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Style Study:
Dickens--Birth of Oliver Twist
For a long time after it was
ushered into this world of sorrow and trouble, by the parish
surgeon, it remained a matter of considerable doubt whether
the child would survive to bear any name at all; in which
case it is somewhat more than probable that these memoirs
would never have appeared; or if they had, that being comprised
within a couple of pages, they would have possessed the
inestimable merit of being the most concise and faithful
specimen of biography extant in the literature of any age
or country.
The fact is, that there was considerable
difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office
of respiration--a troublesome practice, but one which custom
has rendered necessary to our easy existence; and for some
time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally
poised between this world and the next: the balance being
decidedly in favour of the latter. [. . .]
The result was, that, after a few struggles, Oliver breathed,
sneezed, and proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the
workhouse the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon
the parish, by setting up as loud a cry as could reasonably
have been expected of a male infant who had not been possessed
of that very useful appendage, a voice, for much longer space
of time than three minutes and a quarter.
As Oliver gave this first proof of the free
and proper action of his lungs, the patchwork coverlet which
was carelessly flung over the iron bedstead, rustled; the
pale face of a young woman was raised feebly from the pillow;
and a faint voice imperfectly articulated the words, "Let
me see the child, and die."
--Oliver Twist's birth, from
Chapter I of Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens. (NY:
Dodd, Mead, and Company, reprinted 1941): pages 1-2.
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