Conclusion

From all of this, readers of Oliver Twist and Fingersmith can come to an awareness that, at least in terms of the theme of identity, Fingersmith works as a raw materials adaptation of Oliver Twist. Fingersmith draws out the kernel in Oliver Twist that identities can be molded by outside forces. It just expands upon this by critiquing the notion ingrained in Oliver Twist that this manipulation is because of a specific economic model that the narrative of Oliver Twist links to urbanity and criminality. At first glance, this would suggest an abysmally pessimistic view of the chance for human progress. In the model of Oliver Twist, identity can be nurtured by removing oneself from the market setting. On a larger scale, this implies that a revision, or adjustment, of the economic system that constructs new identities can have efficacious results for individuals as a whole. In its own way, though, it can be argued that Fingersmith, also, works as an implicitly didactic novel. As Nick Mansfield writes in his chapter on Foucault’s thought in Subjectivity,

“[i]f power/knowledge works at the level of the subject, then it is at the level of the subject that it will most effectively be resisted. Since there is no natural self that we can simply recover or struggle to liberate, subjects should be geared towards a dynamic self-creation, an experimental expansion of the possibilities of subjectivity in open defiance of the modes of being laid down for us constantly in every moment of our day-to-day lives” (63).

This could very well be a state that Maud and Sue are reaching towards by the end of the novel. They appear to have hindered what Victorian society would view as acceptable practices by living together to create pornographic literature.