{"product_id":"9781632952660","title":"Oliver Twist and Hard Times (Illustrated)","description":"\u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cp\u003eOliver Twist, subtitled The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Naïvely unaware of their unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin.\u003cbr\u003eOliver Twist is notable for Dickens's unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives.[1] The book exposed the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London during the Dickensian era. The book's subtitle, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and also to a pair of popular 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHard Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Utilitarians were one of the targets of this novel. Utilitarianism was a prevalent school of thought during this period, its founders being Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, father to political theorist John Stuart Mill. Theoretical Utilitarian ethics hold that promotion of general social welfare is the ultimate goal for the individual and society in general: \"the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.\" Dickens believed that in practical terms, the pursuit of a totally rationalised society could lead to great misery.\u003cbr\u003eBentham's former secretary, Edwin Chadwick, helped design the Poor Law of 1834, which deliberately made workhouse life as uncomfortable as possible. In the novel, this is conveyed in Bitzer's response to Gradgrind's appeal for compassion.\u003cbr\u003eDickens was appalled by what was, in his interpretation, a selfish philosophy, which was combined with materialist laissez-faire capitalism in the education of some children at the time, as well as in industrial practices. In Dickens's interpretation, the prevalence of utilitarian values in educational institutions promoted contempt between mill owners and workers, creating young adults whose imaginations had been neglected, due to an over-emphasis on facts at the expense of more imaginative pursuits.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Running Press Book Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47130720207088,"sku":"9781632952660","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781632952660_p0.jpg?v=1763675799","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781632952660","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}