At first the boy does not realise that he is in the company of crooks and thieves. When he does see through the skin of Fagin however, he soon comes to despise the group.
This, of course, seems rather naive of Dickens to say that a boy can hate hates, so to speak, without having any basis for comparison. Is Dickens saying that one can be born good or bad? Or is this too simple an explanation?.
The rest of the episodes are, in their mot basic sense, showing Oliver's progression in his choices between bad and good.
Before I go any deeper into the subject of what Dickens intended to get across to the reader, I will look at the characters.
The real evil characters in Oliver Twist are Fagin- the gang leader; Monks - Oliver's jealous half brother; and Bill Sikes - a violent thief and murderer.
The book does not give much background on these characters. In fact, Monks is probably the least developed in the whole story. But, the personality trait that they share is that they all need no excuse to hurt someone - physically or otherwise. They are all "bad", but there is no given reason for this.
Fagin takes in children and teaches them to steal for him, and he shows no remorse - except for himself - when one of his apprentices is caught. Fagin is a parasite of the criminal underworld. .
He is also described as physically repulsive:.
"The hideous old man seemed like some loathsome reptile, engendered in the slime and darkness through which he moved: crawling forth, by night, in search of some rich offal for a meal.".
Dickens also describes Monks in the least flattering manner, and seems to use what is outside as a mirror to what is in. Monks, I mentioned previously, is really the least developed of all the main characters in Oliver Twist, but his importance is great. He is the one responsible for nearly all of Oliver's misadventures: he paid Fagin to corrupt the young boy.