This charming young scamp, a major juvenile delinquent and leader of a gang of pickpockets, is one of the many charms of "Oliver Twist." The Artful Dodger – aka Jack Dawkins – tries to corrupt Oliver but quickly comes to understand that the young Twist has few criminal tendencies. Dickens describes the Artful Dodger as "altogether as roystering and swaggering a young gentleman as ever stood four feet six, or something less," and although we may bemoan his betrayal of Oliver, we never doubt the genuine affection that preceded it.
