Oliver Twist Chapter 3

In which we observe the grim process by which young Oliver, condemned to solitude and hardship, is almost committed to an apprenticeship that promises no kindness nor comfort, set against the indifferent calculations of those who govern his fate. The chapter paints a sombre portrait of institutional neglect, tempered only by the faint mercy of a magistrate who intervenes at the eleventh hour, restoring Oliver to the uncertain shelter of the workhouse.