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Which themes of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist does this excerpt from the novel touch on?

The houses on either side were high and large, but very old, and tenanted by people of the poorest class: as their neglected appearance would have sufficiently denoted, without the concurrent testimony afforded by the squalid looks of the few men and women who, with folded arms and bodies half doubled, occasionally skulked along. . . . Some houses which had become insecure from age and decay, were prevented from falling into the street, by huge beams of wood reared against the walls, and firmly planted in the road; but even these crazy dens seemed to have been selected as the nightly haunts of some houseless wretches, for many of the rough boards which supplied the place of door and window, were wrenched from their positions, to afford an aperture wide enough for the passage of a human body. The kennel was stagnant and filthy. The very rats, which here and there lay putrefying in its rottenness, were hideous with famine.
• extreme poverty
• society's treatment of the poor
• good versus evil
• child labor

The correct answer is: society's treatment of the poor. I got 5/5

User Ygor
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2 Answers

3 votes

Final answer:

The excerpt from Oliver Twist emphasizes the theme of society's treatment of the poor through Dickens's depiction of squalid living conditions and neglect, paralleled by historical discussions and initiatives to ameliorate poverty.

Step-by-step explanation:

The excerpt from Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist provided in the question touches primarily on the theme of society's treatment of the poor. Dickens vividly describes the dilapidated and squalid living conditions of the poorest class, symbolizing the neglect and disdain society had for the impoverished. His depiction of the tenements and slums, details such as the 'houses... prevented from falling into the street' by 'huge beams of wood,' and the 'kennel... stagnant and filthy,' serve to highlight the extreme poverty faced by the urban poor. The social critique is further enforced by similar literary commentary and historical initiatives, such as housing regulations during the Second Industrial Revolution aimed at improving living conditions for the poor, and the contrasting viewpoints of figures like Samuel Smiles and Reverend Osborne Jay, who debated how best to assist the impoverished.

User Wittythotha
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5 votes

Answer:extreme poverty

Explanation: <3

User TERACytE
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