Oliver Twist

Mr. Bumble sulks in the workhouse parlor. He is reminiscing about the power and station of the beadle. He has become the master of the workhouse through his marriage to Mrs. Corney and is no longer the parochial beadle. He no longer wears the uniform that he was used to donning as the beadle, but he does continue to wear similar outfits. Mr. Bumble clearly misses the power and independence of his former position as beadle. As he grumbles to himself about it, Mrs. Corney, now Mrs. Bumble, overhears him and begins to argue with him.

Mr. Bumble is used to people cowering before him and submitting to his wishes. Mrs. Bumble is entirely unafraid of him; his scowl does not make her tremble but “on the contrary, [she] treated it with great disdain, and even raised a laugh” (419). The couple gets into an argument wherein Mr. Bumble states that “the prerogative of a man is to command” and that of the woman is “to obey” (420). At this, Mrs. Bumble begins to cry, but tears do not bother Mr. Bumble. In fact, Mr. Bumble is entirely satisfied when she cries and tells her to weep harder.

Seeing that Mr. Bumble is unbothered by her tears, Mrs. Bumble begins showering him with blows, scratching him, tearing at his hair, and pushing him around. Mr. Bumble is thoroughly beaten and concedes the floor to Mrs. Bumble; he flees from their shared quarters. In an attempt to feel better about his own manhood and pride, Mr. Bumble heads to the workhouse, where he hopes to be able to take his frustration out on the paupers. When he walks by the washing room and hears women chatting as they do laundry, he enters and calls out, “[w]hat do you mean by this noise, you hussies?” (423). Mrs. Bumble is in the room and she publicly humiliates him in front of the other women.

Mr. Bumble boxes the ears of a boy at the gate, in order to make himself feel better. He heads to the bar and begins drinking. There, he spots a man wearing a large cloak. The unknown man recognizes Mr. Bumble as the former beadle and begins asking about Oliver and the circumstances of his birth. It takes Mr. Bumble a while but he eventually admits that the woman who aided in Oliver’s birth has passed away, but that he knows of someone who overheard old Sally’s final secret. The stranger arranges a time to meet with Mr. Bumble and the woman who knows the secret at an abandoned house in a bad neighborhood.

Mr. Bumble chases after the man in the night to try and get his name. The man is Monks. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bumble walk in a bad neighborhood towards one of the many dilapidated houses. Mrs. Bumble is considerably less anxious than Mr. Bumble and she warns him “to say as little as [he] can, or [he’ll] betray [them] at once” (434). Monks appears at an upstairs window and tells Mr. and Mrs. Bumble that he will be down shortly. When he opens the door, Monks is impatient and hurries them inside. Mrs. Bumble is far braver than her husband for she “walked boldly in, without any other invitation” (435).

In response to the many questions that Monks has, Mr. Bumble tells him that Mrs. Bumble does indeed carry old Sally’s secret. After haggling with one another for a long while, during which Mr. Bumble does little to aid Mrs. Bumble, they agree on £25 worth of gold in exchange for information. Mrs. Bumble uses her role as a woman to try and get an upper hand in the conversation, saying that she is weak, “unprotected,” and that there is little she can do if Monks decides to harm her or not give her the money (439). Mr. Bumble takes offense, saying that she is not unprotected, and calls Mr. Bumble a fool.

Eventually, Mrs. Bumble tells Monks what old Sally had told her. Monks continues to question her, asking over and over, in a desperate bid to determine if the secret truly lies with Mrs. Bumble alone. Mrs. Bumble reveals that old Sally stole the necklace from the young woman as she lay dying and sold it. Though old Sally had died before she could tell Mrs. Bumble to whom she sold the necklace, Mrs. Bumble finds a crumpled pawnbroker’s receipt in the old woman’s hand.

Mrs. Bumble tells Monks that though Sally sold the gold necklace to the pawnbroker, she had done her best to pay the interest on the item each year so that the shopkeeper would keep it safe, rather than sell it. Monks desperately asks where the necklace is and Mrs. Bumble dramatically removes a small bag from her person and throws it on the table. Inside the bag, Monks find a golden locket filled with locks of hair and a small gold wedding ring that has been inscribed with the year before Oliver’s birth and the name “Agnes,” (there is no last name).

Monks is pleased with the information given. Mrs. Bumble wishes to know if her role in these matters will be used against her and Monks says it won’t be. He then opens a trapdoor in the floor a little ways in front of them. Mr. Bumble is shaken as they stare down into the rushing water of the river. Monks claims that if he meant them any harm, he could have opened the trapdoor while they stood upon it and let them drown in the river. As the Bumbles watch, Monks weighs down the little bag filled with jewelry and throws it into the lake. Monks threatens them over and over to ensure their silence before he leads the Bumbles out of the house. Once the couple leaves, Monks calls for a servant boy to keep him company; Monks is revealed to be afraid of being alone.

Sikes sulks about in a new place that he’s rented. The quarters are nothing more than a “mean and badly-furnished apartment, of a very limited size” and Sikes is furious at the state of his living conditions (448). Sikes has clearly taken quite a few losses and fallen into “a state of extreme poverty” (448). He is lying on the bed with his dog beside him; the dog growls at noises in the street. Nancy sits by the window, pale and sickly, patching one of the robber’s old waistcoats.

Nancy asks how Sikes is feeling and helps him get out of bed. Instead of thanking her or treating her with any degree of gratitude or kindness, Sikes curses at her and hits her. Nancy forces a laugh and tells him that after nights of her caring for him, he finally has the strength to act and treat her the way he used to do. Nancy tells him things will “soon be over,” collapses on a chair, and faints (450). Sikes is uncertain what to do with this as “Miss Nancy’s hysterics were usually of the violent kind” and calls for assistance (450).

Fagin enters the room, followed by the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates. All three begin helping Nancy by giving her some alcohol, slapping her hands, and undoing her petticoats. Nancy eventually awakens and stumbles over to the bed to lie down. Fagin brings many things for Sikes, despite having not seen him for weeks, including a rabbit pie, tea, sugar, and wine, among many others. Sikes is still furious, wanting to know why they have left him with no help.

Fagin repeats that he was out of town for work. Sikes admits, “if it hadn’t been for the girl, I might have died” (453). Fagin tells Sikes that he would not have had Nancy to help him if it wasn’t for Fagin himself and Nancy agrees readily. They all begin eating and drinking. Sikes asks for money but Fagin says he has none. Sikes sends Nancy with Fagin to pick up the money and return with it anyway. When they arrive, Toby Crackit and Tom Chitling are playing cards. Fagin sends them all out of the house apart from Nancy and goes to get the money.

They hear a voice from outside and Nancy immediately rips off her shawl and bonnet and hides them under the table. Fagin says this meeting will not take long and lets Monks in. Monks and Fagin speak upstairs. Nancy takes off her shoes and heads quietly upstairs to eavesdrop. She listens for a quarter of an hour before heading back downstairs and putting herself back together. Fagin comments on her paleness but Nancy makes up a suitable excuse. After Fagin gets her the money, she flees. Though Nancy first begins running away from the direction of Sikes’s room, she eventually turns back around and heads home.

When she returns to Sikes’s, he berates and threatens her, as usual. Sikes is convinced Nancy is ill and therefore acting strange, so he simply lays back down to sleep. He wakes from nightmares every so often before he passes out. Nancy reveals that she has drugged him with laudanum. Nancy kisses Sikes’s sleeping form before she leaves and rushes to a family hotel near Hyde Park. There, she asks to speak to Miss Maylie. The servants give her the run around for a while before one of them takes the message to Rose.

One of the servants leads Nancy to a small room and leaves her there to wait.

Chapter 40 begins with Nancy in the small room, suddenly overcome with the deep sense of shame for all that she has done. Rose enters the room and is unbearably kind and sweet to Nancy. Her kindness makes Nancy weep and she tells Rose “not to speak to [her] so kindly till [she] know[s] [her] better” (469). Nancy stands so that she might tell her story and Rose backs up a few steps to the door, just in case she needs to begin shouting for help.

Nancy admits to Rose that she was the one who brought Oliver back to Fagin’s while he was out returning books for Mr. Brownlow. Rose is horrified at the news. Nancy tells Rose that she was lucky to be cared for by respectable people so that she did not have to live on the streets as Nancy has. Rose cries and tells Nancy that she pities her. Nancy asks if Rose knows of a man named Monks, but Rose does not. Nancy assumes that Monks is a false name and tells Rose what she has overheard from the two men.

Monks apparently had seen Oliver on the streets with the Dodger and Bates on the day that the young boy had been arrested. Monks knew upon sight that Oliver was the boy he had been searching for. Monks then found Fagin and offered him a large amount of money if he could capture Oliver and make him a pickpocket. Nancy could overhear no more from Monks and Fagin’s first meeting as the former caught a sight of her shadow.

Nancy goes on to tell Rose that the night before, she heard that the only evidence of Oliver’s lineage is at the bottom of the river. Nancy also overhears Monks refer to the young boy as his “young brother” and make mention of their father’s will (472). Nancy also mentions that Monks knows of Rose’s own lineage as well. Nancy makes to leave after giving Rose the information and though Rose convinces her to stay and even offers her protection, Nancy declines.

Nancy tells Rose that she cannot leave Bill and gets Rose to promise that she won’t use any of the information to get Fagin or his boys arrested. The two women arrange to meet every Sunday at 11pm on London Bridge. Though Rose tries to make her stay, Nancy tells her that she is returning to the life she knows for love. Nancy wants nothing more than Rose’s pity. Rose offers Nancy money but Nancy does not take a penny. Nancy leaves and Rose tries her best to gather her thoughts.