that Oliver's flight from this family is directly due to his violent reaction to the slighting and wounding words made by Claypole in reference to his mother. This is perhaps one of the earliest references to Oliver's mother that we encounter and his elevation of her as a pure and almost saint-like figure fits very well with the notion that familial ties are sacred, while creating an impression of Oliver's innate, devotional pride and love for a mother of whom he know little. However, it may also be construed that the usually fragile and submissive Oliver attacks Claypole because the words he utters drive to the very core of the child's only solace in life –the imagined image of his mother as a Madonna, a good woman who loved him and would have protected him from the things that he now endures. It seems that the physical and mental abuse that Oliver withstands can be tolerated for a time, while the torturing of his heart through the derision of his mother simply cannot.
             The idea that Oliver and the many Victorian
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