Do we like them?

Do we like Fagin?

A character from Oliver Twist (1837–1839)

Our score: 1 out of 10. No. He grooms hungry orphans into thieving for his profit and keeps them frightened and dependent. He's sometimes darkly funny, but he's a predator.

Fagin is the leader of a gang of thieves in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. He runs his operation from a hideout in London's slums. He shelters runaway and orphaned boys there and teaches them to pick pockets, then takes the proceeds. The novel follows Oliver, an orphan who escapes a cruel workhouse and falls in with this world.

To Oliver, Fagin first looks like a kindly, generous old man. He feeds him, jokes with him, and makes the life of crime feel like a game. Dickens makes it clear that this is a grooming tactic. Fagin's hold on the boys rests on dependence, fear and the lack of any other place to go.

Dickens makes him more than a flat villain. He is witty, theatrical and sometimes pitiable, and he is a product of a society that failed its poorest children. That doesn't excuse him, because he chooses to profit from those children. Readers should also know that Fagin is drawn with antisemitic stereotypes. Dickens later toned this down in revised editions, and critics still discuss it today. That is part of why he is such a contested figure.

Overall he gets a 1 out of 10. He is entertaining on the page, but he is a manipulator who exploits children and protects only himself.