Oliver Twist: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

The policeman walks Oliver to the magistrate's office, along with the old gentleman. Questioned by a guard at the magistrate's gate, however, the old gentleman says he is not sure that Oliver actually stole the handkerchief—it could have been someone else—and he says he does not want to press charges. But the guard says it is too late at this point; they must see the magistrate about the case.

Oliver is thrown into a cell, and the old gentleman looks at him as this is being done; he swears he has seen something like Oliver's face before, but he does not know how or why, nor can he place the face that resembles Oliver's. He is tapped on the shoulder and led by the guard into the office of Mr. Fang, the district magistrate.

An angry and cruel man, Mr. Fang rules over his courtroom with an iron fist. The old gentleman explains that his name is Brownlow, but before he is allowed to narrate the events of the case—and to plead on Oliver's behalf, since he now thinks Oliver is innocent of the crime—Fang demands that the policeman describe the theft. The policeman must admit, after repeating the sequence of events, that the handkerchief was not found on Oliver, and no one actually witnessed Oliver taking it from Brownlow.

Brownlow tells Fang he is worried that Oliver has been injured by the crowd's beating after the "theft." Fang doesn't listen, and asks Oliver to describe the theft himself. A clerk standing nearby attempts to hear Oliver's words, which are mumbled softly (as Oliver does appear quite ill); the clerk ventures that the boy's name is Tom White (because he cannot hear Oliver speak), and guesses, correctly, that Oliver is an orphan with no permanent home. Fang, believing he has heard enough, sentences Oliver "summarily" to three months' hard labor.

Just as Fang is delivering the sentence, however, a man rushes into the courtroom: the book-stall's owner, who claims to have seen the theft and to know that Oliver is not the culprit. The bookseller states that he saw two other boys with Oliver, the Dodger and Bates, and that they conspired to steal the handkerchief—Oliver had nothing to do with it. Fang points out that Brownlow is still carrying a book he took from the bookseller's, during the commotion, and for which he did not pay. Fang tells Brownlow he is lucky not to be prosecuted for his own "theft." Fang tells everyone to clear out; he will drop charges against Oliver.

Brownlow is ushered outside by the guard, along with Oliver and the bookseller. Brownlow orders a carriage immediately, as he fears Oliver truly is ill; the three get into the first cab that arrives.