 The academic Nick Rance identifies three categories of Raffles stories : " the rise of the New Woman " , in which Raffles either escapes from romantic entanglements , or uses the infatuations of a woman in order to achieve his aims ; " the rise of the plutocracy " , in which Raffles steals from the nouveau riche as much as the upper classes ; and those stories that seek " to reaffirm or re @-@ establish a sense of middle @-@ class identity " . The last category is based on Raffles not being a member of " Society " , only being accepted because of his cricketing ability and associated fame . From this point , Raffles 's stealing from the rich is a " rearguard action on behalf of the puritan values " which was perceived as making up middle @-@ class values , although Rance also states that those values are obscured because of the changing boundaries between the classes . Gariepy makes the same point , and considers that " Raffles 's daring exploits and fantastic adventures symbolized the growing rebellion against Victorian sensibility at the turn of the century " . 
