Talk:Nancy (Oliver Twist)

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Married?[edit]

Is it ever said that Nancy is married to Bill? I thought that she just lived with him as a sort of unnoficial companion. They don't have to be married for that. Thirteen figure skater 8:37, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

There's no evidence that I'm aware of to suggest that they are married, but nor does the article state that they are. Cory Myers 21:11, 1 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is because it says Nancy Sikes in your article --Rebeccarulz123 01:47, 20 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nancy a Prostitute?

I never realized she was a prositute. Also in the film she is portrayed as more good than bad, when shes supposed to be middle groud. --Rebeccarulz123 01:45, 20 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Dickens says that she's a prostitute in the Preface to the book. I think we may trust his judgement best. Not050 (talk) 17:51, 13 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, I really don't think we should trust the judgement of the author as it is expressed outside the novel. A statement by Dickens, external to the novel, that Nancy is a prostitute is an interpretation, and should carry no more weight than any other interpretation. In the novel Nancy is stated to be a thief. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.134.233.185 (talk) 09:11, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Um, setting aside the issue of whether we should trust the author of the book with regards to his own characters... where in the preface does Dickens say that Nancy is a prostitute? I've just read the preface over twice, and I haven't found any references to prostitution, unless we're reading two different prefaces or he used some obscure 1840s slang term.--Unscented (talk) 17:24, 10 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Just thought I'd add a couple of things to this discussion. 1) http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5048577 this link suggests that Nancy (or 'The Girl' at least) was a prostitute. 2) http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/rogers/1.html again, a it suggests she was a prostitute. 3) http://www.shmoop.com/oliver-twist/nancy.html another summary 4) http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oliver/section4.rhtml need I go on? As for the preface, my edition has the 1867 preface where nancy is not mentioned as being one, but he did mention it in his 1841 version. In fact he seems to assume the readers knowledge. If anything, mainly due to what seems controversy over the character, people (not Dickens) want to dodge the issue - as if a prostitute, a fallen woman, can ever be portrayed a a good character in such a book. Even in my edition he has to defend his usage of shady characters. Maybe it was just a sign of the time (and he didn't want to be known as a the kind of writer than writes Varney the Vampire). It was teh closest he got to got making it seem to 'smutty'. So I conclude she was, in fact, a prostitute. DarkMithras - 21 Novemeber 2009 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.169.178.118 (talk) 14:09, 21 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This quote from Chapter 46 ("The Appointment Kept") where the "You" refers to Nancy strongly implies that Nancy is a prostitute (italics mine):

“You put yourself beyond its pale,” said the gentleman. “The past has been a dreary waste with you, of youthful energies mis-spent, and such priceless treasures lavished, as the Creator bestows but once and never grants again, but, for the future, you may hope.

Snapdragon630 (talk) 20:51, 8 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Reference required[edit]

I can believe that people in Dickens' day referred to Nancy as a "slut of the streets" because he acknowledges, in the Preface, that the outlaw characters including Nancy courted controversy in their time because they were (purposefully) not romanticised in any way. I have mentioned Dickens' defence of his actions within the article, but would like to have the name of the review, or person, that referred to Nancy, specifically, as a "slut of the streets" to get a sense of balance. (I have also corrected one or two details in the "Trivia" section, concerning how and where Nancy died: Nancy's steps were so called in homage to the character's death in the film Oliver!, not in the novel Oliver Twist, in which she is killed at home.) Not050 (talk) 18:16, 13 January 2008

Note that a "slut", at that time, meant an unkempt, untidy woman. 216.106.104.39 (talk) 22:30, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Nancy's age[edit]

It is currently stated that 'Her exact age is not mentioned in the book, although she has evidently been a thief for 12 years (and began when she was half of Oliver's age), and is visibly in her teens or mid 20s in film versions of the novel'. It makes it unclear to the reader that Nancy is in fact less than in her 'mid 20s':

'I thieved for you when I was a child not half as old as this (pointing to Oliver). I have been in the same trade, and in the same service, for twelve years since'. (p 133) As Guiliano and Collins comment: 'If Nancy came under Fagin's influence when she was [less than] half Oliver's age, say five years old, and since she has been at it for twelve years, she is therefore seventeen years old'.

86.183.51.125 (talk) 17:13, 15 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Ellie Wilkinson"?[edit]

The photography in the article seems to depict the Swedish actress Lotten Olsson.37.250.228.94 (talk) 17:24, 5 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]