Finishing Oliver Twist

Ended up really enjoying 'Oliver Twist' as the action heated up in the second half of the novel.

Sykes' murder of poor Nancy is horrendous, but even a pure brute like Sykes is forced to suffer the torment of guilt, as all humans are made from some degree of conscience. The reader also observes that karma lies in wait for the wrong-doer, as Sykes accidentally hangs himself in a desperate escape attempt from the crowds of Londoners in his pusuit.

Also found the narrative focus upon Fagin's last few days locked up before his execution interesting. Guess that any inmate would lose his/her senses knowing that his/her life would be extinguished soon. Couldn't quite work out if Dickens expresses sympathy or scorn towards "The Jew" (Fagin) near the end of the novel, especially when Fagin refuses to kneel down and pray with Oliver.

Was funny to see that karma also laid in wait for Mr. Bumble and his battleaxe wife, as they end up seeing out their days in the workhouse. When I think twice about this, I'm tempted to sympathise a bit with Mr. Bumble, because he seems to have been more of a coward and social role-player, rather than being clearly bad which Mrs Bumble certainly was.

It was also sad (but predictable) to see Oliver discover that his small friend from the workhouse, young Dick, had died. While expecting some kind of happy ending in 'Oliver Twist', I realised that it couldn't be extended as far as Oliver meeting up with young Dick alive again. Of course, the magic of 'Oliver Twist' may be viewed as being in the early chapters of the novel with Dickens' narrative focus on the horrors of the workhouse.

Since finishing 'Oliver Twist' a couple of weeks ago, I've started reading the collection of D.H. Lawrence stories shown in the picture above. Have read 'The Virgin and the Gypsy' several times before, so I've started off by digging into 'Love Among the Haystacks', a typical Lawrentian piece about the polarity between the repressive-type state of self-consciousness and the sensual release of human spontaneity. I guess that like many people, I view DH Lawrence as the spiritual godson of Thomas Hardy, as he kind of thematically takes over where Hardy left off.