History YMMV / OliverTwist

** Mr. Bumble's objection to the legal presumption at the time that his wife acts at his direction, and his observation that most actual marriages don't work that way, while self-serving, resonates with modern readers who are likely to find the presumption that men rule their wives to be archaic.

* ValuesResonance: Dickens' vivid and social descriptions of the problems of poor people in society continue to move readers today, and actually shocked 19th century readers who weren't used to hearing about all these hidden atrocities.

** Chafing at the antisemitic portrayal of Fagin, Creator/WillEisner created wrote a comic in which Fagin is a misunderstood AntiVillain. Or, to be more precise, in which Fagin has gone ThenLetMeBeEvil to the world combined with what, if it had been published at the time Dickens wrote in, would have been rather pointed social commentary about the ill effects of limiting the career paths of an entire group.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: The Artful Dodger is generally considered the most popular character in the story.

* {{Fanon}}: Nancy being a prostitute in the literal sense. Although she is referred to as such in a preface to the 1841 edition, it's been [[http://fatpigeons.com/2010/01/16/nancy-btw-is-not-a-prostitute/ pointed out]] that at the time 'prostitute' simply referred to a woman living out of wedlock or being TheMistress (it's said that Nancy lives with Bill). In fact, Nancy alludes to her only crime being thieving for Fagin, and the preface is the only mention of her being a prostitute.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Charles Dickens got scandalized reactions from critics for depicting Nancy sympathetically because she was a thief! Nowadays she's considered one of the most iconic examples of the HookerWithAHeartOfGold.

* HilariousInHindsight: The 1999 miniseries has Creator/AndySerkis as Bill Sykes and Annette Crosbie as Mrs. Bedwin. Fast-forward to ''Literature/LittleDorrit'' (2008), and Serkis plays Rigaud while Crosbie plays Mr. F's aunt.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Katharyn Crabbe felt the 1948 film improved on the text - where Oliver was "an idle spectator" towards the end - by having Oliver feature more actively in the climax.

* ValuesDissonance: Edwin Leefort, married at about twenty to a thirty-year-old woman, was treated almost like a child sold to some old hag, while him taking interest in a nineteen-year old girl more than ten years later, was perfectly okay in terms of age.
* ValuesResonance: On the other hand, Dickens' vivid and social descriptions of the problems of poor people in society continue to move readers today, and actually shocked 19th century readers who weren't used to hearing about all these hidden atrocities.

* ValuesDissonance:
** The character Fagin who is depicted as a GreedyJew, something that wasn't that uncommon in Victorian literature, but since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII has caused a lot of controversy with modern readers. To be fair, Dickens did regret his writing of Fagin, honestly believing people like Fagin were often Jews, after one of his associates denounced him for creating such a character.
** Edwin Leefort, married at about twenty to a thirty-year-old woman, was treated almost like a child sold to some old hag, while him taking interest in a nineteen-year old girl more than ten years later, was perfectly okay in terms of age.

** Chafing at the antisemetic portrayal of Fagin, Creator/WillEisner created wrote a comic in which Fagin is a misunderstood AntiVillain. Or, to be more precise, in which Fagin has gone ThenLetMeBeEvil to the world combined with what, if it had been published at the time Dickens wrote in, would have been rather pointed social commentary about the ill effects of limiting the career paths of an entire group.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Artful Dodger is probably the best remembered character of the novel in modern times, if not the most celebrated character in Dickens' whole body of work.

* OvershadowedByControversy: It's very difficult to talk about this novel without acknowledging that Fagin is an offensive Jewish stereotype, not at all helped by Dickens' commentary and other characters referring to him as "the Jew" more than by his real name. Dickens was called out for this by other Jews multiple times for the rest of his life and expressed genuine regret for mistakenly believing that people in RealLife who act like Fagin are often Jews, and included several sympathetic Jewish characters in his final completed novel, ''Literature/OurMutualFriend'', as an AuthorsSavingThrow. Nevertheless, the controversy surrounding Fagin has never gone away and likely never will, especially since ''Oliver Twist'' is one of Dickens' most famous novels while ''Our Mutual Friend'' was not a success during his lifetime, neither critically nor financially, and while [[VindicatedByHistory it has since been positively re-assessed]], it still doesn't have nearly the same level of public knowledge as ''Oliver Twist'', so people still [[MisBlamed Mis-blame]] Dickens as an anti-Semite despite his later rejection of such beliefs.

* AccidentalInnuendo: Charlie Bates is frequantly called "Master Bates."

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After Creator/CharlesDickens made some Jewish friends and learned that they considered his portrayal of Fagin a "great wrong" to their people, he excised over 180 instances of "Jew" from later editions of the text.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: The description of how Oliver started to live with the Maylies. A more sinister twist on this is how the parish people (Mr. Bumble even) openly play this trope to the hilt to seem caring to the outside world, and in truth are cold blooded assholes in private who'd just rather watch the poor die off in droves.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Bill Sykes has three ''possible'' PetTheDog moments: carrying an unconscious Oliver for a long ways while fleeing from the police after the failed break-in (although that may have been to keep Oliver from identifying him if he was captured), [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone seeming pensive and troubled after killing Nancy]] (although that might have been simple fear of the punishment he'd face for the murder), and volunteering to help put out a fire while he's roaming the countryside as a fugitive (which can be read as an unsuccessful attempt to bury his own guilt by denying his nature).

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In the 1997 adaptation, Dodger is sent to prison instead of Australia, presumably not to offend Australians. Dodger's talk about [[PrisonRape all the things he'll learn in prison]] becomes less funny and more disturbing the older you get.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Creator/DavidLean's 1948 version added two scenes not in the book but used in many other adaptations.
** The opening showing Agnes giving birth at the orphanage in the middle of a thunderstorm.
** The climax showing Bill [[spoiler: hanging himself by accident while trying to flee the mob]]. Notably the book goes on for quite a while afterwards, detailing the fates of everyone else.

%%* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Numerous.