I AM BORN bear Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life , or whether that station will be held by anybody else , these pages must show .

CHAPTER I TREATS OF THE PLACE WHERE OLIVER TWIST WAS BORN bear AND OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS BIRTH birth Among other public buildings in a certain town , which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning , and to which I will assign no fictitious name , there is one anciently common to most towns , great or small : to wit , a workhouse ; and in this workhouse was born ; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat , inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader , in this stage of the business at all events ; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter .