What is a good thesis statement for Oliver Twist and how can it be defended?

I think that you could also look at the use of disguise
and misrepresentation in the novel. The most obvious is Oliver, the "twist" who is
mistaken for rags when he actually comes from riches. The Monk's perpetuate this
mistaken identity in order to serve their own aims of claiming Oliver's inheritance for
themselves. Nancy pretends to be Oliver's sister by putting on middle class clothes in
order to get Oliver back to Fagin. Clothes as a means of identifying social class are
important. Oliver is stripped of his clothes and pout into pauper clothes. If I were
writing a thesis for a paper on this work, I would consider looking at the outward
representations of class and status as displayed by clothes and manner of speaking, and
the way that these "disguises" can and are used to meet individual
desires.

Dickens, in fact, uses this theme as a means of
satirizing class structure in Victorian England. You could even gop on to look at other
class representations that are symbolized by dress, such as the way in which the Fagin
boys almost worship handkerchiefs which they like to steal. These are symbols of
affluence. If you carry a handkerchief, you are assumed to be a member of the upper
class. If you wear the clothes of a workhouse person, you are seen as a pauper. Again,
this is a way Dickens uses outside appearances as a means of denoting class differences
from the perspective that people are viewed by society and judged by society by the
clothes that they wear.