Oliver Twist, Charles Dicken's second novel, is the unforgettable story of a foundling of the same name who joins a gang of pickpockets. This book is filled with a dazzling variety of colorful characters and sparkling prose. The plot revolves around, of course, the title character. With humor Dickens introduces the reader to the others in the gang of thieves. Through the story the reader comes to understand a degrading system of treatment of the disavantaged. Oliver looks to the evil leader of the gang, Fagin, as the only father-figure he has ever known. Even though the reader is taken through London's dark underworld of poverty and crime, one is satisfied that the hero makes his way out of it to the life he deserves.