When his impoverished mother dies during childbirth, it would seem things could not be worse for the young unnamed protagonist of this classic novel. However, the child -- given the Oliver Twist by a government functionary -- is thrust into a world with little sympathy for poor orphans, and he decscends into a tortuous world of mean spirited caretakers. The spirited innocent breaks away to make his own way in the hustle-bustle of London, falling in with a young band of theives and connivers led by the rapscallion Fagan. The guileless Oliver is tossed between the forces of good and evil, dragged down by the underclass he is born into as he struggles toward the rays of hope he spots among the gentlemen and ladies of regular London.