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The Bear
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel about an impoverished orphan, symbolizes literature’s power to provide escape, insight, and calls to action. Initially, Lyddie struggles to read even simple texts, and she feels shame about her partial illiteracy. But after Lyddie’s roommate Betsy begins reading Oliver Twist aloud, Lyddie finds herself obsessed with the novel’s twists and turns, and she uses the book to teach herself more advanced reading and writing. Beyond being merely entertaining, Lyddie also sees parallels between herself and Dickens’s titular character; Oliver is always hungry, and “Lyddie knew about hungry children.” Indeed, Lyddie finds the narrative so compelling that she spends some of her hard-earned money purchasing a copy, which she later shares with her sister Rachel and her colleague Brigid. Finally, though the narrative never states this explicitly, it is heavily implied that Lyddie’s love of Oliver Twist coincides with her newfound social conscience (even as it enforces some of her prejudices, including her antisemitism). After all, if Oliver can challenge the sharp class divides and brutal poorhouses that make his life a nightmare, why can’t Lyddie do the same?
Oliver Twist Quotes in Lyddie
The Lyddie quotes below all refer to the symbol of Oliver Twist. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 10 Quotes
The child was in some kind of poor house, it seemed, and he was hungry. Lyddie knew about hungry children. Rachel, Agnes, Charlie—they had all been hungry that winter of the bear. The hungry little boy in the story had held up his bowl to the poor house overseer and said:
“Please sir, I want some more.”
[…] She fought sleep, ravenous for every word. She had not had any appetite for the bountiful meal downstairs, but now she was feeling a hunger she knew nothing about. She had to know what would happen to little Oliver. Would he indeed be hanged just because he wanted more gruel?
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Chapter 15 Quotes
Dear Brother Charles,
I hope you are well. I am sorry to trouble you with sad news, but Uncle Judah come tonight to Lowell and brung Rachel to me. They have put our mother to the asylum at Brattleboro. Now they are thinking to sell the farm. You must go and stop them. You are the man of the family. Judah won’t pay me no mind. They got to listen to you. I got more than one hundred dollars to the det. Do not let them sell, Charlie. I beg you. I don't know what to do with Rachel. Children are not allowed in corporation house. If I can I will take her home, but I got to have a home to go to. It is up to you, Charlie […]
She could hardly keep her mind on her work. What was the use of it all anyway if the farm was gone?
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Chapter 22 Quotes
The bear had won. It had stolen her home, her family, her work, her good name. She had thought she was so strong, so tough, and she had just stood there like a day-old lamb and let it gobble her down. She looked around the crowded room that had been her home—the two double beds squeezed in with less than a foot between them for passage. She thought of Betsy sitting cross-legged on the one, bent slightly toward the candle, reading aloud while she, Lyddie, lay motionless, lost in Oliver’s world.
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Get the entire Lyddie LitChart as a printable PDF.
Oliver Twist Symbol Timeline in Lyddie
The timeline below shows where the symbol Oliver Twist appears in Lyddie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
Betsy’s story is about a boy in a poorhouse named Oliver Twist , who is always hungry. When the boy begs for food (“please sir, I want...
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Chapter 11
...just as much, Lyddie feels energized—after all, tonight Betsy will read to her again from Oliver Twist . While Diana notices that Lyddie is settling in quickly, Lyddie can’t articulate—even to Diana—the...
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...but the girls still finish the book together. Lyddie starts sharing the library “rent” for Oliver Twist with Betsy, giving her 10 cents. Betsy confesses that she, too, is saving money, hoping...
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...she has the room to herself, Lyddie can focus more on her reading. She checks Oliver Twist out from the library again, and she begins to copy the text page by page,...
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Lyddie has even started reading Oliver Twist at church, slipping copied pages of the novel into her bible. One Sunday, Lyddie is...
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Chapter 12
...all Lyddie does is work and read. Lyddie starts to identify with the characters in Oliver Twist , not just the family—so much like her own—but also Fagin, who was made cruel...
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Chapter 15
...all, though she inhales plate after plate of food. For a second, Lyddie thinks of Oliver Twist , always hungry for more. Lyddie decides to read Rachel to sleep, hoping a novel...
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Chapter 22
...Lyddie then says goodbye to Brigid—but before she goes, she gives Brigid her copy of Oliver Twist .
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