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Mr. Brownlow embodies the moral of consistent goodness and grace throughout any and all circumstances. When Mr. Brownlow initially mistakes Oliver for a pickpocket, he brings Oliver to the police, but his gentle nature immediately becomes clear as he hesitates to have Oliver charged and later ushers the boy back to his own house so that Oliver can recover from fever. When, unbeknownst to Mr. Brownlow, Oliver is recaptured by Nancy and Fagin, Mr. Brownlow insists on remaining hopeful that Oliver will return to them someday.
To someone less forgiving than Mr. Brownlow, like his grumpy yet ultimately goodhearted friend Mr. Grimwig, Oliver’s sudden disappearance is fairly cut and dry – it seems that the child, after receiving medical care and the comforts of wealth for a few weeks, has returned to his criminal friends. But Mr. Brownlow is characterized as a particularly faithful and optimistic person, who, despite having suffered many losses and disappointments throughout his life, cannot be hardened toward people or the world. For example, although Nancy insists that she can never be forgiven for her sinful existence, Mr. Brownlow believes that Nancy can redeem herself should she allow himself and Rose to help her out of her dark circumstances. Additionally, Mr. Brownlow’s grace is proven again later in the novel when he believes to the last that his friend Edwin Leeford’s son – the degenerate Monks, or Edward Leeford – will turn his life around. Although Monks is clearly undeserving of receiving his father’s inheritance, Mr. Brownlow ensures that Monks has his fair share, hoping that the young man will use the money to start a new and honest life. Although Monks ultimately slips back into a criminal lifestyle, and eventually dies, Mr. Brownlow’s fair and generous actions only increase his respectability in the eyes of the reader – his belief in the ultimate goodness of humanity and the possibility of redemption cannot be dampened. His final act of charity and love is to adopt Oliver and raise him as his own son. Like Rose Maylie, Mr. Brownlow, perhaps more of an archetype than a complex individual, represents the quintessential moral Christian.
