Chapter 1 Summary

The initial chapter describes the birth of the main character – Oliver Twist. His mother has been found lying in the street, her shoes in shreds from walking. She is brought to a workhouse in England, and the next night gives birth to Oliver, delivered by a surgeon and a drunken nurse. Oliver struggles to breathe at first, but once established, cries heartily. His mother asks to see him, and dies once she has placed a kiss on him. She is unmarried, and no one knows her identity. Oliver is left at the workhouse in the care of the nurse.

Chapter 1 Analysis

In this initial chapter, Dickens begins to observe class differences in society. As he describes the nurse dressing the infant in worn and yellowed clothing, he describes how these used, ragged clothes already denote Oliver's place in the world.