“Let it not be supposed by the enemies of ‘the System,’ that during the period of his solitary incarceration，Oliver was denied the benefit of exercise，the pleasure of society，or the advantages of religious consolation．”
What do you think Charles Dickens intends to say in the above ironic statement taken from Oliver Twist?
A.The sentence is a typical example of irony. What Dickens intends to say is just the opposite of the sentence's literal meaning.
B.For the "benefit" of exercise, Oliver was whipped every morning in a stone yard;for the "pleasure" of society, he was carried every other day into the dining hall and flogged as a public warning and example to the boys; and as for the "advantages"of religious consolation, he was kicked into the same apartment every evening at prayer time and listened to the boys'prayer to be guarded against his sins and vices.
C.The ironic statement is, in fact, a bitter denunciation and fierce attack at the brutal, inhuman treatment of the poor orphan by the workhouse authority.