Student Question

What punishment was given to Oliver Twist and who saved him from it?

Quick answer:

Oliver is locked alone in a dark room and beaten every day for asking for more food. The board of the orphanage decides to pay five pounds to anyone who will take him off their hands. They are about to hand him over to a horrible, leering chimney sweep when the magistrate sees Oliver's terror and saves him from this fate. Shortly thereafter, Oliver is apprenticed to an undertaker.

Expert Answers

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Oliver, the boy chosen by lot to ask for more food, is locked in a dark room in solitary confinement for a week. The members of the board of the orphanage register "horror" that Oliver made such a request for more to eat. They advertise to pay five pounds to anyone who will take such a depraved child off their hands as an apprentice in any trade. Mr. Bumble douses Oliver with cold water from a pump every morning and beats him. He is then taken and beaten again in front of the other orphans as an example to them never to ask for more. When he is thrown back into his dark room, he is able to hear the special prayer added to the normal ones that the boys not become like Oliver Twist.

A man named Mr. Gamfield, a chimney sweep who needs five pounds to pay his back rent, sees the advertisement about Oliver and decides to take the boy and train him as a chimney sweep. The board is undecided, as even they realize becoming a chimney sweep is a dangerous and horrible fate. However, they end up simply bargaining with Mr. Gamfield to take less money, which he accepts.

Oliver is saved when the magistrate, ready to sign the papers turning the boy over to the "leering" Gamfield, sees Oliver's terror. Oliver cries and begs to be killed, or to suffer any fate, but to be spared Mr. Gamfield. The magistrate then refuses to turn him over. Soon after, Oliver is apprenticed to an undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry.

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