The plot of a novel is a synthesis of all elements that make up the material. It is not the same as the story, although story is an essential component of plot. The story provides the framework in the form of a sequence of events related by the forces that cause them to take place.
Oliver Twist is a typical Dickens novel, fashioned around a core of tangled intrigue that brings together a large number of people. These characters are of varied origins and diverse backgrounds. On the surface, it would seem unlikely that their paths should ever cross, but they are all inexorably drawn into the same web of circumstances. Dickens suggests that the lives of people of all stations may become intertwined. No one, he says, is safe from being influenced by the actions of others — possibly even complete strangers. The resulting complications and their unraveling contribute a large measure of mystery and suspense. Writers and critics sometimes use the term denouement in connection with the resolution of a story. The French word simply means an unknotting or an unscrambling of a jumble of twine. See how easily that relates to the complex interactions of a Dickens story.
The characteristic distinguishing ingredients of plot are conflict and resolution. In Oliver Twist, there are dual conflicts: the one between Monks and Oliver, the other between Fagin and Sikes. Through his conspiracy with Monks, Fagin becomes involved in both conflicts. He also becomes the agent whose decisions trigger the two lines of inevitable action, which subsequently converge.
