Oliver Twist Chapter 39 Summary

Summary

The chapter opens in a mean lodging where Bill Sikes wakes from a nap, feverish, thin, and sullen; Nancy tends him but faints from exhaustion and is helped by Fagin, the Artful Dodger, and Charley Bates. Fagin and the boys have brought food and spirits to restore Sikes, and their lively repartee and ministrations gradually soothe him. They argue about money: Sikes demands cash and insists Nancy go fetch it rather than trust the Dodger. Fagin bargains down the advance he will give and slips Nancy some coin.

While at Fagin’s, Nancy perceives the arrival of Monks and behaves furtively, slipping upstairs to listen at their conference. After Monks departs and Fagin returns with the money, Nancy leaves in visible agitation and runs through London to a West-End family hotel where Miss Maylie is staying (referred to in the text as “Miss Maylie,” who is Rose Maylie). She is roughly handled by servants but persuades a waiter to carry her message and is admitted to an ante-chamber, trembling and resolved, at the chapter’s close. Back at Sikes’s room, Nancy returns with the money and, after administering laudanum so Sikes sleeps, prepares to slip out again; her face shows that she is on the verge of a bold and dangerous act.

Key events

1. Sikes wakes feverish and abusive; Nancy tends him and faints.
2. Fagin, the Dodger and Charley Bates arrive with food, drink, and spirits to restore Sikes.
3. Argument over money leads to Nancy being chosen to fetch an advance from Fagin.
4. Monks visits Fagin; Nancy secretly listens to their conference from the stairs.
5. Nancy runs urgently through London to the hotel where Rose Maylie lodges and demands to be heard.
6. Nancy returns to Sikes with the money, gives him laudanum, and slips out again determinedly.

Analysis

This chapter deepens the reader’s understanding of Nancy’s divided loyalties and of Sikes’s brutal volatility. Dickens uses close third-person narration focused on street-level details and the cramped interiors of criminal life to emphasize decay and moral confinement. Nancy’s physical exhaustion and furtive behavior contrast sharply with Fagin’s performative cheer and the boys’ garrulousness; this contrast foregrounds her emotional complexity and isolation within the gang. The secretive meeting between Monks and Fagin heightens suspense and suggests conspiracy without revealing specifics; Nancy’s urgent, solitary journey to Rose Maylie’s lodging functions as a turning point that signals a risky, decisive choice. Symbolically, the cramped, dirty rooms and the procession from Spitalfields to the West End map the social geography of the novel: from criminal marginality to genteel domesticity, Nancy crosses a moral and physical boundary. Narrative technique alternates brisk dialogue with close observational detail to build tension and to let small gestures—Nancy’s torn-off bonnet, the slipping of a key into Fagin’s breast—carry thematic weight. The chapter also develops the novel’s recurring contrasts between appearance and reality: Fagin’s protestations of poverty, Sikes’s sudden amiability when supplied with drink, and Nancy’s superficially submissive behavior that masks inner resolve. Overall, the episode positions Nancy for a crucial action and tightens the alliances and antagonisms that will drive the plot forward.

Important quotes

“Not long gone seven," said the girl.”

NancyNancy answers Sikes’s question about the time, establishing her presence and voice early in the scene.

“I never lock up my money, for I’ve got none to lock up, my dear—ha! ha! ha!—none to lock up.”

FaginFagin’s professed poverty contrasts with the secret dealings and money demands surrounding Sikes, hinting at deception.

“I shall be carried out if I go!" said the girl violently; "and I can make that a job that two of you won’t like to do.”

NancyNancy threatens force if refused help at the hotel, revealing her desperation and determination to get an audience with Rose Maylie.

Characters in Chapter 39

• Bill Sikes
• Nancy
• Fagin
• The Artful Dodger
• Charley Bates
• Toby Crackit
• Mr. Chitling
• Monks
• Rose Maylie
• Watchman
• Waiter