The Book Which Taught Me to be A Radicaliser, Not A Communist

A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return. — Salman Rushdie

I started my journey of this article with a quote from one of the many authors I would like to read in the future. But today, I’m gonna share my experience and the learning from one of my favourite books.

The book I’m going to talk about is a classical novel by Charles Dickens — Oliver Twist. I consider it one of the most inspiring fictions ever written. It was even useful in changing the condition of the London slums during his time. Dickens made an effort to change the look of the world through this novel — he didn’t want any other guy to experience the hardships of his childhood.

When I started reading it, I found it bland; but gradually, my interest deepened and finally, ended up writing this article.

Oliver Twist is the hero of this novel. He had lost his father before his birth and lost his mother at the time of his birth. What a piteous boy he was! But his master, Mr Bumble was always torturing him and others. Until Twist’s ninth birthday, he stayed at Mrs Mann’s house. He wasn’t tortured less there! They were given too little to eat and if they asked for more, they were locked up in the coal cellar.

On becoming nine, Oliver was employed to pull out oakum early in the morning. Oliver waited eagerly for a change. But when it didn’t come, he decided to flee from there. Going to a different place, he was employed by Mr Sowerberry. He wasn’t happy there too. He thought that all the British are very selfish.

He finally escapes and meets The Artful Dodger, and joins a pick-pocket gang led by Fagin, a Jew. After great hard work, Oliver Twist manages to find a family which he had always longed for.

Lessons

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’

This is one of the commonest sayings in today’s world. In this book, Mr Dickens painted a vivid picture of the poverty and injustice of those days, which are even followed with great fashion these days. It is crystal clear to me that if this continues, humans would soon turn into inhumans and children into colouring books.

Society needs a change — and this is the gist of what the book taught me. Today’s world is really becoming dangerous for humans like us. Today, no one knows anything other than political violence. And to change these, some of us need to raise our voices against the notion of political advantages.

If we stand strong, it is worth the universe standing with us. I firmly believe that a change can come not from an individual, but the whole of us. So, we must forget a part of our happiness and comfort to give as little as we can.

The book also taught me to lead a better life. As we all know, happiness increases on sharing. So, sharing plays a huge role in the act of achieving happiness. It’ll also help us get out of depression-related problems. Overall, we all wanna live a happy and successful life. But, our success means nothing greater than an ant in front of an elephant as long as we don’t make good utilisation of it.

So, it is we who can make a change — to an entire society or within ourselves.

‘No one is too small to make a difference.’ — Greta Thunberg

We need to believe the above line and move forward for a clear and happy society.

Thank you.