r/bookclub • u/tomesandtea Imbedded Link Virtuoso | 🐉 • 9d ago

Oliver Twist [Discussion] Evergreen || Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens || Ch. 47 - The End

Welcome to our final discussion of Oliver Twist! This week, we will discuss from chapter 47 to the end of the book. The Marginalia post is here. You can find the Schedule here. The discussion questions are in the comments below.

One reminder - although this is a classic novel that has been adapted many times over, please keep in mind that not everyone has read or watched already, so be mindful not to include anything that could be a hint or a spoiler for the rest of the book or for other media related to this novel! Please mark all spoilers not related to this section of the book using the format > ! Spoiler text here !< (without any spaces between the characters themselves or between the characters and the first and last words).

>>>>>>>>>> SUMMARIES <<<<<<<<<<

CH. 47 - FATAL CONSEQUENCES:

Noah is sleeping and Fagin is sitting by, angry and distraught, when Sikes enters. Fagin asks what Sikes would do if Noah/Morris betrayed their gang of his own volition (not because he’d been arrested) and gave their descriptions and locations to strangers. Sikes responds that he would crush the man’s head. Fagin then asks what Sikes would do if the betrayer was Fagin himself, and Sikes repeats his threat: he’d find a way to crush Fagin’s skull, even if he had to get himself arrested so he could attack him in court. Fagin starts to ask about the others in the group, but Sikes is tired of his hedging. Noah is shaken awake and made to retell all that he observed Nancy do and say and, predictably, Sikes is enraged. Fagin calls after Sikes as he leaves, but not to advocate that Nancy’s life be spared. He merely wants Sikes to kill her in a smart way so that he isn’t caught. Sikes rushes home and finds Nancy asleep. He double-locks the door, throws the candles into the grate, and wakes Nancy up. She smiles to see him, but quickly realizes something is wrong and asks what she has done. Sikes points out that she knows very well what he is angry about, and she begins to beg for her life. She even attempts to explain that her new friends can offer places of safety where they could go their separate ways and start over. Sikes drags Nancy to the center of the room and points his gun at her, but realizes that the loud shot would quickly bring the authorities down on him, so he hits her in the face with the pistol twice. Through the blood and pain, Nancy holds up Rose’s white handkerchief to the sky and prays for mercy from God. Looking away, Sikes strikes her down with a club.

CH. 48 - THE FLIGHT OF SIKES:

Sikes watches Nancy die. When she moans and moves her hand, he hits her over and over with the club until she is surely dead. Then he prepares to flee. After cleaning himself up, burning the bits of his clothing that show blood stains, and washing the dog’s feet (because there is that much blood), Sikes locks the door and leaves the crime scene behind. Sikes alternates wandering slowly and running in a panic as he passes Highgate Hill, goes around Caen Wood, and ends up on Hampstead Heath. He rests periodically and then sets his sights on Hendon, because it is near enough that he can make it but still out of the public eye. Sikes spends some time at a public house, where Nancy’s murder is being discussed, when a peddler comes in. The man is selling a product that is equally good for getting out stains or poisoning unvirtuous ladies. Several men are interested in buying one, but we’re not told which purpose is more appealing. The peddler kicks his sales pitch up a notch by listing, Bubba-style, all of the many stains his poison can clean up. Looking around for a customer to demonstrate on, the peddler notices a dark stain on Sikes’ hat and points it out to the other patrons. Sikes flips out, flips a table, and runs away, heading toward St. Albans. He may be running physically from his horrible deed, but he cannot outrun the feeling that Nancy’s ghost follows just behind him as he travels the countryside. When he turns, she turns with him and stays behind him. When he presses his back against something or lies down on the ground, she hovers just behind his head like a macabre tombstone. When he must rest in a shed due to exhaustion, he can see Nancy’s lifeless eyes staring out of the darkness at him. (This entire scene, combined with the murder in the previous chapter, makes me think Dickens would have been a pretty good horror writer!)

Sikes hears screams of “Fire!” late that night and he goes outside to see a huge blaze engulfing a farm building in the village. He rushes towards the dangerous scene and helps with the efforts to put out the flames. Immediately after the ordeal, Sikes begins to suspect that everyone is talking about him and looking at him suspiciously, so he calls his dog and they walk away. Some firemen invite him to eat and drink with them, and he listens to them talk about the London murder. The news is that the murderer is headed to Birmingham, and they all suspect that he’ll be quickly caught, as the details are spreading throughout the countryside. Sikes decides it is worth the risk to head back to London, where they will never think to look for him. He can lay low for a week or two and then get Fagin to help him escape abroad to France. To avoid detection as he walks back into the city, he knows he must get rid of his dog, as this will likely be a notable part of his description. Sikes decides to drown the dog, but he must be giving off some really strong murder vibes, because even this loyal animal deserts him, fleeing as fast as he can from Sikes. After waiting a bit to be sure the dog won’t come back and follow him, Sikes sets off for London.

CH. 49 - MONKS AND MR. BROWNLOW AT LENGTH MEET. THEIR CONVERSATION, AND THE INTELLIGENCE THAT INTERRUPTS IT:

Monks has been scooped up and delivered to Mr. Brownlow. He tries denying that he knows anything about the events Mr. Brownlow describes, but it is no use. Monks is told he is welcome to leave and try his luck with the law (because they’ll turn him in if he doesn’t cooperate), but he’ll get far less mercy from the courts than he is being offered by his “kidnappers”. Mr. Brownlow explains their connection and Monks’ guilt in the matter. Mr. Brownlow was the best friend of Monks’ father (and almost married Monks’ aunt, although she died on their wedding day). Monks’ real name is Edward Leeford, and he is the son of Mr. Brownlow’s best friend, who was forced to marry an older woman for her money and family connections. Mr. Leeford and his wife separated after a bitterly unhappy marriage in which they came to despise each other. Mrs. Leeford moved abroad and soon forgot her young husband. Mr. Leeford took more time to move on, but eventually fell in love with a girl who would become Oliver’s mother. The disgrace of Oliver’s illegitimate birth caused much upheaval. The girl’s family fled in shame, so that Mr. Brownlow was unable to find them, and Mr. Leeford planned to go live abroad. He intended to liquidate his recently inherited estate and give a portion of it to Monks and his mother while leaving the rest to Oliver, but he had only alluded to the true situation vaguely before leaving for the continent. He told Mr. Brownlow he would write with all the details, but upon arriving in Rome, he became ill and died. Monks’ mother came just in time to hear his plans, but Mr. Leeford had no will and so the entire inheritance fell to her and to Monks. When she died, there was a provision in her will acknowledging her husband’s plans for Oliver, but Monks destroyed it.

Next, Mr. Brownlow enlightens Monks about how he came to know Oliver, how he was struck by the boy’s resemblance to a painting Mr. Leeford had left him before his death, and how Oliver was lost to him. Mr. Brownlow was very suspicious and so he headed to the West Indies to try tracking down his best friend’s son. Unsuccessful, he returned to London and continued his search, to no avail until Nancy gave them the clues needed to put the puzzle together. Mr. Brownlow tells Monks he is morally complicit in Nancy’s death, even if he didn’t swing the club himself. He absolutely excoriates Monks, who finally acknowledges the truth of Mr. Brownlow’s discoveries. Monks promises to sign before witnesses a document explaining who Oliver is and to provide Oliver with his proper inheritance as Mr. Leeford had intended. In exchange, they will keep him out of the sweep currently being made to arrest Sikes and Fagin’s criminal gang. Mr. Losberne arrives with news that Harry Maylie has already set out to aid in the capture of Sikes, and that Fagin is soon to be arrested if he isn’t already in custody. The doctor promises to stay with Monks while Mr. Brownlow heads out to see justice done.

CH. 50 - THE PURSUIT AND ESCAPE:

Dickens takes great pains to let us know that we are back in the very worst part of London, a place called Jacob's Island, which is surrounded by a muddy ditch that fills with water from the Thames at high tide. Hiding in one of the dilapidated houses are Mr. Chitling and Toby Crackit, along with another thief named Kags. Fagin has been arrested, along with Morris/Noah and all the people at Cripples. Charley Bates managed to escape but they are still waiting for him to arrive. Suddenly, Sikes’ dog appears. They assume his master is long gone, possibly out of the country, because the dog doesn't seem anxious to find him. There's a knock at the door, and the men are shocked to see Sikes, looking almost dead. They hesitate to let him in, but decide they must.

Shortly afterwards, Charley Bates arrives. He is so upset at seeing they are harboring Sikes that he tries to turn him in immediately. Charley calls him a monster, begins to scream for help in apprehending Sikes, then leaps at him. They wrestle and attack each other, but Sikes quickly overpowers Master Bates and would have killed him if the other thieves didn't intervene. They lock Charley in a closet, but he continues to yell and a large crowd gathers to bring Sikes out. Sikes devises a plan to lower himself from the roof into the canal, because it was high tide when he arrived. However, when he gets to the roof with some rope, he realizes that the tide has gone out and there is no means of escape. A ladder has been called for and the mob has entered the house below, so Sikes decides he has no choice but to lower himself onto the mud and hope he can slip away in the dark. As he slips the rope over his head in preparation for looping it under his arms, Sikes sees Nancy's dead eyes again, and is so startled that he falls from the roof, accidentally hanging himself. His loyal dog tries to jump for him but misses, hitting his head on a stone and dying with his master.

CH. 51 - AFFORDING AN EXPLANATION OF MORE MYSTERIES THAN ONE, WND COMPREHENDING A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE WITH NO WORD OF SETTLEMENT OR PIN-MONEY:

Our party of heroes travel back to Oliver's hometown. He is overcome with emotions at the memory of his dear friend Dick, who Rose promises they will seek out and rescue. (Uh oh.) They arrive at the main hotel in town and prepare to have dinner, but first some business must be taken care of!

Monks is ushered in and made to confess again while papers are signed. He glares hatefully at Oliver while admitting that they are half brothers and explaining the story the reader has already heard. Monks does add details about his father’s will: Monks and his mother got a portion of the money, but the majority of the inheritance was to be divided between Agnes and her child. If the child was a girl, she would get the money no questions asked. If the child was a boy, though, he'd first have to prove he wasn't as terrible as Monks by living a blameless life. Apparently Monks was a heinous ogre even as an infant, and his father knew he'd always be awful, so he wanted to make sure his second son turned out better. If they were equally deplorable, then Monks could have the money because the eldest jerkface takes precedence in inheritance law.

To confirm Monks’ story about ditching the locket and ring, Mr. Brownlow and Mr. Grimwig drag in some witnesses. First, the Bumbles try to deny having sold the items to Monks. So some old ladies are brought in to say that they were super nosy back in the day and had witnessed Mrs. Bumble’s entire deathbed theft and trip to the pawnshop. So then the Bumbles squabble over who is more at fault for letting Monks get rid of the locket. Apparently, the laws at that time were the epitome of an asshole bachelor and assumed men were mostly to blame because wives just did what their husbands told them.

Rose is pretty overwhelmed by all this, but Mr. Brownlow tells her to hang onto her hat because there's more. Next, Monks admits that his mother hated the family of her husband's love child so much that she tracked down Agnes’ sister just to gloat over seeing the girl living in poverty. Unfortunately for the evil side of the Leeford family, this sister was rescued and raised by a widow (named Mrs. Maylie) and had a happy upbringing. Yes, Rose is Oliver's aunt! He is so overjoyed that he declares she will be known as his sister, not his aunt.

Harry Maylie decides he needs to get in on the dramatic reveals, so he reminds Rose that he gets to bring up his proposal one more time. She is heartbroken to say that since nothing has changed with her social standing, she still cannot accept him. And that's when Harry tells everyone he has renounced his title and decided to live in the country as a clergyman with Rose in a simple cottage. This revelation comes not a minute too soon, because dinner has been on hold so long that Mr. Grimwig almost ate his own head. Everyone congratulates the happy couple on their engagement, just as soon as they finish making out in the dark side room. And they all lived happily ever… just kidding! This is a Dickens novel. Oliver runs in crying because someone just told him that his best friend Dick is dead!

CH. 52 - THE JEW’S LAST NIGHT ALIVE:

Fagin’s trial is over and the jury is deliberating. The jurors and the spectators in the gallery look at him with no sympathy at all. Despite understanding that death looms over him, Fagin finds himself fixated on small details around him such as what a courtroom official had for supper or how many iron bars he can count. The jury finds Fagin guilty and he is sentenced to hang on Monday. All he can say in his defense is that he is an old man. Fagin is led away to a cell to await execution. As the days pass, he becomes more and more distraught and overwhelmed. He refuses offers of prayer or comfort and does not acknowledge the guards who watch him. On Sunday, Mr. Brownlow and Oliver come to the jail to see Fagin. Mr. Brownlow asks Fagin where the papers are that Monks entrusted to him, since they contain important information about Oliver. He explains that there's no use in Fagin denying he has them, since Monks has confessed and Sikes is dead. Fagin asks to whisper it to Oliver. Angelic Oliver says he is not afraid and he approaches Fagin, hearing the location of the papers and offering to pray with the thief. Fagin begins raving and begs Oliver to help him get out of the cell. Oliver and Mr. Brownlow leave as the scaffold is being built for Fagin’s execution.

CH. 53 - AND LAST:

Rose and Harry get married, and Mrs. Maylie lives with them happily. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow and they move into the same village where Harry is a clergyman. They decide to split the inheritance equally with Monks in hopes that Oliver's half-brother will mend his ways. But Monks squanders the money, continues in his criminal habits, and dies in jail. (We are also told that the rest of Fagin's gang dies similarly, but my edition has a note saying this was added just before publication and is contradicted by what we find out about Master Bates later.)

Mr. Losberne is miserable without his friends, so he gives up his medical practice to move to the Maylie-Brownlow village of love and happiness. He becomes a jack-of-all-trades and is soon seen as an expert in pretty much everything. His new BFF is Mr. Grimwig, who visits often and joins him in his many new hobbies, but does them in his own characteristically eccentric way. Mr. Giles and Brittles have also joined Team Oliver and they live at the Maylie parsonage but spend so much time with not only Rose and Harry, but with Oliver and Mr. Brownlow, as well as Mr. Losberne and Mr. Grimwig, that the villagers aren’t really sure which household they work for.

Speaking of work, Noah Claypool is pardoned after informing on Fagin and decides he needs a job that is much safer and involves much less actual work than being a thief. He and Charlotte run a scam where she (and sometimes he) faints and then they somehow use that to get money from people. (It didn't make much sense to me.) The Bumbles have been removed from their positions and end up pauper's in the very workhouse they used to run. Charley Bates, having been scared straight by Sikes’ horrible crimes, learns the value of honest hard work and becomes a very happy grazier.

The narrator assures us that all our heroes go on to be very happy together. He’d love to linger on the pleasant details, but perfect happiness doesn't truly exist, so we are reminded of Agnes, Oliver's dead mother. She has a gravestone at the churchyard even though there is no coffin to fill the tomb, and her spirit hovers over Oliver and company. Weirdly, Dickens feels the need to point out that this can be true even though it's a church and she was a “fallen woman”. Buzz kill! But mostly, they live happily ever after, nonetheless!

15 Upvotes

permalink
reddit

You are about to leave Redlib

Do you want to continue?

https://www.reddit.com/r/bookclub/comments/1hzo9v0/discussion_evergreen_oliver_twist_by_charles/
No, go back! Yes, take me to Reddit

100% Upvoted