Student Development Institute

Summary: Chapter 1
Oliver Twist is born a sickly infant in a workhouse. The parish surgeon and a drunken nurse
attend his birth. His mother kisses his forehead and dies, and the nurse announces that Olivers
mother was found lying in the streets the night before. The surgeon notices that she is not
wearing a wedding ring.
Summary: Chapter 2
So they established the rule that all poor people should have the alternative . . . of being starved
by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it. Authorities at the workhouse send
Oliver to a branch-workhouse for juvenile offenders against the poor-laws. The overseer, Mrs.
Mann, receives an adequate sum for each childs upkeep, but she keeps most of the money and
lets the children go hungry, sometimes even letting them die.
On Olivers ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a minor church official known as the parish beadle,
informs Mrs. Mann that Oliver is too old to stay at her establishment. Since no one has been able
to discover his mothers or fathers identity, he must return to the workhouse. Mrs. Mann asks
how the boy came to have any name at all. Mr. Bumble tells her that he keeps a list of names in
alphabetical order, naming the orphans from the list as they are born.
Mrs. Mann fetches Oliver. When Mr. Bumble is not looking, she glowers and shakes her fist at
the boy, so he stays silent about the miserable conditions at her establishment. Before Oliver
departs, Mrs. Mann gives him some bread and butter so that he will not seem too hungry at the
workhouse.
The workhouse offers the poor the opportunity to starve slowly as opposed to quick starvation on
the streets. For the workhouse, the undertakers bill is a major budget item due to the large
number of deaths. Oliver and his young companions suffer the tortures of slow starvation. One
night at dinner, one child tells the others that if he does not have another bowl of gruel he might
eat one of them. Terrified, the children at the workhouse cast lots, determining that whoever
loses shall be required to ask for more food for the boy. Oliver loses, and after dinner, the other
Lecturer: LONG Samnang

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Student Development Institute

children insist that Oliver ask for more food at supper. His request so shocks the authorities that
they offer five pounds as a reward to anyone who will take Oliver off of their hands.
Summary: Chapter 3
In the parish, Oliver has been flogged and then locked in a dark room as a public example. Mr.
Gamfield, a brutish chimney sweep, offers to take Oliver on as an apprentice. Because several
boys have died under his supervision, the board considers five pounds too large a reward, and
they settle on just over three pounds. Mr. Bumble, Mr. Gamfield, and Oliver appear before a
magistrate to seal the bargain. At the last minute, the magistrate notices Olivers pale, alarmed
face. He asks the boy why he looks so terrified. Oliver falls on his knees and begs that he be
locked in a room, beaten, killed, or any other punishment besides being apprenticed to Mr.
Gamfield. The magistrate refuses to approve the apprenticeship, and the workhouse authorities
again advertise Olivers availability.
Summary: Chapter 4
The workhouse board considers sending Oliver out to sea as a cabin boy, expecting that he would
die quickly in such miserable conditions. However, Mr. Sowerberry, the parish undertaker, takes
Oliver on as his apprentice. Mr. Bumble informs Oliver that he will suffer dire consequences if
he ever complains about his situation. Mrs. Sowerberry remarks that Oliver is rather small. Mr.
Bumble assures her that he will grow, but she grumbles that he will only grow by eating their
food. Mrs. Sowerberry serves Oliver the leftovers that the dog has declined to eat. Oliver devours
the food as though it were a great feast. After he finishes, Mrs. Sowerberry leads him to his bed,
worrying that his appetite seems so large.

Lecturer: LONG Samnang

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