# Toby Crackit — Oliver Twist character guide

> Toby Crackit in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Crackit, Mr. Crackit, flash Toby Crackit

**First appearance:** 0018-xix-in-which-a-notable-plan-is-discussed-and-determined-on

## Snapshot

A flashy housebreaker in snuff-coloured coat and cork-screw curls, all swagger and cheap rings, who toasts 'the crack' and calls Oliver 'innocence.'

## Who they are

Toby Crackit lounges in Fagin's den with his legs higher than his head, admiring his own top-boots and sizing up Oliver as 'a fortin' for the old ladies' pockets in chapels.' He is vain, lazy, and casually cruel, forcing spirits down a terrified child's throat and laughing at the coughing fit that follows. As Sikes's partner in the Chertsey burglary, he embodies the gaudy, seedy glamour of the criminal world that Dickens sets against Brownlow's drawing-room — a man whose taste for display is matched only by his indifference to the boy he is about to risk.

## In the story

### [XIX: In Which a Notable Plan Is Discussed and Determined On](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/chapters/xix-in-which-a-notable-plan-is-discussed-and-determined-on)

Mentioned as the accomplice with whom Sikes planned the burglary; his testimony is to be required to confirm Sikes's report.

### [The Burglary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/chapters/xxii-the-burglary)

Accompanies Sikes, helps hoist Oliver over the wall and through the window, later forces Oliver to drink.

### [Wherein This History Reverts to Mr. Fagin and Company](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/chapters/xxv-wherein-this-history-reverts-to-mr-fagin-and-company)

Arrives in disguise, eats and drinks, then reports the failed burglary and Oliver's abandonment.

### [Chapter XXVI: In Which a Mysterious Character Appears Upon the Scene; and Many Things, Inseparable from This History, Are Done and Performed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/chapters/xxvi-in-which-a-mysterious-character-appears-upon-the-scene-and-many-things-inseparable-from-this-history-are-done-and-performed)

Toby Crackit is mentioned as having brought news to Fagin earlier, and is referenced as being in the house.

### [XXVIII: Looks After Oliver, and Proceeds with His Adventures](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/chapters/xxviii-looks-after-oliver-and-proceeds-with-his-adventures)

Flees with Sikes but abandons Oliver when pursued.

### [The Pursuit and Escape](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/chapters/l-the-pursuit-and-escape)

One of the men hiding with Sikes in Jacob's Island, he is present during the confrontation and the mob's attack.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/characters/toby_crackit
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- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oliver_twist_se/characters