 Why have so many people resorted to pick-pocketing?
In the ensuing contretemps they emptied his rear pants pockets, got his wristwatch and restored the contents of the handkerchief pocket. It was this rather than skill that enabled the police to maintain such a tight surveillance on him, a surveillance that went to the extent of getting his fingerprints off the postman's bag, and which photographed, X-rayed and chemically analyzed the contents of his pockets before returning them. He came to see that genuine quirks were rare and, as time went on, due partly to his own small efforts, rarer. "You're starting to see flying houses, hear loud babbling voices. The sun and moon both looked down upon a garden that was itself scintillant, composed largely of neon roses.
 The pickpocketers are trying to acquire information about Fownes
 Resources are scarce in the Dome, so people have to resort to desperate measures  The pickpocketers are trying to acquire information about Fownes  All possessions are shared in the Dome under a new form of communism  There are no laws in the Dome, and people do whatever they please