Oliver Twist Timeline and Summary

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• Oliver is born at the workhouse, and his mother dies.
• Oliver gets sent to live at Mrs. Mann’s baby farm.
• When he’s old enough (eight years old), he gets sent back to the workhouse.
• He asks for more food, so they decide to send him off as an apprentice as punishment.
• Mr. Sowerberry, the coffin maker and undertaker, takes him on as an apprentice.
• Mrs. Sowerberry and Noah Claypole (the other apprentice) are cruel to him.
• Noah makes fun of Oliver’s dead mother, so Oliver smacks him one.
• Oliver runs away to London.
• On his way, he gets picked up by the Artful Dodger, who promises to take Oliver to a "gentleman" who will give him a place to stay.
• The "gentleman" turns out to be Fagin, who is the ringleader of a criminal gang. He trains up young pickpockets and thieves and sells off the stuff they bring him.
• Oliver finally realizes that his new companions are thieves, and runs away in the street – but then everyone thinks he’s the pickpocket.
• He is brought before the magistrate, but is let off the hook at the last minute.
• Mr. Brownlow, the man who was robbed, takes pity on Oliver and takes him back to his house.
• Oliver’s sick, and Mr. Brownlow and his housekeeper take care of him.
• Once Oliver is better, he is entrusted with some money and an errand in the city.
• Nancy and Sikes (two members of Fagin’s gang) are on the watch for him, and kidnap him.
• They lock him up for weeks, and then send him on a dangerous housebreaking expedition with Sikes and Toby Crackit (another criminal).
• The expedition goes awry, and Oliver gets shot in the arm.
• Sikes and Toby leave Oliver in a ditch.
• Oliver drags himself to the nearest house, and it turns out to be the one they tried to rob.
• The family of the house takes him in.
• Oliver lives with the family for a while, and they all love each other.
• One day, Oliver looks up and sees Fagin and a strange man at his window watching him.
• They search up and down, but can’t find a trace of two men.
• Oliver is reunited with his first friend, Mr. Brownlow.
• A lot of intriguing goes on behind Oliver’s back that he’s not aware of.
• At the end of the novel, he learns that his older half-brother, Monks, was one of the two men at the window, and that Monks had been trying to turn him into a criminal so that he wouldn’t inherit their father’s money.
• Oliver inherits his share of the money, and is legally adopted by Mr. Brownlow.
• Oliver lives happily ever after with his group of friends.