Oliver Twist The alternative title, "The Parish Boy's Progress", alludes to Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress", as well as the 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, "A Rake's Progress" and "A Harlot's Progress". In this early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises the hypocrisies of his time, including child labour, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own youthful experiences
Walter Landor Dickens Walter Landor Dickens Walter Savage Landor Dickens (8 February 1841 – 31 December 1863) was the fourth child and second son of English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. He became an officer cadet in the East India Company's Presidency armies just before the Indian Mutiny. The mutiny resulted in the British Crown extending direct rule to India, and Dickens continued to serve in what was now becoming the British Indian Army until his death. Named after his godfather Walter Savage Landor, Walter Dickens was christened at St Marylebone parish church on 4 December 1841, after which Charles Dickens