Oliver apprenticed to Sowerberry

Oliver Twist's formal apprenticeship to Mr. Sowerberry, the parochial undertaker, represents his first official placement into a trade and his permanent removal from the workhouse, a transition that exposes him to a world of hunger, abuse, and the grim realities of death. The arrangement, driven by the parish board's desire to be rid of him at minimal cost, sets the stage for his deepening misery and his eventual desperate flight to London.

The Bargain and the Board's Decision

The apprenticeship was the direct result of the board's determination to dispose of Oliver after his infamous request for more gruel. A bill posted on the workhouse gate offered five pounds to anyone who would take him as an apprentice. Mr. Gamfield, a chimney-sweep, was the first to respond, but the magistrates refused to sanction the indentures after Oliver, terrified by Gamfield's villainous countenance, fell on his knees and begged to be sent back to the dark room rather than go with him. Following this failure, the board considered shipping Oliver to sea, a plan they believed would likely result in his death at the hands of a brutal skipper. However, Mr. Bumble, the beadle, encountered Mr. Sowerberry at the workhouse gate. Sowerberry, a tall, gaunt man in threadbare black, was a parochial undertaker who paid a good deal towards the poor's rates. He saw an opportunity to profit from the parish's burden, and after being closeted with the board for five minutes, it was arranged that Oliver should go to him that evening "upon liking"—a phrase meaning that if the master found he could get enough work out of the boy without putting too much food into him, he would have him for a term of years.

Oliver's Journey to the Undertaker's

When Oliver was informed that he was to go that night as a general house-lad to a coffin-maker's, and that if he complained he would be sent to sea to be drowned or knocked on the head, he evinced so little emotion that the board pronounced him a hardened young rascal. In truth, Oliver possessed too much feeling, not too little, and was being reduced to a state of brutal stupidity by ill usage. He heard the news in perfect silence, took his luggage—a small brown paper parcel—and, pulling his cap over his eyes, attached himself to Mr. Bumble's coat cuff to be led away. On the walk, Oliver broke down, sobbing that he was lonely and that everybody hated him. Mr. Bumble, momentarily taken aback, bade him dry his eyes and be a good boy. When they arrived at the shop, Mrs. Sowerberry, a short, thin, squeezed-up woman with a vixenish countenance, complained that Oliver was very small and that parish children always cost more to keep than they were worth. She pushed him down a steep flight of stairs into a damp, dark stone cell that served as the kitchen, where a slatternly girl named Charlotte gave him some cold bits that had been put by for the dog. Oliver, trembling with eagerness, devoured the coarse broken victuals with the ferocity of famine.

Life and Work in the Undertaker's Shop

Oliver's bed was under the counter, among the coffins. The shop itself was a gloomy place, with an unfinished coffin on black tressels, a row of elm boards like high-shouldered ghosts, and coffin-plates and black cloth scattered about. The recess beneath the counter where his flock mattress was thrust looked like a grave. Oliver wished that that were his coffin and that he could be laid in a calm and lasting sleep in the churchyard. He was awakened the next morning by a loud kicking at the door, which proved to be Noah Claypole, a large-headed, small-eyed charity-boy who announced himself as Oliver's superior and immediately kicked him. Noah, himself a target of scorn from other shop-boys, relished the opportunity to torment a nameless orphan. Oliver was subjected to constant ill-treatment from Noah, Charlotte, and Mrs. Sowerberry, while Mr. Sowerberry, who was disposed to be his friend, was too weak to protect him. Despite this, Oliver was soon initiated into the mysteries of the trade. Mr. Sowerberry, noting the expression of melancholy in Oliver's face, decided he would make a delightful mute for children's funerals. Oliver accompanied his master on his professional missions, witnessing the squalid death of a starved woman and the callous, hurried burial of the poor, experiences that filled him with horror and left him wondering whether it had taken a very long time for Mr. Sowerberry to get used to such things.

The Turning Point and Flight

The month's trial over, Oliver was formally apprenticed. He continued to submit meekly to Noah's domination until one day, goaded by Noah's cruel insults about his dead mother, Oliver's spirit finally roused. He seized Noah by the throat and felled him to the ground. The household, led by Mrs. Sowerberry and Charlotte, subdued Oliver, beat him, and locked him in the cellar. Mr. Bumble was summoned, and after a parley, he advised leaving Oliver to starve down for a day or so. When Mr. Sowerberry returned, he dragged Oliver out and gave him a drubbing. That night, alone in the gloomy workshop, Oliver wept bitterly. With the first ray of light, he arose, unbarred the door, and fled into the open street, beginning his journey to London. The advertisement for his return, offering five guineas reward, would later be seen by Mr. Bumble, who would use it to find Mr. Brownlow and, with a false account of Oliver's character, destroy the boy's reputation with his benefactor.