Barnet, a town directly north of London, where Oliver meets Jack Dawkins, is the first specific location that has been identified. Hitherto the locale has been vague, with meager descriptive details of geographical setting. As the two boys enter London, the generalized background is left behind and the action shifts to the concrete surroundings of the metropolis.
Oliver is now introduced to the notorious Fagin and some youthful members of his gang. We are allowed immediate glimpses into the larcenous character of the "merry old gentleman." When he discovers Oliver watching him, he momentarily betrays his vicious nature but quickly recovers his beguiling pose. Fagin's expression of satisfaction at the removal by hanging of five potential threats to the business satirizes popular misconceptions about codes of honor and loyalty among thieves.
Jack Dawkins and all the other boys are characterized by a conspicuous middle-aged manner. It is as though their lives of squalor and crime have robbed them of childhood and youth, making them old in the experience of evil. The girls, Nancy and Betsy, share a single description, suggesting that they are common types of degradation.
The speech of Dickens's underworld characters is rich in authentic thieves' argot. Seldom does he condescend to offer the reader an explicit explanation, but to dispel obscurity the meaning is often rendered self-evident or subtly injected into the story. Thus, it is clear that "wipes" are handkerchiefs; and Oliver deduces that "pad the hoof . . . must be French for going out."
