Oliver Twist, Chapter 5 summary

What happens

1. Oliver spends a frightened night among coffins and wakes to threats from Noah Claypole, who kicks him and claims authority over him.
2. Charlotte gives Noah favored treatment at breakfast, and both mock Oliver’s isolation while he eats scraps in a cold corner.
3. After about three weeks or a month, Mr. Sowerberry proposes using Oliver as a silent attendant at children’s funerals.
4. Mr. Bumble brings a parish burial order, and Oliver accompanies Sowerberry to a home where a husband blames starvation for his wife’s death.
5. The next day, the mourners wait in rain before a hurried burial service; the husband faints after the grave is filled.
6. Oliver admits that he dislikes the work and silently questions how his master becomes accustomed to such suffering.

In this chapter

What to notice

Sowerberry presents familiarity as the answer to Oliver’s discomfort. Oliver’s private question about his master exposes the distance between professional habit and a child’s response to suffering.

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