Oliver Twist – Why is Nancy such an important character in this novel

In this novel, you can obviously tell that “Oliver Twist” is the main character and, by the way he is described and acts for us, is too good to be true. However Nancy is just as important as Oliver, as she is the only realistic character, in this novel. Also she is neither a good or bad character, as other characters, such as Rose Maylie, Mr. Brownlow and Oliver who are all described as the good characters. This is because Mr. Brownlow and Rose are unbelievably kind and generous to Oliver when he tried to rob them. They realistically should have called the police.

However Fagin, Bill Sikes, Monks and Noah Claypole are characters who are described to us as the being bad. Some examples would be where Fagin was plotting to poison Sikes, and also all of Bill’s brutality towards Nancy. Nancy’s character is shown to us as being bang in the middle of good and bad, which makes her character more interesting for the audience. Nancy has a good and bad side, as she is in the middle. The good side of Nancy is when she helps Oliver and also the loyalty she gives to Fagin and Sikes, as she thinks they are her friends.

Also when she goes to visit Rose Maylie to tell her about Monks ‘The first words I heard Monks say were these…… ‘ This quotation proves Nancy’s good and shows her as a sort of guardian to Oliver. This is because she is looking out for Oliver in a way that he does not realise that he is receiving her help. She tells him that she taken beatings from her boyfriend, Bill Sikes, for him. This was in order to keep Oliver safe. However the bad side of Nancy is where she allows the crimes to continue, as she does not wish to give up her friends.

There is a particular character, in this novel that Dickens chooses to create for the audience. Fagin is first introduced to us as ‘a very old shrivelled Jew…… villainous – look and repulsive face’. There was a lot of Anti – Semitism at that time, and Dickens was an extremist towards this. By the quotation above, you can obviously see that he wanted the readers to think of “the Jew” as some kind of devil, ‘with a toasting fork in his hand’. However Fagin helped Nancy become a pick – pocket, which later lead her into living the life of prostitution.

But what he did not know was that she is a good person who cares for others and not only herself. Even though Fagin does not know this, he would not really care or understand, as he just collects young children to train them to become his pick – pockets. Bill Sikes also works for Fagin, as he was “collected” by him when he was younger. As Bill Sikes is Nancy’s boyfriend he knows he can push her around, “‘She’ll go, Fagin’, said Sikes. ‘No, she won’t, Fagin’, said Nancy. ‘Yes she will, Fagin’, said Sikes. And Mr. Sikes was right. ”

In this quotation, Nancy and Sikes are arguing as to who will go to “kidnap” Oliver, from Mr. Brownlow. Obviously Bill gets his way as he is a character who gets given this advantage, because most of the other characters appear to be scared of him. However Nancy stops Bill and his dog, Bull’s-eye, from tearing Oliver apart, ‘the child shan’t be torn down by the dog, unless you kill me first’. From this you can see that Nancy obviously cares a lot about Oliver. This is because she knows if he stays in that same company for long, then he will eventually lead a bad life, which Nancy clearly does not want.

“I thieved for you when I was a child not half as old as this! ” pointing to Oliver’. Above is a quotation where Nancy is shouting at Fagin because she is trying to protect Oliver’s life, as here she trying to let Fagin know that she is seeing Oliver as a smaller version of herself. Nancy can also see here that he is small and vulnerable, just as she was when she first met Fagin. Also because Fagin was like her “puppet master”, she was not able to take out her grieve and stress, so she has taken an opportunity to do so at this point, in the novel.

“And don’t let me suffer more for you, just now”‘. In this quotation, Nancy is trying to make Oliver understand what he is going to do and why she must take him to Bill, to help carry out a robbery. As we see Nancy’s character develop, we can understand why Nancy does not want Oliver to go. However her motivation towards her words ~ to Oliver ~ is that she is feeling guilt. This is because she knows that she kidnapped Oliver and also if she did not do this then he would be leading a good life. And now it is because of her that he has to go and help rob a house.