The "gentleman in a white waistcoat" puts in an appearance again. Never named or described, he seems to be no more than a voice — one who delivers general comments on the action without being a participant. And, speaking for the gentlemen class, he keeps repeating the same refrain: that miscreants like Oliver were born to be hanged, and that the only means whereby they may be saved is the infliction of savage physical punishment.
Chapter 6 opens with some narrative summary. Then, before presenting the momentous and pathetic scenes that follow in rapid succession, Dickens addresses the reader directly to alert him that the clash with Noah Claypole will have indirect repercussions for Oliver, producing "a material change in all his future prospects and proceedings."
In the development of his plots, Dickens makes liberal use of accident and coincidence, with the result that probability is weakened. It is more artistically effective to have turns of plot grow out of character rather than out of chance events. The change of direction in Oliver's life is here determined by an alteration in his character.
