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Realism in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist Introduction Being one of the most prominent critical realists in the 19th century, Charles Dickens gave us a vivid picture of Victorian times. In Dickens’ whole life, he composed lots of works. His works are characterized by literal attacks on social evils, unfairness, and hypocrisy. In Oliver Twist, Dickens attempted to reveal the cruel, unfair, and corrupt society under the control of the capitalist and aroused the society’s concern to the weak groups, including the children, the women and the old. There are many definitions of realism. For example，it is a practical understanding and acceptance of the actual nature of the world, rather than an idealized or romantic view of it; or as opposed to nominalism, the doctrine that genera and species are real things or entities, existing independently of our conceptions. 2. Critical realism in Oliver Twist Critical realism is any doctrine reconciling the real, independent, objective nature of the world with a due appreciation of the mind-dependence of the sensory experiences whereby we know about it. In Victorian times, the broad masses lived under severe conditions. As Dickens put it, the poor chose between “being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it.” It is the society, the government that should be responsible for it. No one can escape from their unfortunate fate; no one can break away from these continuous sufferings; and no one can flee from these bottomless abysses. 2.1 Criticism of the capitalist society Oliver Twist was famous for exposing the dark sides of people lived out that time (Lu Jianguo 40). The misfortunes of the characters in Oliver Twist had a deep connection to the society. The corruption and indifference of the society made their people not get rid of their misfortunes. The harder they tried to break away from it, the more cost they should pay. In the Victoria capitalist society, there was a big conflict between the up