A major theme of the novel is crime. There are many people in the novel who steal, including Fagin and his gang, but not limited to them. People such as Mrs. Mann and other parish officials steal from children and other poor people all the time. I believe Charles Dickens decided to make crime such a huge element because he wanted to show the poor that the life of a thief is not a glamorous one. He also may have chose this because he wanted to show that those that are theives did not choose this, they were forced into it. The external pressures in the novel are much more influential than a characters personality.
I also noticed a lot of stealing happening throughout the novel, and was interested in why Dickens decided to include this. I think that this novel is very realistic, showing the grim truth about many things in society. That's a really good point that Dickens is trying to show that the thieves were forced into the things they did. Oliver didn't mean to end up with Fagin, yet he had nowhere else, so he did what he had to do. I think that Dickens has an overall optimistic view on humans, so he shows this.
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