The nineteen forties saw the rise of what Carlyle christened the 'condition of England novel' , a phrase that referred to the increasing number of books written seemingly with the intent to not only entertain the reader but to educate and provoke thought about the world around them. Both Brontë and Dickens were purveyors of literature that may be categorised to some extent among these so-called 'condition of England' narratives and at times, both authors apparently use their literary talents to drive home a message about society and its inhabitants. Dickens in particular was keen to portray the downfalls of English society, as he suggests in his introduction to Oliver Twist (1841),
             It is useless to discuss whether the conduct of the girl [Nancy] seems natural
             or unnatural, probable or improbable, right or wrong. IT IS TRUE. Every man
             who has watched these melancholy shades of life knows it to be so...It is emphatically
             Gods truth, for it is the truth he leaves in such depraved and miserable breasts
             Dickens was evidently keen to point out to his readers, the 'truth' about the lives of the financially and socially disadvantaged and in Oliver Twist; the orphaned child receives the reader's sympathy. For the Victorian orphan, few provisions were granted and a decent and comfortable survival, often depended, not on the enforced laws of the land but on the kindness and sympathy of the adult world. Indeed, although the central characters of both Oliver Twist and Brontë's Jane Eyre possess no living parents, they do encounter and employ a number of older characters throughout their development to act as substitute mothers and fathers for a certain period of time.
             For Oliver Twist, these parental figures are diverse and varying in sex, age, status and compassionate reliability. In a fantastical, almost mythical plot, Dickens creates a boy who varies between having no familial...