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Do you think that Dickens believes that the end justifies the means? Do you agree with his position? Give reasons for yours.

Without actually condoning theft (even by poor street urchins), Dickens acknowledges that people are often victims of circumstance more than being culprits through greed. Hard times may well push people to do things out of desperation and, as in 'Oliver Twist,' may even be a question of survival.

I would say rather that Dickens deplored the injustice of an urban society where the breach between the poor and the rich widened more and more with increasing industrialisation. The true crime was in the law itself, which was not fair. Dickens, however, portrayed the seedy side of criminal life in no uncertain terms, which went against the grain of the literary trend before him.

Check out the following references and read particularly the section on 'The Poor Laws' of the time (1834), which gives insight into the political and economic issues of the early industrial era.