The Artful Dodger
a pickpocket, Fagin’s brightest pupil
Bill Sykes
a villain in his prime
Nancy
Sykes’ beaten-down helpmate
Mr. Brownlow
a gentleman of wealth and breeding
Mrs. Bedwin
Mr. Brownlow’s housekeeper
Vocabulary Twist OED: a divided object or part. Thread or cord made by winding together strands of hemp, silk, wool, cotton, etc., that is, yarn; or something like thread, especially the continuation or course of life, a tenuous support on which something depends, a means of tracing one’s way,. A drink consisting of a mixture of two different spirits or other ingredients, ass gin and brandy. Tobacco made into a thick cord. A small loaf made of one or more twisted rolls of dough. A curled piece of lemon or other peel used to flavor a drink. An irregular bend or kink, a tangle. A means of applying coercion, a hold. Cheating, swindling, dishonesty. A hearty appetite. A turning aside, a deviation, a point or place at which a road changes direction; a change of circumstances or fortune. An eccentric inclination or attitude, especially a peculiar mental turn or bent, and intellectual or moral bias, a craze. A corruption of misrepresentation of meaning. An unexpected development of events, especially in a work of fiction. Old slang: to be hanged, as in the modern phrase, to twist in the wind. To twist down, to eat heartily. Bumble OED: a confusion, a jumble. A blunderer, an idler. [in the sense of the name of the beadle in Dickens’ Oliver Twist] A self-important official; bumbledom, stupid officiousness and pomposity, especially by petty officials. Also, hum, buzz, drone (as a bumblebee); ramble on in speaking; move or act ineptly or flounderingly. Grumble at, blame, take to task. beadle OED: a parish officer appointed by the vestry to keep order in church, punish petty offenders, etc.; a minor church official. A messenger or under-officer of justice. “For what you are about to receive/May the Lord make you truly thankful.” Mr. Bumble expresses his opinion that he is much superior to his charges, let alone that the boys don’t deserve anything at all, by altering the common blessing, “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful.” Gruel oatmeal or a similar food boiled in water or milk, especially as part of an invalid’s diet and therefore intended to easily digested. At the workhouse the gruel is so thin that there is little to digest. bill of fare
a menu or listing of foods or dishes available at a restaurant.
“Who will rid us of this canker in our midst?” OED: originally, a cancer; later, a sore or ulcer; also, a corrupting or corrosive influence. 30