“Who Is Fagin?”

1. “Who Is Fagin?” By: Steven Marcus Presented By: Brett McKey Andy Richmond Cassidy Redding Andrew Thompson Adam Wilhelm

2. Introduction • Fagin is back in the news • The musical, Oliver, and other productions have introduced many to Fagin

3. FAGIN • One of Dickens’s most puzzling characters • There is nothing particularly Jewish about him • He does not even speak with an accent or any type of dialect

4. Oliver was an orphan and a workhouse child Fagin was a criminal These were alike, and almost identical In their society, the pauper and the criminal were equal We now know that Fagin got his name from a boy who Dickens met during his childhood Oliver and Fagin

5. Father: John Dickens Charles the oldest son the second Child Charles suffered from attacks of Violent spasms Family kept growing Charles had been attending school at Catham till family moved to London Charles Dickens Life

6. The Secret of Dickens Youth • February 1824, Dickens Goes to work and his father is imprisoned for debt • Charles left to live on his own • The family reunited • Charles never could confront his childhood • This dark episode influenced his view on his writings

7. Charles first job at the warehouse was: 1) To cover the pots of paste-blacking with two kinds of paper 2) Tie them round with a string 3) Clip the paper close and neat 4) And paste a printed label on each pot Charles Job at the Warehouse

8. An older boy named Bob Fagin showed Charles the trick to using string and tying the knot. Bob Fagin’s secrets of wrapping and tying parallel with the character Fagin’s secrets to successful pick-pocketing. Both Fagin’s can be labeled as educators of their individual trades. Oliver is rewarded for for proficiency during Fagin’s pocket picking game, just as Dickens was rewarded for learning the trade of using string and tying knots. Where did Fagin Come From?

9. Bob Fagin, as well as many of the other boys, was an orphan. Bob was trying to raise Dickens’ status, while the schemes of Fagin, in Oliver Twist, were designed for the opposite purpose. Bob & Fagin =Complete opposites Bob Fagin’s protectiveness of young Charles transformed into the treacherous care that the character Fagin showed towards young Oliver. Bob vs. Fagin

10. The difference between the other boys of the warehouse and Charles was that Charles maintained good conduct and gentlemanly manners. This corresponded to the character, Oliver. -Oliver= mannerly -Artful Dodger= rude At first Charles did not know how to interpret Bob. In the same way, Oliver felt uneasy about Fagin at first introduction. Both Charles and Oliver were regarded as gentleman. Two doors: 1) Keeps Charles’ father’s imprisonment a secret from Bob Fagin. 2) Becomes the knock on the door which leads Oliver to his family. Charles vs. Oliver

11. Section III • Charles continued at the factory even after his father had been released. • This affected him and made him somewhat resentful. • This affected and stuck with Charles for the rest of his life.

12. Charles and Bob • Charles and Bob worked great together. • They had great dexterity at tying up the pots • Crowds of people would form at the windows to watch them. • Charles never told Bob that his father was in prison.

13. Pride in dexterity. Pleasure in skillful performance in front of an audience. Shame of the work. Anxiety and humiliation over being seen. Charles thoughts about the Job One day John Dickens came to see Charles at the factory.

14. Over-determined • Dickens’ memory of this event is known as “over-determined” • “A multiplicity of meanings and motives converge upon an event, charging its separate elements with significances which refer elsewhere and to other things.

15. In Oliver Twist Dickens speaks as an impersonal narrator twice in this respect. • Both are connected with sleep. • First occurs at the thieves den with Fagin. • Second occurs at Mr. Brownlow’s house.

16. “Hypnagogic” • “A condition that occurs between sleep and waking when conscious mind and its censors relax and unconscious processes and impulses become more than usually accessible.

17. Primal Scene • The two examples that are given are elements of what Freud called the “primal scene,” which can either come from a memory or a fantasy. • The symbolism with the jewel box and the knife are self-explanatory; for the window and the book it comes from the scene at the window at the blacking factory and beyond that to Dickens himself reading on his bed as a child.

18. The country scenes in Oliver Twist are created out from the “Eden of infancy” from which we create our ideas of happiness and are said to be a foretaste of heaven. • However, Dickens’ doubts that this is anything he has ever experienced himself.

19. Friendship to Fagin contained the threat of exposure. John’s freedom was a fraud and an outrage because Charles “slaved.” Fagin vs. John Dickens The anger towards and his view of his father is revealed in the character of Fagin . Fagin is a terrible, frightening old Jew. Jews are viewed as the devil in popular mythology and the murder of good Christian boys. This corresponds itself to the image of the terrible father of infancy and of our primal fantasies.

20. Section III Continued:The Additional scenes of the Over-determined and screen memories • Sikes’ murder of Nancy • Fagin’s trial: Fagin as the object of scrutiny • Fagin and Sikes, John Dickens, Oliver, and Charles Dickens • Dickens return to Oliver

21. Sikes’ Murder of Nancy • The small child’s view of sexual intercourse • Viewed as an act of murder • The male killing the female

22. Fagin and jewels scene Lack if symbolic representation of the other partner in intercourse Sikes’ Murder of Nancy Contd. Contrast • Sikes Nancy scene • Both partners represented symbolically

23. Sikes’ Murder of Nancy Contd. Comparison • Fagin and jewels scene • Oliver watches Fagin • Fagin recognizes Oliver is watching • Sikes Nancy scene • After Sikes kills Nancy he sees eyes • The eyes are watching him • Sikes is watched by the London mob

24. Fagin’s trial: Fagin as the object of scrutiny • Fagin under the eyes • Fagin and Sikes, John Dickens, Oliver, and Charles Dickens

25. Fagin under the eyes • People were looking at Fagin just as they were looking at • Sikes • Oliver • Bob Fagin • Dickens • During the trial Fagin was under the scrutiny instead of Oliver as was in the beginning of the book

26. Fagin and Sikes, John Dickens, Oliver, and Charles Dickens • Over-Determined - A multiplicity of meanings and motives converge upon an event, charging its separate elements with significances which refer elsewhere and to other things. • “His father was alive in him, as was Fagin, and in creating Fagin, Dickens affirmed that fact as much as he negated it.

27. Dickens Return to Oliver • While writing Oliver Twist, Dickens was afflicted with his boyhood illness again. • This was particularly evident while he was writing the last portion of the book. • Dickens understood this as “the penalty for sticking so close to Oliver • These happened again, with worse severity every time after he acted out these last scenes. • Dickens’ Father is represented in Fagin (and Sikes).

28. Conclusion • Fagin was manifested by Dickens’ experiences • The fact that Fagin was a Jew didn’t mean anything • Fagin relates to Oliver • Fagin’s evilness yet winsomeness is perhaps associated with Dickens’ innocence yet cunningness. • “Oliver twist could never have imagined Fagin, and Dickens could neither have imagined nor created him had Fagin not been part of himself.”