English Literature books summary

in a dark cape is sitting there, and he recognizes Mr. Bumble as the former

beadle. He bribes Mr. Bumble for information leading to Old Sally, the

woman who nursed Oliver's mother the night she gave birth. Mr. Bumble

informs him that Old Sally is dead, but he mentions that he knows a woman

who attended the old woman's deathbed ramblings. The man asks that Mr.

Bumble bring this woman to see him at his address the following evening. He

gives his name as Monks.

Chapters 38-41

One night, during a storm, Mr. Bumble and his wife travel to a sordid

section of town near a swollen river to meet Mr. Monks in a much decayed

building.

While Mr. Bumble shivers in fear, Mrs. Bumble coolly bargains with

Monks for the price of her information . They settle on a price of twenty-

five gold pounds. Mrs. Bumble relates the information of Old Sally's

robbery of Oliver's mother. Mrs. Bumble had discovered a ragged, dirty

pawnbroker's receipt in Sally's clutching, dead hands, and had redeemed the

receipt for the gold locket. She hands the locket to Monks. Inside, he

finds a wedding ring and two locks of hair. The name "Agnes" is engraved on

the ring along with a blank for the surname. A date that is less than a

year before Oliver's birth follows it. Monks ties the locket to a lead

weight and drops it into the swirling river.

Bill Sikes is ill with a terrible fever. Nancy nurses him anxiously

despite his abuse and surly attitude. Fagin and his crew drop in to deliver

some wine and food. Sikes demands that Fagin give him some money. Nancy and

Fagin travel to Fagin's haunt where Fagin is about to delve into his store

of cash when Monks arrives and asks to speak to Fagin alone. Fagin takes

his visitor to a secluded room, but Nancy follows them and eavesdrops.

After Monks departs, Fagin gives Nancy the money. Nancy, perturbed by

what she has heard, dashes into the streets in the opposite direction of

Sikes' residence. Thinking better of it, she returns to deliver the money

to Sikes.

Sikes does not notice her changed, nervous attitude until a few days

pass. Sensing something in the air, he demands that Nancy sit with him.

After he sinks into sleep, Nancy hastens to a hotel in a wealthy section of

town. She begs the servants to allow her to speak to Miss Maylie, who is

staying there.

They conduct her upstairs. Nancy confesses that she was the one who

kidnapped Oliver on his errand for Mr. Brownlow. She relates that she

overheard Monks tell Fagin that he is Oliver's older brother. Monks wants

Oliver's identity to remain unknown forever so that he has unchallenged

claim to his share of their inheritance. He would kill Oliver if he could

do so without endangering himself. He has also promised to pay a sum to

Fagin should Oliver ever be recovered. Miss Rose begs Nancy to accept her

help in leaving her life of crime behind. Nancy replies that she cannot

because she is drawn back to Sikes despite his abusive ways. She refuses to

accept any money. Before leaving, Nancy informs Miss Rose that she can be

found on London Bridge between eleven and twelve every Sunday night in case

Miss Rose should need her testimony again.

Oliver rushes in to tell Miss Rose that he saw Mr. Brownlow going into

a house. He and Mr. Giles have ascertained that Brownlow lives there, so

Miss Rose immediately takes Oliver to see his old benefactor. She meets Mr.

Brownlow in his parlor while Mr. Grimwig is visiting. Miss Rose tells him

that Oliver has wanted to see him and thank him for his kind help two years

past. Once they are alone, she relates Nancy's strange story.

Oliver is brought in to see Brownlow and Mrs. Bedwin. After their happy

reunion, Brownlow and Miss Rose relay Nancy's information to Mrs. Maylie

and Losberne. Brownlow asks if he can include Grimwig in the matter.

Losberne agrees on the condition that they include Harry. They agree to

keep everything a secret from Oliver and decide to contact Nancy the

following Sunday on London Bridge.

Chapters 42-48

Noah Claypole and Charlotte flee to London after robbing Mr.

Sowerberry. They take a room in an inn, where they meet Fagin and Barney.

Fagin invites Noah to join in the thieving trade. He gives him the

assignment of robbing children who are running errands for their mothers.

After meeting Fagin at his home, Noah learns that Fagin's best pick-pocket,

the Artful Dodger, has been arrested for stealing a handkerchief. Noah's

first job is to go to the police station to watch the Dodger's appearance

before the magistrate. The Dodger, joking and bantering all the while, is

convicted of the crime. Noah hurries back to tell Fagin the news.

Fagin and Sikes are talking when Nancy tries to leave at eleven on

Sunday to go to London Bridge. Out of pure obstinacy, Sikes refuses to let

her go. He drags her into another room and restrains her struggles for an

hour. When he departs, Fagin asks that Nancy light his way downstairs with

a candle. He whispers to her that he will help her leave the brute Sikes if

she wants.

Fagin imagines that Nancy had wanted to meet a new lover that night.

He hopes to bring her new love into the fold with her help, but he also

hopes to persuade Nancy to poison Sikes to death. In such a way, he can re-

establish his control over her and bring her back into the business. He

plans to watch her in order to discover the identity of her new love

because he hopes to blackmail Nancy into re-joining his crew with this

information.

Fagin tells Noah he will pay him a pound to follow Nancy around and find

out where she goes and to whom she speaks. He waits until the following

Sunday to take Noah to Sikes' residence. At eleven, Nancy leaves the room

she shares with Sikes because he is out on a job that night. Noah follows

her down the street at a discreet distance.

Nancy meets Mr. Brownlow and Miss Rose and draws them into a dark,

secluded spot. Noah listens to Nancy beg them to ensure that none of her

associates get into trouble because of her choice to help Oliver. They

agree, and Nancy tells them when they will most likely see Monks visiting

Fagin.

They hope to catch Monks and force the truth of Oliver's history from

him. Nancy's description of Monks startles them. Miss Rose realizes that

Monks is the same man who, with Fagin, had startled Oliver awake by

watching him through the window at the country cottage. Brownlow begs Nancy

to accept their help, but she refuses, saying that she is chained to her

life. They leave Nancy alone and speed away. After Nancy makes her way

home, Noah runs as fast as he can to Fagin's house.

When Sikes delivers some stolen goods to Fagin that night, Fagin and

Noah relate the details of Nancy's trip to London bridge. In a rage, Sikes

rushes home and beats Nancy to death while she begs for mercy. In the

morning, he flees London, thinking that everyone looks at him suspiciously.

He stops at an inn to eat and drink. Seeing a blood-stain on Sikes's hat,

but not recognizing it for what it is, a salesman grabs it to demonstrate

the quality of his stain-remover. Sikes grabs it and flees the inn. He

overhears some men talking about a murdered woman in London at the post-

office. He wanders the road, hallucinating that Nancy's ghost is following

him. Sikes finally decides to return to London and hide. However, he knows

that his dog, Bulls-Eye, will give him away because everyone knows it

follows him everywhere. He tries to drown the animal, but it escapes.

Chapters 49-53

Meanwhile, Mr. Brownlow has captured Monks, whose real name is Edward

Leeford. Brownlow was a good friend of his father, Mr. Leeford, who was a

young man when his family forced him to marry a woman ten years older than

he. The couple eventually separated, and Monks and his mother went to

Paris. Leeford fell in love with a military man's daughter who became

pregnant with Oliver. The relative who had benefited most from Leeford's

forced marriage repented and left him a fortune. Leeford left a portrait of

his beloved in Brownlow's care while he went to take possession of his

inheritance.

His wife, hearing of his good fortune, travelled with Monks to meet

him there. However, Leeford took ill and died without a will, so his

newfound fortune fell to his wife and son. Brownlow reports that he knows

that Monks's mother Leeford had no will because his wife had actually

burned. Leeford's wife and son then lived in the West Indies on their ill-

gotten fortune which is where Brownlow went to find Monks after Oliver was

kidnapped, Oliver's startling resemblance to the woman in the portrait, his

mother, having bothered his conscience too much. Meanwhile, the search for

Sikes continues.

Crackit flees to Jacob's Island to hide after Fagin and Noah are

captured. They find Sikes' dog waiting for them in the house that serves as

their hiding place. Sikes follows soon thereafter. Charley Bates arrives

and attacks the murderer, calling for the others to help him. The search

party and an angry mob arrive demanding justice. Sikes climbs onto the roof

with a rope with the hopes of lowering himself to escape in the midst of

the confusion. However, he loses his balance when he imagines that Nancy's

ghost is after him. The rope catches around his neck, and he falls to his

death with his head in an accidental noose.

Oliver and his friends travel to the town of his birth, with Monks in

tow, to meet Mr. Grimwig. There, Monks reveals that he and his mother found

a letter and a will after his father's death, both of which they destroyed.

The letter was addressed to Agnes Fleming, Oliver's mother, and it

contained a confession from Leeford about his marriage. The will stated

that if his illegitimate child was born a girl, it was to inherit the

estate unconditionally.

If it was born a boy, it was to inherit the estate only if it

committed no illegal or guilty act. Otherwise, Monks and his mother were to

receive the fortune. Upon learning of his daughter's shame, Agnes' father

fled and changed his family's name. Agnes left to save her family the shame

of her condition, and her father died soon thereafter of a broken heart.

His other small daughter was taken in by a poor couple who died in their

own time. Mrs. Maylie took pity on the little girl and raised her as her

niece. That child is Miss Rose. Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Bumble (the former Mrs.

Corney) are forced to confess their part in concealing Oliver's history,

and Mr. Grimwig takes measure to ensure they never hold public office

again. Harry gives up his political ambitions and becomes a clergyman. He

persuades Rose to marry him.

Fagin is sentenced to death by hanging for being an accomplice to murder.

Noah receives a pardon for his testimony against Fagin. Charley eventually

turns to an honest life. Brownlow arranges for the remains of Monks'

property to be sold and the proceeds divided between Monks and Oliver.

Monks travels to the New World where he squanders his share and turns to a

life of vice for which he is arrested. He dies in a prison. Brownlow adopts

Oliver as his son. He, Losberne, and Grimwig t take up residence near

Harry's church.

The Poor Laws

Oliver Twist opens with a bitter invective directed at the nineteenth-

century English poor laws. The laws were a distorted manifestation of the

Victorian middle class emphasis on the virtues of "work." England in the

1830's was rapidly undergoing a transformation from an agricultural, rural

economy to an urban, industrial nation. The growing middle class had

achieved an economic influence equal to, if not greater than, the British

aristocracy.

Class consciousness reached a peak for the middle class in the 1830's.

It was in this decade that the middle class clamored for a share in

political power with the landed gentry, bringing about a re-structuring of

the voting system. Parliament passed a Reform Act that granted the right to

vote to previously disenfranchised middle class citizens. The middle class

was eager to gain social legitimacy. This desire gave rise to the Puritan

Evangelical

religious movement and inspired sweeping economic and political change.

The ideal social class belonged to the "gentleman," an aristocrat who

could afford not to work for his living. The middle class were stigmatized

for having to work for a living. One way to alleviate the stigma attached

to middle class wealth was to establish work as a moral virtue. Between the

moral value attached to work and the insecurity of the middle class about

its own social legitimacy, the poor were subject to hatred and cruelty. The

middle class Puritan moral value system transformed earned wealth into a

sign of moral virtue. Victorian society interpreted economic success as a

sign that God favored the honest, moral virtue of the successful

individual's efforts. Thus, they interpreted the condition of poverty as a

sign of the weakness of the poor individual.

The sentiment behind the Poor Law of the 1830's reflected these

beliefs. The law allowed the poor to receive public assistance only through

established workhouses. Begging carried the punishment of imprisonment.

Debtors were sent to prison, often with their entire families, which

virtually ensured that they could not re-pay their debts. Workhouses were

deliberately made to be as miserable as possible in order to deter the poor

from relying on public assistance. The philosophy was that the miserable

conditions would prevent able-bodied paupers from being lazy and idle bums.

Anyone who could not support himself or herself was considered an

immoral, evil person. Therefore, such individuals should enjoy no comforts

or luxuries in their reliance on public assistance. In order to create the

misery needed to deter such immoral idleness, families were split apart

upon entering the workhouse. Husbands were permitted no contact with their

wives, lest they should breed more paupers. Mothers were separated from

children, lest they impart their immoral ways to their children. Brothers

were separated from their sisters because the middle class patrons of

workhouses feared the lower class's "natural" inclination towards incest.

In short, the State undertook to become the surrogate "parents" of

workhouse children, whether or not they were orphans. Moreover, meals

served to workhouse residents were deliberately inadequate so as to

encourage the residents to find work and support themselves.

Because of the great stigma attached to workhouse relief, many poor

people chose to die in the streets rather than seek public "aid." The

workhouse was supposed to demonstrate the virtue of gainful employment to

the poor.

In order to receive public assistance, they had to pay in suffering

and misery. Puritan values stressed the moral virtue of suffering and

privation, and the workhouse residents were made to experience these

"virtues" many times over.

Rather that improving the "questionable morals" of the able-bodied poor,

the Poor Laws punished the most defenseless and helpless members of the

lower class. The old, the sick, and the very young suffered more than the

able-bodied benefited from these laws. Dickens meant to demonstrate this

with the figure of Oliver Twist, an orphan born and raised in a workhouse

for the first ten years of his life. He represents the hypocrisy of the

petty middle class bureaucrats, who treat a small child cruelly while

voicing their belief in the Christian virtue of giving charity to the less

fortunate.

Dickens was a life-long champion of the poor. He himself suffered the

harsh abuse of the English legal system's treatment of the poor. In England

in the 1830's, the poor truly had no voice, either politically or

economically. In Oliver Twist, Dickens presents the everyday existence of

the lowest members of English society. He went far beyond the experiences

of the workhouse, extending his depiction of poverty to London's squalid

streets, dark houses and thieves' dens. He gave voice to those who had no

voice, establishing a close link between politics and literature.

What does the phrase "justice is blind" normally mean?

The phrase "justice is blind" normally means that the law treats all

individuals equally. It means that the law is not biased. The phrase is

ironic because the legal system portrayed in Oliver Twist is heavily biased

in favor f individuals who belong to the middle and upper classes. Oliver

enters he courtroom twice in the novel. The magistrate who presides over

Gamfeld's petition to take Oliver on as an apprentice is half-blind. He

asks the workhouse officials if Oliver wants to be a chimney sweep, and

they assure him that he does. The law essentially does not recognize any

legal right for Oliver to speak for himself. The magistrate deigns to ask

for his opinion only after he notices Oliver's terrified expression. Oliver

is saved from Gamfield's brutal treatment, but only by a stroke of luck.

Hence, the phrase "justice is blind" is ironic when applied to the hearing.

The magistrate's half-blindness serves as a metaphor for the half-

blindness of middle class Victorians and their institutions. Although there

are glimmers of hope for mercy and kindness towards the poor, there are

still huge obstacles to change because the law is biased against the poor.

Oliver's trial for stealing a handkerchief highlights the precarious

position of the poor in the eyes of the law. In 1830's England, the right

to vote was based on wealth. Therefore, the law was designed to protect the

interests of people wealthy enough to own property.

Hence, the penalties for stealing were unbelievably harsh. Mr. Fang, the

presiding magistrate, is an aptly named representative of the English legal

system. The law has fangs ready to devour any unfortunate pauper brought to

face "justice." Without hard evidence, without witnesses, and even despite

Brownlow's testimony that Oliver is not the thief, Mr. Fang convicts Oliver

and sentences him to three months hard labour. Mr. Fang is biased against

Oliver from the moment he steps into the courtroom. He does not view Oliver

as an individual, but as the representative of the "criminal poor."

Therefore he views Oliver through the vicious prejudices of the Victorian

middle class.

Again, the phrase "justice is blind" is ironic when applied to Oliver

Twist. The magistrate is blinded by biased stereo types, and the legal

system he represents is biased against the poor. How is Fagin an anti-

Semitic stereotype? How does Dickens's anti-Semitism manifest itself ?

Consider Dickens's habit of referring to Fagin as "the Jew" or "the old

Jew." Consider Fagin's obsession with gold.

Victorians stereotyped the Jews as naturally avaricious beings who

worship gold for its own sake. Fagin's eyes "glisten" as he takes out a

"magnificent gold watch, sparkling with jewels." True to the anti-Semitic

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