I always thought of this as a "fish in water" kind of story, and the key exchange for me is the following as Billy Ray, the hustler, demonstrates his fundamental understanding of his new world and the way it works: Randolph Duke: Good, William! Now, some of our clients are speculating that the price of gold will rise in the future. And we have other clients who are speculating that the price of gold will fall. They place their orders with us, and we buy or sell their gold for them. Mortimer Duke: Tell him the good part. Randolph Duke: The good part, William, is that, no matter whether our clients make money or lose money, Duke & Duke get the commissions. Mortimer Duke: Well? What do you think, Valentine? Billy Ray: Sounds to me like you guys a couple of bookies. Randolph Duke: [chuckling, patting Billy Ray on the back] I told you he'd understand.

Good point, pliny, the idea that the hustler finds his element amongst the Wall Street set. Makes me think that perhaps many, if not most FOOW stories have something like that going on, a Protagonist finds him/herself in a strange environment, but as fate would have it, they actually have the innate capability to survive and thrive there.