Need Info
Hello
I was hoping someone could help me with some info that I need for an essay.
I am doing a book report on Oliver Twist. Some of the info that I need and cannot find are as follows:
When was the book banned?
Why was the book banned?
Who banned the book?
I have to have this twenty page essay wrote by the 28th of November but all I can find is about the movie. I cannot use the movie in my report. Does anyone know the answers to these questions? Any help is greatly appreciated.
'Oliver Twist' has been challenged and banned a lot, sometimes because of the thieving and morally ambiguous characters, but most frequently because of the portrayal of the character of Fagin. He is described as a 'villainous Jew,' which can be percieved as anti-Semetic. It roused a bunch of protest upon its publication, and in a later edition, Dickens swapped out some of the Jew references for Fagin's name. In 1949, a group of parents in New York unsuccesfully challenged the school board. I think there has been some fairly recent controversey in Australia over it. Are you allowed to use earlier movie versions? One release was banned in both Palestine and Israel for its potrayal of Fagin--the character was too sympathetic and too anti-Semetic, respectively.
Dickens claimed that Fagin was based on a real person, who happened to be Jewish. Actually, a major part of the criminal class was Jewish, because Jews were denied access to higher education and many respectable jobs. Knowing Dickens, with his satire and social justice, I'd say that 'Oliver Twist' is more an indictment of anti-Semetism than an anti-Semetic book itself. But then, people still insist that Huck Finn is racist. Lord, what fools these mortals be.
The following American Library Association link about Banned Books Week etc mentions Oliver Twist in
"Rosenberg v. Board of Education of City of New York, 92 N.Y.S.2d 344 (Sup. Ct. Kings County 1949)"
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/firstamen...courtcases.htm
If you search that site for Oliver Twist it comes up with more matches, not sure if they'll help you
Thank you for your reply but I cannot use the movie at all. Thats my problem the movie is the source that I can see that has been banned. I am really at my wits end with this one. I have all the info that would get it banned but do not know when it was banned or by who.
Any help is great.
Thanks
Angi
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