Dickens' plots have often been dismissed as conventional or cheaply
sensational: Anny Sadrin argues that they should rather be seen as the
embodiment of one of Dickens's central preoccupations: dramatised
rituals of succession. Through readings of individual texts Professor
Sadrin shows how the simple pattern of quest for father which
characterises Oliver Twist develops in Dickens's later novels into an
extended exploration of the triple inheritance of looks, name and
property. Increasing intricacies of plot represent growing tension
between conflicting forces in the parent-child relationship: the wish to
belong and the wish to break free, the quest for identity and the fear
of shameful identification, the filial piety of Telemachus and the
patricidal yearnings of Oedipus. Throughout, Dickens is using plot to
account for the complex process of reinstatement and revaluation which
enables rightful heirs to take their rightful place in the family and
society.