Happy life at the Maylies

The happy life at the Maylies represents the novel's vision of domestic tranquility and moral redemption, offering Oliver Twist a stark contrast to the poverty, cruelty, and criminality that defined his earlier existence. This period of peace, health, and loving care serves as the narrative's emotional and thematic counterweight, demonstrating the transformative power of kindness and stability.

A New Existence of Peace and Beauty

After his recovery from the fever and the wound sustained during the burglary at Chertsey, Oliver entered a world utterly unlike any he had known. The Maylies' cottage was a lovely spot, with rose and honeysuckle clinging to its walls and ivy creeping round the trunks of the trees. The garden-flowers perfumed the air with delicious odours. For a boy whose days had been spent among squalid crowds and in the midst of noise and brawling, this seemed like a new existence. The quiet place, the pure air, and all the pleasures and beauties of spring worked to restore him. He would often wander into the little churchyard hard by, not crowded with tall unsightly gravestones but full of humble mounds covered with fresh turf and moss, where the old people of the village lay at rest. There, thinking of the wretched grave in which his mother lay, he would sometimes sit down and sob unseen; but when he raised his eyes to the deep sky overhead, he would cease to think of her as lying in the ground, and would weep for her, sadly, but without pain.

Daily Routine and Gentle Instruction

The days were peaceful and serene, bringing with them neither fear nor care. Every morning Oliver went to a white-headed old gentleman who lived near the little church, who taught him to read better and to write, and who spoke so kindly and took such pains that Oliver could never try enough to please him. Then he would walk with Mrs. Maylie and Rose, and hear them talk of books, or perhaps sit near them in some shady place and listen whilst the young lady read—which he could have done until it grew too dark to see the letters. He had his own lesson for the next day to prepare, and at this he would work hard in a little room which looked into the garden, till evening came slowly on, when the ladies would walk out again, and he with them, listening with such pleasure to all they said, and so happy if they wanted a flower that he could climb to reach, or had forgotten anything he could run to fetch, that he could never be quick enough about it. When it became quite dark and they returned home, the young lady would sit down to the piano and play some pleasant air, or sing, in a low and gentle voice, some old song which it pleased her aunt to hear. There would be no candles lighted at such times, and Oliver would sit by one of the windows, listening to the sweet music, in a perfect rapture.

Sunday Observance and Simple Pleasures

Sunday was spent in a way Oliver had never known before, and yet how happily too, like all the other days in that most happy time. There was the little church in the morning, with the green leaves fluttering at the windows, the birds singing without, and the sweet-smelling air stealing in at the low porch and filling the homely building with its fragrance. The poor people were so neat and clean, and knelt so reverently in prayer, that it seemed a pleasure, not a tedious duty, their assembling there together. Though the singing might be rude, it was real, and sounded more musical to Oliver's ears than any he had ever heard in church before. Then there were the walks as usual, and many calls at the clean houses of the labouring men; and at night, Oliver read a chapter or two from the Bible, which he had been studying all the week, and in the performance of which duty he felt more proud and pleased than if he had been the clergyman himself.

Industry and Affection

In the morning, Oliver would be afoot by six o'clock, roaming the fields and plundering the hedges far and wide for nosegays of wild flowers, with which he would return laden home, and which it took great care and consideration to arrange to the best advantage for the embellishment of the breakfast-table. There was fresh groundsel too for Miss Maylie's birds, with which Oliver, who had been studying the subject under the able tuition of the village clerk, would decorate the cages in the most approved taste. When the birds were made all spruce and smart for the day, there was usually some little commission of charity to execute in the village; or, failing that, there was rare cricket-playing sometimes on the green; or, failing that, there was always something to do in the garden, or about the plants, to which Oliver, who had studied this science also under the same master, who was a gardener by trade, applied himself with hearty good-will, until Miss Rose made her appearance: when there were a thousand commendations to be bestowed on all he had done.

Thematic Significance: Redemption and Domestic Ideals

This period of happiness was not merely a respite from suffering but a crucial element in Oliver's moral and emotional development. The purest and most amiable generosity on one side, and the truest, warmest, soul-felt gratitude on the other, meant that by the end of three months, Oliver Twist had become completely domesticated with the old lady and her niece. The fervent attachment of his young and sensitive heart was repaid by their pride in, and attachment to, himself. This happy life at the Maylies stands in direct opposition to the systematic cruelty of the workhouse, the predatory world of Fagin's gang, and the brutal violence of Bill Sikes. It embodies the novel's belief in the possibility of redemption through kindness and the restorative power of a loving home, a vision that ultimately prevails as the narrative concludes with Oliver adopted by Mr. Brownlow and living near the Maylies, his happiness complete.