Oliver asks for more

Oliver asks for more is the pivotal scene in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist in which the starving orphan, driven by desperation after months of slow starvation in the workhouse, steps forward after supper and requests a second portion of gruel, an act that the board of guardians treats as a monstrous rebellion, leading to his confinement, a five-pound reward for his apprenticeship, and the first decisive turn in his journey from parish child to London outcast.

Causes and Background

The scene is the direct consequence of the board of guardians' dietary system. The board, composed of "very sage, deep, philosophical men," had established the rule that all poor people should have the alternative of being starved by a gradual process in the house or by a quick one out of it. To implement this, they contracted with the water-works for an unlimited supply of water and with a corn-factor for small quantities of oatmeal, issuing three meals of thin gruel per day, with an onion twice a week and half a roll on Sundays. For the first six months after Oliver Twist was removed to the workhouse, the system was in full operation; it was rather expensive at first, in consequence of the increase in the undertaker's bill and the necessity of taking in the clothes of all the paupers, which fluttered loosely on their wasted, shrunken forms after a week or two's gruel. The boys suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months, growing so voracious and wild with hunger that one boy, who was tall for his age and whose father had kept a small cook-shop, hinted darkly to his companions that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him. A council was held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.

What Happens

The evening arrived. The boys took their places in the large stone hall where the copper stood at one end. The master, dressed in an apron for the purpose and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel at mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer and no more—except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing; the boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again, and when they had performed this operation they would sit staring at the copper with such eager eyes as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed, sucking their fingers most assiduously to catch up any stray splashes of gruel. The gruel was served out; a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each other and winked at Oliver while his next neighbors nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger and reckless with misery. He rose from the table and, advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: "Please, sir, I want some more." The master was a fat, healthy man, but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear. "What!" said the master at length, in a faint voice. "Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more." The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle, pinioned him in his arm, and shrieked aloud for the beadle.

Consequences and Aftermath

The board were sitting in solemn conclave when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement and, addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said, "Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!" There was a general start; horror was depicted on every countenance. "For more!" said Mr. Limbkins. "Compose yourself, Bumble, and answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?" "He did, sir," replied Bumble. "That boy will be hung," said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. "I know that boy will be hung." Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman's opinion. An animated discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant confinement, and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the gate offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish. For a week after the commission of the impious and profane offence of asking for more, Oliver remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary room to which he had been consigned by the wisdom and mercy of the board. He was allowed to perform his ablutions every morning under the pump in a stone yard in the presence of Mr. Bumble, who prevented his catching cold and caused a tingling sensation to pervade his frame by repeated applications of the cane. He was carried every other day into the hall where the boys dined and there sociably flogged as a public warning and example. The scene directly leads to Oliver's near-apprenticeship to the chimney-sweep Mr. Gamfield and then to his actual apprenticeship to the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry, setting in motion the chain of events that drives him to run away to London and encounter the Artful Dodger and Fagin's gang. The phrase "Oliver Twist has asked for more" becomes a recurring touchstone in the narrative, referenced later in the novel's own self-aware commentary and echoed in the desperate hunger that defines Oliver's early life.