Jack Dawkins | The Artful Dodger

He was a snub-nosed, flat-bowed, common-faced boy enough; and as dirty a juvenile as one would wish to see; but he had about him all the airs and manners of a man. He was short of his age: with rather bow-legs, and little, sharp, ugly eyes. His hat was stuck on the top of his head so lightly, that it threatened to fall off every moment--and would have done so, very often, if the wearer had not had a knack of every now and then giving his head a sudden twitch, which brought it back to its old place again. He wore a man's coat, which reached nearly to his heels. He had turned the cuffs back, half-way up his arm, to get his hands out of the sleeves: apparently with the ultimate view of thrusting them into the pockets of his corduroy trousers; for there he kept them. He was, altogether, as roistering and swaggering a young gentleman as ever stood four feet six, or something less, in the blushers.

The Dodger is a very friendly sort of person, with an open and cheerful personality that helps to make people like him. He's an adult in a child's body, seldom giving in to any childish urges and dressing in clothes that are too big for him. He has never seen himself as a child - the others are kids, not him - possibly because he has always be considered as the best among the pickpockets, and is implied to be in a position of walking in the footsteps of Bill Sikes, a man he admires, fears, and does not like all at the same time.

Primarily, it can be argued that he is an intensely loyal person. First of all to Fagin as the old man raised him and the Dodger does not take that type of thing lightly. His loyalty to Fagin is as one who knows he owes something that can never truly be repaid, but will constantly make efforts to try to do so. The next person who has claimed the Dodger's intense loyalty is Nancy. It could be said that - on some levels at least - the Dodger's loyalty to Nancy is greater than that of his loyalty to Fagin. Nancy has long fulfilled every female role for the Dodger - Mother, Sister, Friend, Crush - and there is very little that he would not do if she asked or implied. This loyalty can be enough to sway him from Fagin, and has proven to be unshakeably strong, even following Nancy's leaving Fagin's protection. He is also loyal to the kids and young'uns of the den, acting as the elder brother to them all, albeit not the most typical of elder brothers. He keeps them fed and watered, in his words, but not dependent.

He is also very much a fun-loving sort, seeing a good laugh in his everyday life, even when it is out on the odds. While the Dodger isn't ignorant to the goings on around him, he plays as though he is unaware more often than not. They expect to see a child and while he would doubt ever having been one, he is able to play the part when he needs to. In his eyes, he is a gentleman of lesuire, free to do as he wishes, even if he still does have to report back to Fagin at the end of the day. He genuinely enjoys his life of picking pockets and robbing what he can, and considers it almost a game in a sense. He knocks over the right people, and it's amusing to everyone. Knock over the wrong person and that can be risky. The rush of almost being caught is something he lives for.

But he is aware of the realities of his life, and with that comes the slightly darker side of his personality. The side that has been grown by Fagin's words. He's meant to be the next Bill Sikes, to step into the man's footsteps if and when the times comes. As he has grown older, the Dodger has become slightly disillusioned with this idea - he wants his name known because of the things he can do, not because he is a second Sikes. He's himself: the Artful Dodger, and that's the name that's going to be known.

The Dodger is an expert pick-pocket. He can move among the busiest crowds and never be discovered. People tend to not even realise that they have had their pocket books lifted until long after the Dodger has left the area. He has made an art of the craft, hence the nickname, and is often claimed to be a regular little Bill Sikes by Fagin. Appropriate, as he is meant to be following in the man's rather large footsteps.

It is said that the Dodger is so good at picking pockets, that on-lookers will never even see his hands move when he is at his graft.

Jack Dawkins - better known to his friends and intimate accquiantences as the Artful Dodger - has live under the care of the kidsman known as Fagin for as long as he can remember. He has memories of his Mother - a hateful sort who had no real desire for a child, expect in what they could bring in for her - but sees no real connection to the woman other than the fact that she gave him birth. He has been staying with Fagin since before he could walk, and learning the art of thieving from the man for just as long.

He quickly makes friends with a young Oliver Twist, first wanting to make the boy into another pick-pocket but letting up quickly when he realises that there is no art for the craft in him. This makes him feel rather sorry for Oliver, saying: "What a pity it is he isn't a prig!". Another close friend of the Dodger's is known to be Charlie Bates, one of the many boys working for Fagin, and they seem to form a second and third in command status respectively.

It can be considered ironic that the Dodger became such good friends with Oliver, as it is from his entry into the other boy's life that everything starts to go wrong for the Dodger. In the pages of the novel, he is caught lifting - of all things - a small, silver snuffbox. It is remarked upon how absurd it is for a master pick-pocket to be caught over something so small, but there is it. He is sent, due to his age, to a penal colony in Australia. While he is in the courtroom, the Dodger claims himself to be a victim of society, raging at the jury: "I am an Englishman; where are my privileges?". It is also said that he made a mockery of the whole proceedings, something which the judge had little pity for

With these last words, the Dodger suffered himself to be led off by the collar, threatening, till he got into the yard, to make a parliamentary business of it, and then grinning in the officer's face, with great glee and self-approval.