Oliver Twist · Chapter
Relates How Oliver Twist Was Very Near Getting a Place Which Would Not Have Been a Sinecure explained
After asking for more food, Oliver is imprisoned in a dark room for a week, subjected to cold baths and public floggings.
What happens
After asking for more food, Oliver is imprisoned in a dark room for a week, subjected to cold baths and public floggings. The parish board attempts to apprentice him to Mr. Gamfield, a brutal chimney sweep, but the magistrates refuse to approve the indentures after seeing Oliver's terror. Oliver is returned to the workhouse, and the board re-advertises him.
Themes in this chapter
Social Injustice and Poverty
Oliver is treated as a commodity to be sold for a premium, with no regard for his welfare.
Innocence and Corruption
Oliver's childish innocence is contrasted with the corrupt, self-serving parish authorities and Gamfield's brutality.
Class and Hypocrisy
The board members profess religious piety while subjecting Oliver to cruel punishments and near-indentured servitude.
Characters to notice
- Oliver Twist
Imprisoned and mistreated after asking for more food; nearly apprenticed to a chimney sweep.
- Mr. Bumble
Supervises Oliver's daily cold ablutions and floggings; shakes his head gloomily about Oliver's future.
- Mr. Gamfield
A brutal chimney sweep who seeks to apprentice Oliver for the parish premium.
- Mr. Limbkins
A board member who negotiates the apprenticeship terms with Gamfield.
Key passages
“For a week after the commission of the impious and profane offence of asking for more, Oliver remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary room to which he had been consigned by the wisdom and mercy of the board.”
After asking for more food, Oliver was locked alone in a dark room for a week by the supposedly wise and merciful workhouse board.
Highlights the board's hypocrisy and Oliver's harsh punishment.
“As for exercise, it was nice cold weather, and he was allowed to perform his ablutions every morning under the pump, in a stone yard, in the presence of Mr. Bumble, who prevented his catching cold, and caused a tingling sensation to pervade his frame, by repeated applications of the cane.”
For exercise, Oliver was forced to wash under a cold pump each morning while Mr. Bumble beat him with a cane.
Sarcastic description of Oliver's cruel treatment.
“Young boys have been smothered in chimneys before now.”
Children have died from being stuck in chimneys.
Acknowledges the deadly risks of chimney sweeping.