Oliver Twist · Chapter
Treats of the Place Where Oliver Twist Was Born and of the Circumstances Attending His Birth explained
Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse to a young woman who dies shortly after childbirth.
What happens
Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse to a young woman who dies shortly after childbirth. The parish surgeon and a drunken nurse attend the birth. The mother is revealed to be unmarried, and Oliver is left as a parish orphan, destined for a life of hardship.
Themes in this chapter
Social Injustice and Poverty
Oliver's birth in a workhouse and immediate designation as a parish child highlight the systemic poverty and lack of compassion for the poor.
Innocence and Corruption
Oliver's innocent arrival is contrasted with the corrupt and indifferent treatment by the parish surgeon and nurse, and the stigma of illegitimacy.
Identity and Secret Origins
Oliver's mother is unknown and dies without revealing her story, leaving Oliver's origins a mystery that will later unfold.
Characters to notice
- Oliver Twist
Born in the workhouse, initially struggling to breathe, then crying lustily; immediately becomes a parish child.
- Old Sally
The pauper nurse attending the birth, who drinks from a green bottle and comforts the dying mother.
- Agnes Fleming
The young mother who dies after giving birth to Oliver; she is found in the street, without a wedding ring.
Key passages
“Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.”
Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse in an unnamed town, on an unspecified date.
The narrator deliberately withholds the town's name and the exact date, emphasizing the insignificance of Oliver's birth in the eyes of society.
“She imprinted her cold white lips passionately on its forehead; passed her hands over her face; gazed wildly round; shuddered; fell back—and died.”
The mother kissed Oliver's forehead, then collapsed and died.
The mother's death immediately after childbirth underscores the tragic circumstances of Oliver's entry into the world.
“The old story,' he said, shaking his head: 'no wedding-ring, I see. Ah! Good night!'”
The surgeon noted that the mother was unmarried, a common and shameful situation.
The surgeon's dismissive comment reflects the social stigma attached to illegitimacy in Victorian England.
“What an excellent example of the power of dress, young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar; it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have assigned him his proper station in society. But now that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow in the same service, he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once—a parish child—the orphan of a workhouse—the humble, half-starved drudge—to be cuffed and buffeted through the world—despised by all, and pitied by none.”
Oliver's clothing instantly marked him as a poor workhouse orphan, destined for a life of hardship and contempt.
The narrator uses the contrast between the blanket and the workhouse robes to illustrate how social class is determined by appearance.