This document summarizes and analyzes Charles Dickens' novel "Oliver Twist" through a macabre lens of Victorian childhood. It defines macabre as having death or violence as a subject. It notes Dickens portrayed the macabre childhood experiences of many Victorian orphans, with Fagin corrupting children into thieves by providing a false sense of home and family. The document discusses how Dickens highlighted issues like child labor, abuse, starvation and the managers of workhouses viewing children as mere labor. It concludes Dickens accurately portrayed the miserable macabre reality orphan children faced in Victorian England.