The theory of foregrounding is a theory of crucial and critical importance in Stylistics.In stylistic analysis,foregrounding refers to the work with literary and artistic importance,especially the deviation of language,prominent in the background which belongs to the normal conventions of language.Charles Dickens is one of the greatest and critical realist writers of the Victorian Age in British.In his representative work Oliver Twist,by the bitter exposure of the terrible conditions in the English workhouse of the time and the cruel treatment of a poor orphan by all sorts of philanthropist,the author criticizes harshly the dark and criminal underworld life and succeeds in calling forth the reader''s sympathy for the down-trodden people of the lower classes,especially the children.Through his master skill of the use of foregrounding,Dickens constructs various kinds of background introductions where is full of suspense and symbol,and it seems that all the backgrounds are inseparably closed to the fate of the protagonist,leaving a clue for the reader to pick out the main idea of the total work.This thesis firstly reviews the theory of foregrounding and then analyses the foregrounding using in the background introductions in Oliver Twist,presenting a holistic overview the aim of the author and what he aims at expressing through the intended background description.
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