In this section, we have eloquently illustrated how poverty and misery hardens and brutalizes everyone exposed to its effects. Bumble's verdict about the famished man who carried out his threat to die in the street is characteristic: "There's a obstinate pauper for you!" Upon being informed that old Sally "is dying very hard," Mrs. Corney reacts with annoyance that soon turns into anger over the inconvenience. The apothecary's apprentice is bored by the common spectacle of the extinction of human life. The paupers themselves are not touched by the death of one of their number but find it a rather diverting occasion.
This callous indifference is spotlighted by the artistic device of contrast. After reviling the poor, Bumble and the matron simper inanely about the lovable qualities of cats. At the same time, they are unmoved by the condition of their fellow creatures who live in wretchedness and die in agony.
The passing of old Sally is a dramatic scene. It is charged with mounting suspense, particularly after it is disclosed that she was present at Oliver's birth and has something to impart regarding the boy. Since the old woman dies before she can finish what she wishes to tell the matron, the mystery surrounding the boy's parentage becomes more baffling. Now the only person who seemed able to supply some clue to the solution of the riddle is dead.
