consequences for the men involved. She is buried without religious rites due to the circumstances. (Image generated using AI) (Image generated using Open AI) Vronsky is devastated by Anna's suicide. He relinquishes custody of their daughter to Karenin and leaves Russia to volunteer for military service in the Balkans. His decision to join the war is interpreted as his guilt and lack of purpose following Anna's death. He becomes disillusioned. Karenin remains a distant and passive figure, having lost both his wife and his public dignity. (Generated using AI) Levin and Kitty adjust to married life, and are eventually blessed with a son. Levin goes through inner turmoil regarding faith and meaning. While going through the motions of peasant life and reflecting on mortality, he undergoes a spiritual awakening. He embraces a form of Christian faith rooted in ethical action and humility rather than doctrine. His transformation concludes the novel. In 19th-century Russia, Anna's fate is shaped by a society that punishes female desire with merciless consistency—then as now. Her transformation from socialite to outcast is portrayed with aching clarity, absent of overt condemnation. Her affair with Count Vronsky, imagined as liberation, gradually reveals itself to be subject to the same disillusionments as any domestic bond. Her longing to be truly seen, to be loved without condition, remains deeply resonant. Yet it is Levin—Tolstoy's philosophical alter ego—who provides the novel's soul. His introspections on faith, mortality, and the quiet dignity of rural life read like a search for meaning amid the noise of modernity. His journey contrasts Anna's, offering not resolution but reflection. (Lit in 10 is a creative series that condenses literary classics into 10 key moments with illustrated frames. It offers an interpretive summary and is not a substitute for reading the original work.)
