Oliver Twist

Bull’s-eye is a painful and tragic parallel to Bill Sikes’s lover, Nancy; Dickens constructs this parallel to show Nancy’s blind devotion to Sikes. The study of fate and freewill is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Dickens’s constant use of the dog as a symbol for Nancy. There are numerous instances throughout the novel when there are direct parallels drawn between Nancy and Sikes’s dog. This is seen most clearly when Sikes threatens Nancy “with a growl like that he was accustomed to use when addressing his dog” (184). In Fagin’s attempt to manipulate Nancy to kill Sikes for him, the old man says, “If you want revenge on those that treat you like a dog—like a dog! worse than his dog, for he humours him sometimes—come to me. I say, come to me” (528). The irony of Fagin saying that Sikes treats Nancy like a dog is evident when he immediately gives Nancy orders, telling the young girl to “come to [him]” should she need help, ordering her around just as one would a dog.

Both Nancy and Bull’s-eye recognize Bill’s constant threat of violence. They even make attempts to flee, however temporarily, but they always return to what they know.