Oliver Twist: Level 4
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About this ebook
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was one of England's greatest writers. Best known for his classic serialized novels, such as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations, Dickens wrote about the London he lived in, the conditions of the poor, and the growing tensions between the classes. He achieved critical and popular international success in his lifetime and was honored with burial in Westminster Abbey.
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Book preview
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
It Was Not a Good Beginning
In the 1830s, every English town had a workhouse. This was a place where poor people lived. They had no jobs, so the government gave them a place to work and sleep and food to eat. These were not nice places. The government did not want people to become lazy, so they made the workhouses as uncomfortable as possible. They gave the poor people uniforms to wear, as they did to prisoners. The food was terrible. The rooms were in bad condition. Many people got sick and died there. Nobody wanted to live there.
Oliver was born in a workhouse. Nobody knew who his father was, and his mother died as soon as Oliver was born. It was not a good beginning.
Nobody knew Oliver’s mother’s name. Nobody even knew where she came from. Somebody found her lying in the street the day before Oliver’s birth and brought her to the workhouse. They knew that she came from far away because her feet were bleeding after her long walk.
After Oliver was born, the doctor put on his hat and went home to have dinner.
Don’t call me if the boy is sick,
he told the nurse. "He probably will be sick, but just give him some gruel to eat."
The nurse wrapped Oliver in a piece of cloth. Oliver cried. He cried loudly, but he should have cried even louder.
Oliver spent the first nine years of his life with Mrs. Mann. The government paid Mrs. Mann to look after children like Oliver. She looked after about twenty or thirty children like him. She knew exactly what the children needed, but she also knew exactly what she needed. As a result, she spent most of the money on herself. The children were always hungry, and sometimes they starved to death. Sometimes one would fall in the fire while Mrs. Mann was not looking or die of cold in the winter. Somehow, Oliver stayed alive.
On his ninth birthday, Oliver was small, thin, and pale. He and two other boys told Mrs. Mann that they were hungry. Mrs. Mann said they were not hungry. She hit them and locked all three of them in the cellar. This was their punishment for complaining.
When Mrs. Mann looked out of the window, she was surprised to see the beadle at the gate, trying to get in. The beadle was an officer from the government. He thought he was an important officer. He was very fat, but he had a beautiful uniform, which made him feel even more important. When Mrs. Mann saw him, she quickly told her helper to get the three boys out of the cellar and clean their faces and hands. She pretended she was very pleased to see the beadle, whose name was Mr. Bumble, and gave him a glass of gin to drink.
Mr. Bumble told Mrs. Mann that he was going to take Oliver away because he was now nine years old.
We have never been able to find out anything about his father or mother,
he said. We don’t even know their names. Oliver will work in the workhouse and earn his gruel.
Mrs. Mann was surprised that nobody knew who Oliver’s parents were and wondered how he got a name.
I gave it to him,
said the beadle. I made it up myself.
Mrs. Mann brought Oliver to the beadle.
Would you like to come with me, Oliver?
asked Mr. Bumble.
Oliver would like to go anywhere with anyone if it meant getting away from Mrs. Mann, but he didn’t say that. He knew he had to pretend that he loved Mrs. Mann, so he cried. It was not difficult to cry because he was so hungry and sad. Mr. Bumble led him out of the house, and poor Oliver cried even more because he really was sad to leave the other children. They were his only friends.
When they arrived at the workhouse, the beadle discovered that the board of the workhouse was meeting. They wanted to see Oliver and speak to him. Oliver did not know what the board was and didn’t dare to ask. He was afraid. Mr. Bumble hit him with his stick to hurry him up, and took him to the board room. There, Oliver found eight or ten fat gentlemen sitting around a large table. One of the chairs was higher than the others, and the man in it was fatter than the others.
What’s your name, boy?
asked the fat gentleman.
Oliver was frightened and spoke very quietly. Mr. Bumble hit him again, and this made him cry, although it was not a very hard hit.
The fat man told him that he was an orphan.
What’s that?
asked Oliver.
It means you have no father or mother,
said the fat man. It means that other people, like us, are paying for your food and clothes. I hope you are thankful.
Why are you crying?
asked one of the other gentlemen. Oliver could not answer.
We are going to educate you and teach you to work,
said the fat man. "Tomorrow morning at six o’clock, you will begin to pick oakum."
Oliver didn’t know what this was, but he soon found out. He had to pull old ropes apart. People in jail or in workhouses often did this hard and boring work. That night, he cried in his hard bed until he fell asleep.
The board, meanwhile, decided that people in workhouses were getting too much food. They thought too many people wanted to be in the workhouses to get food. They decided to give them less food so that they would leave the workhouse and find jobs. Many people died of hunger, but the board was happy. Giving the people less food saved money. Having fewer people in the workhouse saved even more money.
The boys in the workhouse had their meals in a large stone