Oliver continues refractory
Wikipedia's page on 'Refractory' was not particularly helpful to me in trying to understand what Dickens is saying (I'm guessing it's not the sexual meaning) but I'll read on anyway.
Noah runs all the way to the workhouse pausing 'not once for breath', to get Mr Bumble, who 'with a gleam of pleasure in his metallic eyes', is only too ready to listen to Noah. Metallic eyes?
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| My revised mental image of Mr Bumble. |
The gentleman in the white waistcoat, passing, agrees with Noah, remarked that he always thought Oliver would be hung (which he did). They manage to twist (lol) Noah's words enough so that Oliver sounds even worse and send Mr Bumble (which I now hear in my head as talking like a robot) to cane Oliver.
THEN (and this is omg) Mr Bumble explains that Oliver has been overfed and now has 'a artificial spirit'. OKAY, BUMBLE, lets give all the orphans the minimum of gruel so they're too exhausted to challenge the status quo! If he wasn't made of metal I would SO strangle him right now.
You know what this next scene reminded me of? Harry Potter. Oliver and Mrs Sowerberry argue, with Mrsd Sowerberry telling Oliver that his mother 'deserved what [Noah] said, and worse'. Um, Aunt Petunia much? Mr Sowerberry then gives Oliver a 'drubbing'. So Oliver decides to escape.
This is very, very exciting to me. He's soooo brave! And he sees his old friend Dick who is dying :-( and Dick blesses Oliver and Oliver had never heard anyone say that before :((
And now he's off to London!
PS Since Refractory is 'the quality of a material to retain its strength at high temperatures' I'm guessing Dickens is talking about Oliver's steadfastness even while being abused?
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