David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page - Our Mutual Friend Our Mutual Friend FAQ & Email Novelist John Irving acknowledges Dickens as a major influence on his writing. Irving says he has read all of Dickens' novels except one, he has not read Our Mutual Friend. Irving says he keeps a copy of the book in all of his homes and is saving it for old-age or a severe illness. That way, he says he knows he will have at least one good book to read. The Dustmen Victorian London ran on coal. The new factories springing up as part of the Industrial Revolution required coal to make the steam that powered machinery. It was also estimated that the average household in London burned 11 tons of coal annually. The resulting ashes and trash residue were collected in dustbins. The dustbins were emptied by dustmen driving wagons through the streets ringing a bell alerting housekeepers to bring out their dustbins. The dust was then taken to dust yards situated on the outskirts of the city and owned by generally wealthy dust contractors. The resulting mountains of dust were very valuable.

At the dust yards workers, known as sifters and working in dust to their waists, separated the fine dust which, mixed with street-sweepings, was sold as fertilizer. The coarser dust, mixed with clay, was sold to make bricks. Rags, bones, and pieces of metal found in the dust were also sold at handsome profits. The dust business is central to the plot of Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend where John Harmon's father was a wealthy dust contractor. The little doll's dressmaker from Our Mutual Friend inspired Dickens lover Paul McCartney to write the song Jenny Wren . The song is included in his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard . Dickens' life during the serialization of Our Mutual Friend May 1864 - Nov 1865 Dickens' age: 52-53 May 1864 Despite a massive advertising blitz that included 300,000 hand bills, as well as advertisments on omnibuses, steamboats, and railway stations, sales of the monthly parts shrank from 35,000 for the first monthly part to 19,000 for the last monthly installment.

June 1865 Returning from France with Ellen Ternan and her mother, Dickens is involved in a railway accident on the train from Folkestone to London. The train derailed near Staplehurst when workmen misread the schedule and removed a section of rail for repair. November 1865 Read it online | Shop for the Book | Shop for the Video | Illustrations | Locations Dickens' fourteenth novel was his last completed work. Having ended his long association with Hablot Browne , Our Mutual Friend was illustrated by Marcus Stone and was the first monthly serialized Dickens novel to use woodcuts instead of steel plates for the illustrations . The story centers on the effects of greed and the corruption that money brings. The writing was slow and the monthly installments were not selling well. Dickens was beginning to feel the effects of illness that would plague him the rest of his life.

Despite a scathing contemporary review by Henry James ("the poorest of Mr Dickens's works") Sean Grass, in his recent book Charles Dickens's Our Mutual Friend: A Publishing History , reports: ...the collected reviews tell us something that comes as a serious surprise: for all that James's place in the history of the novel—and, for that matter, in the history of criticism on the novel—has given his review of Our Mutual Friend a persistent significance for scholars, he was nearly alone in writing so negatively of the novel in 1865, and he was one of only two reviewers to do so in the absence of some longstanding antipathy to Dickens on the part of the magazine for which he wrote. Of the 41 reviews, only 4 are thoroughly negative, and these include James's and those published by Dickensâ€™s old enemies at the Saturday and Westminster. Modern critics generally consider it one of the great social novels of Dickens' later period. Plot (contains spoilers) John Harmon, son of a wealthy dust contractor and heir to his father's fortune if he agrees to marry Bella Wilfer, is away from England when his father dies. On the way home he is supposed drowned in a case of mistaken identity.

With his supposed death the dust fortune goes to Boffin, his father's former servant. John gets himself hired into the Boffin home as secretary John Rokesmith. Here he meets Bella and, with the help of the kindly Boffins, wins her love as Rokesmith, and marries her. He later reveals his true identity and regains his fortune. Principal Characters: From Fagin to Riah: How Charles Dickens looked at the Jews - Herb Moskovitz Mr Riah The stereotypical depiction of Fagin in Oliver Twist raised concern with the Jewish community. When Dickens sold his London residence, Tavistock House, to a Jewish couple, whom he befriended, he was compelled to make restitution. In Our Mutual Friend Dickens created Riah, a positive Jewish character. Dickens also, when editing Oliver Twist for the Charles Dickens edition of his works, eliminated most references to Fagin as "the Jew." Staplehurst Accident On Friday the 9th of June 1865 Dickens and his traveling companions, Ellen Ternan and her mother, were returning from a trip to France.

They boarded the 'tidal train', which waited for steamers arriving on the tide, at Folkestone for the trip to London. Just outside of the village of Staplehurst , about halfway between Folkestone and London, workmen were repairing a section of the rails on a bridge over the River Beult and had removed a 40 foot section of rail. The foreman of the work detail had consulted the wrong timetable and was completely unaware of the train bearing down on them at 50 miles an hour. Unable to stop in time, the train jumped the gap in the rail and slammed into the bank on the far side of the river. The carriage carrying Dickens and his companions was suspended from the bridge and hanging down to the riverbed. Helping Miss Ternan and her mother out of the car Dickens then worked to comfort the injured and dying passengers, using his hat to carry water from the river. Later he remembered that he had left that month's manuscript of his current novel, Our Mutual Friend, in the tottering railway carriage. He climbed back into the car and retrieved the manuscript.

In the aftermath of the accident Dickens felt "quite shattered and broken up", he would later report that he experienced "vague rushes of terror" even riding in hansom cabs. Dickens continued to suffer the ill effects of the ordeal until his death on June 9, 1870, exactly five years after the accident. Dickens commented on the accident in a postscript in the last monthly installment of Our Mutual Friend dated September 2, 1865: On Friday the ninth of June in the present year Mr. and Mrs. Boffin (in their manuscript dress of receiving Mr. and Mrs. Lammle at breakfast) were on the South Eastern Railway with me, in a terribly destructive accident. When I had done what I could to help others, I climbed back into my carriage -- nearly turned over a viaduct, and caught aslant upon the turn -- to extricate the worthy couple. They were much soiled, but otherwise unhurt. The same happy result attended Miss Bella Wilfer on her wedding-day, and Mr. Riderhood inspecting Bradley Headstone's red neckerchief as he lay asleep.

I remember with devout thanksfulness that I can never be much nearer parting company with my readers for ever, than I was then, until there shall be written against my life the two words with which I have this day closed this book -- THE END Our Mutual Friend Summary - eNotes.com Our Mutual Friend Summary link Link John Harmon is thought to have been murdered soon after he left the ship upon his return to England to marry Bella Wilfer in compliance with the conditions of his father’s will; a body found by Gaffer Hexam is identified as Harmon’s. Actually, Harmon has not died; fearing for his life and shrinking from the forced marriage, he assumes the name of Julius Handford, then that of John Rokesmith. As Rokesmith, Harmon becomes a secretary to Mr. Boffin, who inherited the estate of Harmon’s father after young John Harmon was pronounced dead. Before that, Mr. Boffin, who never learned to read, began to employ a street peddler named Wegg to read to him such books as took his fancy. Mr. and Mrs.

Boffin enjoy their new wealth and leisure, but they both regret that the son and disinherited daughter of old Harmon did not live to enjoy the fortune that has come to them. They try to find a little orphan whom they can rear, hoping to provide a boy with some of the advantages little John Harmon did not have. The Boffins also bring Bella Wilfer to live with them in their grand new house, wishing to provide her with the kind of life she might have had as John Harmon’s wife. Bella, who is beautiful but mercenary, intends to make a good match. When Harmon, in his role as Rokesmith, declares his love for her, she rejects him with disdain. When, much later, Mr. Boffin hears that Rokesmith had aspired to her hand, a bitter scene ensues in which he charges Rokesmith with impudence and discharges him. By that time, however, Bella has become wiser, having seen how money and wealth have apparently changed the easygoing Mr. Boffin into an ill-tempered, avaricious miser. She refuses to stay any longer with the Boffins and returns to the modest life of her father’s home. Mr.

Boffin begins to have trouble with Wegg, whom he has established in the comfortable house in which the Boffins live. Not satisfied with his good fortune, Wegg has become increasingly avaricious and spends all his time searching the house and the dustheaps in the yard for possible items of value that old Harmon might have secreted when he lived there. In his searches, Wegg finds a will dated after the will from which the Boffins have profited; in the later will, most of... (The entire section is 922 words.) Get Free Access Start your free trial with eNotes for complete access to this resource and thousands more. 30,000+ Study Guides Save time with thousands of teacher-approved book and topic summaries. Get Homework Help Ask real teachers questions on any subject or search 300,000+ answers. On the Go Access link Link Gaffer Hexam and his daughter, Lizzie, row across the surface of the Thames River in London, looking for corpses. On finding one, Lizzie stops the boat while Gaffer digs first through the pockets, finding several coins, before tying it to the stern.

Lizzie does not want to be close to the body, but her father harshly admonishes her for hating the river, which gives her money enough for food and provisions. They are interrupted by another boater, who identifies himself as Gaffer's "pardner," but Gaffer denies this. The "pardner" then hints that Gaffer hastens the deaths of the people whose bodies he retrieves. Done for the night, a relieved Lizzie rows them back to shore, pulling the corpse behind. Mr. and Mrs. Veneering are newlyweds who are newly rich. Their home is new, as are their friends. Twemlow is their oldest acquaintance and regularly appears at all their dinner parties, though he is often confused and overwhelmed by all the new people. At one dinner, a Lady Tippin flirts with all the gentlemen. Another guest, Mortimer Lightwood, tells the party the story of the Man from Somewhere, who was the son of the rich Dust contractor named Harmon. Mr. Harmon, Senior, had disowned his daughter because she failed to marry the man he had selected for her, marrying instead “Another.” The daughter soon died, as did Another.

The son, who was at school in Brussels, was thus the sole heir of the fortune, but only if he married the woman whom Mr. Harmon had selected for him. If he did not, the Harmon fortune would go to an old servant. Mr. Harmon died recently, and the son was returning to claim his inheritance. A message arrives just as Mortimer finishes the story, stating that this son had drowned. Mortimer, along with Eugene Wrayburn, leaves the dinner party and follows the messenger, who is Charley Hexam, the son of Gaffer. Their intention is to examine the body that has been identified by the steward of the ship on which it arrived as John Harmon. A stranger also arrives to see the body, but he is horrified at the sight and cannot. He gives his name as Julius Hanford. Charley goes home to his sister, Lizzie, and they imagine pictures of their past in the coals of the fire. At the inquest, it is determined that the decayed and disfigured body is that of John Harmon, the victim of murder. Bella Wilfer is the woman whom Mr.

Harmon had ordered his son to marry, and she now resents that she must wear mourning clothes for a man she never met. A new lodger arrives, signing his name as John Rokesmith, though he refuses to give references. Bella does not trust him from the start. It is mentioned that John Rokesmith could have been Julius Hanford’s twin. link Link Silas Wegg, an errand runner and street corner salesman, sets up his wares at the corner near Cavendish Square. He believes himself to be in the employ of an imaginary family of an empty house. Nicodemus (Nick, or Noddy) Boffin, the uneducated servant who has inherited the Harmon estate after John Harmon’s presumed drowning, hires Wegg to be his personal reader. Boffin has bought a set of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (though he mistakenly refers to it as the Russian Empire) and would like Wegg to come to his new home, Boffin’s Bower (formerly Harmony Jail), to read it to him. Wegg agrees and arrives at Boffin’s Bower to be greeted by Mrs. Boffin.

After managing to get fed by the Boffins, Wegg begins reading, stumbling over most of the unfamiliar Roman names. At the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters, Miss Abbey Potterson reigns behind the bar. She tells the customers when it is time for them to go home, much as a mother would. Riderhood, a former partner of Gaffer Hexam, is told by Miss Potterson that he is no longer allowed in the tavern because of his trade of picking the pockets of corpses found in the river. Riderhood resents that Gaffer is still allowed in when he is in the same trade, so he insinuates that Gaffer murders his victims for the purpose of picking their pockets after they are dead. Miss Potterson throws Riderhood out and says that Gaffer Hexam is no longer allowed either. She sends for Lizzie Hexam and tells her that she has to get away from her father and take no more part in his “trade.” She shares the suspicion that Gaffer is a murderer, but Lizzie swears it is only Riderhood’s revenge for Gaffer's severing their partnership. Lizzie goes home and tells her brother Charley that he must escape and go to school.

She gives him money and sends him out the door. When she tells her father where Charley has gone, Gaffer exclaims that he is now disowned. As he speaks, he stabs his knife in the air, which terrifies Lizzie. She begs him not to use his knife, and he is overcome by the fear that he has caused his daughter. On his way home from reading to Mr. Boffin, Silas Wegg stops at Mr. Venus’s shop. Mr. Venus is a taxidermist and an “articulator of human bones.” Mr. Venus has acquired Wegg’s amputated leg, and Wegg is interested in purchasing it, but Mr. Venus doesn’t deal. He is very sad and confesses to Wegg that he has been refused by the woman he wants to marry because of his profession. link Link Mr. Boffin keeps an appointment with his lawyer, Mr. Lightwood, wanting to create a “tight” will to ensure that all his fortune (estimated at 100,000 pounds) will be left absolutely to Mrs. Boffin. He tells Mr.

Lightwood that he is offering a reward of ten thousand pounds to the person who solves the murder of John Harmon, but Mr. Lightwood warns that this large amount may bring out more misinformation from scoundrels than the truth. Mr. Boffin tells of the last time he saw John Harmon, when John was a young boy being sent abroad to school. As he is leaving the lawyer’s office, Eugene Wrayburn enters. Mr. Lightwood introduces the two gentlemen. Outside of the office, a stranger approaches Mr. Boffin, explaining that he had been pointed out to him on the streets and has wished to speak with him. He introduces himself as Rokesmith and mentions that he is lodging with the Wilfers. Mr. Boffin knows Bella Wilfer. Rokesmith offers his services as a secretary to Mr. Boffin, who is not sure exactly what kind of services a secretary would provide, explaining to Rokesmith that he already has Mr. Wegg as his “literary man.” Mr. Rokesmith suggests that they meet further, to which Mr. Boffin agrees in a week or two. On arriving home, Mr. Boffin is greeted by Mrs.

Boffin’s announcement that they must begin to live up to their new position in society. She proposes offering a home to Bella Wilfer, who tragically lost her future husband. She also would like to adopt an orphan boy, rename him John Harmon, and bring him up as a tribute to their late employer’s son. Mr. Boffin agrees to all this, and the Boffins go to the home of the Reverend Mr. Milvey, who promises to find a suitable orphan for them. Mr. and Mrs. Boffin then go to the Wilfer home and make their proposal to Bella. Mrs. Wilfer feels herself superior to the former servants. She calls in Bella to let her decide. Her other daughter, Lavinia, also arrives along with her gentleman friend, George Sampson. After some acrimonious conversation among the Wilfers, Bella agrees to the Boffins’ proposal. Mr. Boffin asks about their lodger, Mr. Rokesmith, to whom he refers as “Our Mutual Friend.” As they leave, Mr. Rokesmith arrives. He is startled when he hears Mrs. Boffin tell Bella that she will soon be introduced to little John Harmon.

She explains her plans for adoption to Rokesmith. Two friends of the Veneerings, Alfred Lammle and Sophronia Akershem, are married, each believing that the other is a person of property. On their honeymoon, they discover that each one had been deceiving the other. After the initial outrage, the Lammles decide to treat the world as they have treated each other and vow to deceive and take advantage of everyone they know. link Link Mr. and Mrs. Podsnap decide that they must have a dinner for their daughter’s eighteenth birthday. Mr. Podsnap, a friend of the Veneerings, has contempt for all countries except England. At the dinner, Podsnap has a conversation with a foreign gentleman in which he constantly corrects the latter’s English pronunciation. Podsnap begs Mr. Veneering to tell the party about the night they learned of the Harmon murder during a dinner at the Veneering home. Mr. and Mrs. Lammle are also present and decide that they will begin their deception of the world with the Podsnaps. Mrs. Lammle befriends Miss Georgiana Podsnap, who is painfully shy.

Georgiana is angered by her mother’s bringing over men to dance with her, which she says that... (The entire section is 431 words.) Get Free Access link Link Riderhood suggests that since they cannot find Gaffer, they should go and apprehend his daughter, Lizzie. Wrayburn contemptuously puts this idea down. He and Lightwood go with Riderhood to drag the boat in and are shocked to discover Gaffer’s body tied behind it. The inspector takes charge of the body, and Lightwood suggests that they go tell Lizzie of her father’s death. He turns to talk to Wrayburn and finds that he has disappeared. He returns home and goes to bed after his long night. When he awakens, he finds that Wrayburn has returned home as well, explaining that he had had enough of the investigation and had gone for a walk. Mr. Boffin attempts to understand what Mr. Rokesmith meant when he offered to be his... (The entire section is 484 words.) link Link At his new school, Charley Hexam requests permission to visit his sister Lizzie.

His schoolmaster, Bradley Headstone, suggests that it would be better to distance himself from his sister as a connection to his unsavory past. When Charley insists, Mr. Headstone declares that he will accompany him. Charley resists, not wanting Mr. Headstone to see Lizzie’s living conditions, as he himself wants to put his past behind him. On the way, they are stopped by Miss Peecher, a teacher at a girls’ school, who is interested in Mr. Headstone. Mr. Headstone is indifferent to her, and he and Charley continue until they come to Lizzie’s lodgings. They are welcomed by Fanny Cleaver (who is called Jenny Wren), a thirteen-year-old girl who has... (The entire section is 433 words.) link Link The Lammles still live in Alfred’s bachelor lodgings, saying to their friends that they are looking for a larger home. This invites everyone to suggest places, which do not seem to satisfy the Lammles. Mrs. Lammle intensifies her efforts to make friends with Miss Podsnap. Over tea one day, Miss Podsnap says that Mr. Lammle is her idea of the perfect lover, though she assures Mrs.

Lammle that she has no romantic notions about her husband. Alfred Lammle arrives and suggests that Miss Podsnap has an admirer in “Fascination” Fledgeby, a lanky, insecure youth who is even more shy than Miss Podsnap. He has arranged for Fledgeby to join Miss Podsnap and the Lammles for dinner and the opera the following day, which horrifies Miss... (The entire section is 437 words.) link Link Mr. Boffin frequently shows up at Boffin’s Bower, which upsets Mr. Wegg, who thinks that he is being watched. Mr. Venus arrives at the Bower with Mr. Wegg’s leg, which Mr. Wegg says is his by law anyway. Mr. Venus is still in low spirits from being disappointed in love when his marriage proposal was rejected. Mr. Wegg shares with Mr. Venus his resentment at being passed over by Old Mr. Harmon in favor of the Boffins, having spoken to Mr. Harmon on several occasions. The two men discuss the possibility of starting a partnership, searching through the dust around the Bower for articles of any value. They agree to this proposal when Mr.

Rokesmith arrives with a message for Mr. Wegg. He tells him that Mr. Boffin does not want Mr.... (The entire section is 455 words.) link Link Miss Peecher questions her pupil, Mary Anne, about Charley Hexam’s sister. Mary Anne tells her where Lizzie lives, and soon Mr. Headstone comes to Miss Peecher’s home. Miss Peecher makes it clear that she knows Mr. Headstone is going to Lizzie’s home, but Mr. Headstone neither confirms nor denies. At Lizzie’s home, Mr. Headstone is quizzed by Jenny Wren until Lizzie arrives. Mr. Headstone tells Lizzie that she should end her relationship with Eugene Wrayburn, but Lizzie does not take his advice. Mr. Headstone says he has something else to tell her, but he cannot bring himself to do so and asks for another interview. Pleasant Riderhood, the daughter of Gaffer’s former partner, Rogue, is visited by a strange man... (The entire section is 501 words.) link Link Mr.

Rokesmith continues to “bury” John Harmon ever deeper, now that Bella Wilfer has rejected him as a poor man, rather than as John Harmon the rich man she has decided she must marry. Mrs. Betty Higden comes to the Boffins’ and tells Rokesmith that she is running away from Sloppy, who thinks that he can live with both the Boffins and her at the same time. She wants to remove herself to make his new life easier. She also complains of a deadness coming over her since Johnny’s death. She wants to borrow money from the Boffins to outfit a sewing basket so that she may travel around the country as a seamstress. While the Boffins regret losing her and would do more for her if she let them, Rokesmith encourages them to allow the... (The entire section is 453 words.) link Link On a foggy morning, Riah, the Jewish debt collector, goes to the offices of Pubsey and Co., awakening Fascination Fledgeby, even though it is after ten o’clock.

He presents his accounts of debts to Fledgeby, who notes that “Queer Street is full of lodgers” (meaning, many people are deeply in debt). Alfred Lammle arrives and shows Fledgeby a note from Podsnap requesting that the Lammles stay away from Georgiana. Lammle and Fledgeby argue, blaming each other for the failure of their plans of having Fledgeby marry Georgiana for her money. After peace is made, Fledgeby warns Lammle never to fall into the hands of Pubsey and Co. as far as unpaid debts are concerned. Lammle is unsettled by this and leaves. Fledgeby muses to himself... (The entire section is 568 words.) link Link Mr. Boffin is finally ready to talk wages with Mr. Rokesmith. He offers his secretary two hundred pounds a year, which Rokesmith views as fair. Mr. Boffin tells Rokesmith that he “buys” him on a round-the-clock basis. Mrs. Boffin thinks that he has been too strict with Rokesmith. Mr.

Boffin tells Bella that her good looks will make money for her, and he urges her to use them to her own advantage. This also bothers Mrs. Boffin, as it does Bella, despite having told herself the same thing. In the following days, Mr. Boffin has Bella buy him books on the lives of misers. She notices that Mr. Boffin is becoming a miser himself. Sophronia Lammle becomes captivated by Bella, now that she has stopped her husband’s machinations of... (The entire section is 466 words.) link Link Betty Higden continues on her journey, though the Boffins receive no news of her. Her life has not been easy, and she struggles to maintain her independence. She travels up along the River Thames, fearful of “falling into the hands of Charity.” One day, sitting on a bench in a village marketplace, she faints. The villagers try to help her, asking her if she has anyone nearby to care for her. Betty tells them she does and escapes as quickly as she can. Another incident involves her seeing her dead children and grandchildren riding on a canal barge. The canal attendant questions her, believing her to be a vagrant.

She shows him the Boffins’ letter, but he cannot read. He talks her into giving him all her money... (The entire section is 532 words.) link Link Headstone watches outside Wrayburn’s lodgings. He suspects that Lizzie may be in Wrayburn’s chambers. The watchman lets him in and he listens at the door, hearing voices but not a woman’s. Leaving, Headstone runs into Riderhood, who is there on business and explains that he is seeking damages from the steamer that ran him down as well as requesting a job as a Lock-keeper. Headstone asks Riderhood when he last saw Lizzie. Riderhood responds that it was the day Gaffer’s body was pulled from the river, which is also the only time he saw her with Wrayburn. Headstone gives Riderhood money and asks him to tell him if he should ever see Lizzie. At breakfast, Mrs. Lammle remarks that the only income they... (The entire section is 505 words.) link Link Tensions increase between Mr. Boffin and Mr. Rokesmith. After Mrs. Lammle tells him about Rokesmith’s proposal to Bella, Mr.

Boffin confronts his secretary, stating that it was sheer insolence on Rokesmith’s part to approach a woman so far above his station. Bella objects to Mr. Boffin’s attack on Mr. Rokesmith for her sake, but Mr. Boffin dismisses her objections. Bella begs Mr. Rokesmith’s forgiveness for the manner of her rejection of his proposal. Mr. Boffin dismisses Rokesmith without letting him resign. Before he leaves, Rokesmith repeats his love for Bella, which has not lessened since her rejection. Mr. Boffins asks him how he can say he loves Bella when he would subject her to a life of poverty instead... (The entire section is 478 words.) link Link Rogue Riderhood is now the lock-keeper of Plashwater Weir-Mill Lock. Eugene Wrayburn comes through the lock, rowing a small boat. Not long after Wrayburn passes, Bradley Headstone appears, disguised as a bargeman. Riderhood recognizes him, however, and also knows that he is following Wrayburn.

Headstone tells Riderhood that he is sure that Wrayburn is going to Lizzie, who evidently must be nearby, and that is why he is following him. After Headstone leaves, Riderhood puts on a red neckerchief. Headstone returns for a few hours of rest before returning to the pursuit. He observes closely the red neckerchief that Riderhood is wearing, as Riderhood intended him to. The next day, Headstone continues his chase... (The entire section is 451 words.) link Link Mr. Wilfer returns home, pretending that he knows nothing of Bella’s whereabouts. Mrs. Wilfer, who has received the letter, tells him that he no longer has a daughter because Bella has married a mendicant (poor beggar). Lavinia resents Bella for having jeopardized her relationship with George Sampson by running off and getting married. While Mrs. Wilfer and her daughter argue, Mr. Wilfer is content to stand to one side and avoid involvement. He tells his wife that, no matter her disapproval, both Bella and Rokesmith will be welcome in the Wilfer home. A few weeks later, the Rokesmiths come to a very uncomfortable tea.

On their walk home, Rokesmith asks Bella if she would rather that he were as rich as Mr.... (The entire section is 485 words.) link Link Jenny Wren, having discovered the hypocrisy of Riah, gets scraps for her doll clothes elsewhere, but she does not tell Lizzie what she has learned. Fledgeby comes to see Jenny since she no longer comes to Pubsey and Co. He asks about Lizzie’s whereabouts, but Jenny will not tell him. He says that Riah has “dark motives” concerning Lizzie that he would like to prevent. Jenny agrees to meet him the following day. The next morning, Jenny waits while Fledgeby meets with Alfred Lammle, who is leaving the country. Mr. Lammle soon comes downstairs and hands Jenny a broken cane for her to return to Fledgeby. Jenny goes up to find Fledgeby writhing on the floor. Besides beating him with the cane,... (The entire section is 490 words.) link Link Bella gives birth to a baby girl, and John asks her again if she would like to be rich. After a few months, Bella notices that John seems uneasy, but he will not tell her why.

He keeps asking her if she would like to be rich, but she always answers that she would not. As they are out walking, they unexpectedly meet Lightwood, who recognizes John as Julius Handford from before he became John Rokesmith. Bella is shocked, knowing that Julius Handford was wanted for questioning in the death of Gaffer Hexam. Lightwood points out that John’s avoidance of him increases the suspicion of his involvement in Gaffer’s murder. At home, John tells Bella, who has asked no questions, that the mystery soon will be over.... (The entire section is 517 words.) Our Mutual Friend Essay - Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens - eNotes.com Our Mutual Friend Essay - Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens link Link Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens The following entry presents criticism of Dickens's novel Our Mutual Friend (1864-65). See also Charles Dickens Criticism, Hard Times Criticism, and A Tale of Two Cities Criticism. The last of Dickens's novels to be issued as a twenty-part monthly serial, Our Mutual Friend has long been considered one of the author's darkest works, the product of his declining years when exhaustion and disillusionment were taking over his life and his writing.

The novel was not terribly successful at the time of its publication and was unfavorably compared to his earlier, more optimistic works. In addition, the popularity of serialized novels had peaked some twenty years earlier and the form was being replaced by less expensive monthly magazines. Critics today, for the most part, consider the novel in a more favorable light, appreciating the complexity of its numerous characters and multiple plot lines, and praising its unified presentation of the themes of money and predation. Biographical Information Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, to John and Elizabeth Barrow Dickens. The second of eight children, Dickens spent his childhood on the southern coast of England, where he attended a good school until the age of eleven. The family then moved to London and shortly thereafter his father was sent to debtor's prison. Young Charles went to work in a blacking warehouse and was forced to live on his own in cheap lodgings in a state of near starvation. Although he was soon rescued by his father and sent to school in London, the brief period of abandonment and uncertainty affected his life and his writings for years to come.

Dickens did not attend college but was admitted as a reader to the library of the British Museum, where he immersed himself in the study of great literature, particularly Shakespeare. He worked for some time as a clerk, as a shorthand reporter, and eventually as a news reporter for the Morning Chronicle, a position which required him to travel all over the country. Dickens's first success, both critical and popular, was Sketches by Boz (1836), a series of short pieces on life in London. His first novel, Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837), was published, as were all of his novels, in serial form, and by the time the fourth monthly installment was issued, Dickens was the most popular author in England. Over the next thirty years, he continued to publish successful novels, among them: Oliver Twist (1838), A Christmas Carol In Prose (1843), The Personal History of David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Hard Times for These Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great Expectations (1861).

His writing, once full of hope and optimism, grew increasingly pessimistic as he aged, with images of decay and corruption dominating the later works. Our Mutual Friend was his last completed novel; with its images of dustheaps and death, it is widely considered one of the author's darkest visions. In 1870, while working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens suffered an aneurysm in the brain and died the next day. He was buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. Plot and Major Characters There are numerous plots and subplots in Our Mutual Friend, the main one involving a young man, John Harmon, who returns to England after an absence of many years. Before his death, his wealthy father had made his son's inheritance contingent upon his marriage to Bella Wilfer, a beautiful but mercenary young woman. Shortly after leaving the ship that brought him back to England, Harmon is supposedly murdered; a body found in the Thames is identified as his and he does nothing to correct the error. Assuming first the name of Julius Handford, and then John Rokesmith, Harmon takes a position as secretary to Mr.

Boffin—a former employee and now heir of the elder Harmon's estate—in order to assess the character of his bride-to-be while in disguise. Uneasy with their newly-acquired wealth, the Boffins have taken Bella into their home in order to give her the advantages she would have had if she had married Harmon. As Rokesmith, Harmon professes his love for Bella, but believing she is capable of making a far better match, she refuses him and Mr. Boffin discharges him for impudence. During this time, Boffin has changed from a kindly generous man to a materialistic miser as part of an elaborate charade to teach Bella a lesson about the hazards of greed. The young woman becomes so disturbed by the changes in her benefactor, she returns to her father's house, giving up the material advantages of life with the Boffins. Bella sees the error of her ways and determines to marry for love. When Rokesmith reappears, she agrees to marry him, and their marriage is happy despite their modest means. Eventually the mystery surrounding Rokesmith's true identity is unraveled and his fortune restored, making Bella the wealthy wife she had once dreamed of being.

The other major narrative involves Lizzie Hexam, the daughter of a river scavenger, Gaffer Hexam, the very man who discovered the body thought to be Harmon's. At the inquest, Lizzie is noticed by Eugene Wrayburn, a bored, upper-class lawyer. Lizzie's brother, a churlish youth, hates Wrayburn and tries to steer his sister's affections away from the lawyer and towards Bradley Headstone, a severe schoolmaster whose repressed anger surfaces when Lizzie rejects his proposal. Lizzie escapes the attentions of both men by retreating to a small country village. Returning from a visit to Lizzie, Wrayburn is attacked and thrown into the river by Headstone. Lizzie rescues him, and he is slowly nursed back to life with the help of Jenny Wren, a dolls' dressmaker with whom Lizzie had lived in London. Jenny determines that Wrayburn's wish is to marry Lizzie; she brings a clergyman from London and arranges a bedside ceremony for the pair. Subplots include the attempted blackmail of Mr. Boffin by his employee Silas Wegg, who has been hired to read to the illiterate Boffins.

Wegg had taken possession of the Boffin house and dustheap when the Boffins departed for more luxurious quarters. When Wegg finds another of the elder Harmon's wills, this one leaving the fortune to the state, he tries, with the aid of a taxidermist named Mr. Venus, to coerce his employer into sharing the estate. The plot is foiled by Venus's offer to testify against Wegg. A second case of attempted blackmail involves Rogue Riderhood, a river scavenger who witnesses the attack on Wrayburn and tries to extract money from Headstone in exchange for his silence. As the two argue and struggle, they both fall into the river and drown. The upper classes make up what Dickens called “the social chorus,” a group whose only apparent function is to represent society's views on the events of the main narratives as they unfold. Their lives are empty and their activities are limited to gossiping about the Harmons, the Boffins, and the other characters who lead more active lives.

The main members of the social chorus are the Veneerings, a newly-rich couple who hold dinner parties in an attempt to ingratiate themselves with the more established members of London society; the Podsnaps, who are rich, self-satisfied, and rigid; and the Lammles, who married each other for money only to discover that each had been trying to deceive the other and they were both penniless. At the opposite end of the economic spectrum is Betty Higden, a poor woman hounded by her fear of dying in the poorhouse. She would prefer to starve than to suffer the cruelties and indignities associated with the almshouse, and that's exactly what she does, dying in a field as Lizzie Hexam tries to comfort her. Major Themes The major theme of Our Mutual Friend is money and the hazards associated with its misuse. The well-to-do characters, almost without exception, are negatively portrayed, and the Harmon fortune makes it necessary for its heir to hide his identity in order to assess the character of the Boffins and Bella Wilfer with any accuracy, the implication being that a rich man can never determine who his true friends are.

A related theme is predation—several chapter headings refer to birds of prey—wherein the possibility of extracting wealth from another by less than honorable means proves too tempting for such characters as Silas Wegg, Rogue Riderhood, and others. The very opening scene of the novel involves Gaffer Hexam, bent over the edge of his boat like a vulture, looking for bodies in the river—bodies that he then robs before turning them over to the authorities. Many critics have pointed out the emphasis on surfaces and depths throughout the novel. Hexam and Riderhood plumb the depths of the Thames searching for bodies and whatever other treasures they can find, while the Veneerings are all glossy surface with no depth at all. Masks, disguises, and cases of mistaken identity occur repeatedly within the narrative. John Harmon is taken for dead because a man who resembles him has been murdered by mistake. Harmon then assumes a new identity and lives as John Rokesmith, allowing the community to believe the error. Mr. Boffin pretends to be a miser in order to instruct Bella Wilfer on the perils of materialism and greed.

Bradley Headstone disguises himself as Rogue Riderhood so that the attack on Wrayburn will be blamed on the waterman. Both the river and the dustheaps, which forms the basis of the Harmon fortune, are recurring motifs in the work and both are associated with death and decay but, at the same time, they provide a livelihood for some. As critic Richard A. Lanham puts it, “if the river is the liquid sewer of London, the dust-heap is the dry one, and the two together provide food and drink for the majority of the characters in the novel.” Reading and literacy are also prominent features of Our Mutual Friend. The Boffins' illiteracy provides an employment opportunity for Weggs, who pretends to be an expert in literary matters. Gaffer Hexam's illiteracy means he must memorize the posters and pamphlets of missing persons who have possibly met their deaths in the river. His daughter Lizzie's illiteracy provides the excuse for Wrayburn's involvement with her, as the lawyer offers to provide reading lessons for both Lizzie and Jenny Wren.

Overall, the tone of the narrative is grim and bleak; the cumulative effect of the numerous references to corruption, decay, and death is a darkness that becomes oppressive. Although there are humorous instances throughout the novel, most especially those associated with the Veneerings and the Podsnaps, they are satiric in nature rather than comic. Critical Reception Critical response to Our Mutual Friend was long shaped by Henry James's famous 1865 review in the Nation. James called it “the poorest of Mr Dickens's works,” claiming that the novel was “poor with the poverty not of momentary embarrassment, but of permanent exhaustion.” Most scholars agreed with this assessment and termed the work incoherent and implausible. The reading public, meanwhile, was put off by the novel's relentless pessimism; subscriptions fell off monthly as installments were published. Most modern critics, though, tend to recognize the complexity of the work and to appreciate the multiple plot lines and numerous characters. Some of these characters, such as Gaffer Hexam and Betty Higden, were possibly inspired by real Londoners who had been interviewed by Henry Mayhew for his nonfiction work London Labour and the London Poor. Harland S.

Nelson has examined these possible connections by comparing the two texts. Other possible sources of inspiration have been suggested by Lewis Horne, who believes that Homer's hero Odysseus was the model for three of Dickens's characters; and Howard W. Fulweiler, who suggests that Darwin's theories informed Dickens's later fiction, particularly Our Mutual Friend. Concentrating too completely on characters and the weaknesses in their representation has led, according to Philip Hobsbaum, to many negative assessments of Our Mutual Friend. Critics would be better served, he claims, by concentrating on the novel's central images, particularly dust and the river. Other critics claim the novel is unified by the motifs of reading and literacy, among them Stanley Friedman, who believes that these recurring elements provide character definition and aid in plot development. Michael Greenstein, meanwhile, has studied the many unifying themes and motifs that focus on mutuality. As a whole, late twentieth-century scholars have dismissed the early negative appraisals of Our Mutual Friend and now urge a new appreciation of this complicated novel.

More Content: Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens (hide) Our Mutual Friend | Lostpedia | Fandom powered by Wikia 0140434976 Our Mutual Friend is the last completed novel written by Charles Dickens . The book is largely believed to be the most challenging that Dickens produced and is known for the seemingly rushed ending. The novel is about the son of a tycoon who must marry a specific woman to inherit his father's fortune. He shuns this, leaves, and is presumed drowned, which is untrue. He returns under a new identity, gets hired at a company related to his father, marries the same woman on his own merit, not on his father's riches, and only afterwards, assumes his original identity and inherits his fortune. Contents On Lost Desmond's hardbound copy of Our Mutual Friend Desmond carried with him a hardback "The Penguin English Library" edition of Our Mutual Friend that was held closed with rubber bands, intended only to be opened and read at last before he died. Presumably knowing the significance of the book to him, Penelope placed a letter of her love and undying devotion in the book, intending Desmond to read it in his deepest moments of despair while incarcerated in military prison.

However, he never found the letter there, as he had checked the book into prison storage with the rest of his personal inventory, and it was therefore not returned until his release. In the Swan , he finally found and read her letter when he opened the book to read it because he was contemplating suicide after three years of being "trapped" in the hatch. (" Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1 ") This occurred at the same time John Locke was also in despair and pounding on the hatch door. The combination of the letter's discovery and Locke's appearance apparently saved Desmond's life as he decided against suicide. (" Deus Ex Machina ") Desmond also hid the key to activate the fail-safe in this book. When the computer was damaged, he inexplicably did not search for the book or the key, and neither were mentioned. He also neglected to take the book with him when he fled although this may be because he believed he had little time left to live and would not be able to read the book. (" Orientation ") Locke was seen alphabetizing the bookshelves (and shaking out each book as he did so) but was not shown discovering the book and key.

Thus, the appearance of this rubber-banded hardcover book and its contents in the season two finale could be a continuity error. However, the book was placed in the far back of the bookshelf, and it appeared that John never finished alphabetizing. (" The Long Con ") Desmond named the sailboat that he and Penny lived on following his return from the Island after the novel. (" Dead Is Dead ") Influence on Lost Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse mentioned in a New York Times article [1] that they got the idea of using this book from an interview of writer John Irving. Irving had stated that he wanted Our Mutual Friend to be the last book he reads before dying. Lindelof and Cuse also felt they could personally relate to what Charles Dickens went through as a writer. As Cuse said: "He was writing chapter by chapter for newspapers. We often think: 'How much did Dickens know when he was writing his stories? How much of it was planned out, and how much was flying by the seat of his pants because he had to get another chapter in?' We can respect what he went through." Dickens had elaborate chapter plans for Our Mutual Friend.

He had to produce exactly 32 pages of printed text each month, and had worked out in advance what would go in each monthly "number" (issue) of the book. In the postscript to the novel, he offered some insight into how readers would put together a complicated plot that unwinds over an extended time period. Similarities and shared themes Character relations Analysis Our Mutual Friend, like Lost , has a deep suggestiveness-- a sense that something more is going on than meets the eye. It is also a kind of “shaggy dog” story, in that it raises more imaginative possibilities than it fulfills. Whether LOST will follow suit in this regard remains to be seen. Scavenging Our Mutual Friend opens with a description of Gaffer Hexam and his daughter Lizzie, who are scavenging the Thames for drowned bodies. Hexam takes the valuables off the bodies before towing them to shore. Scavenging is everywhere in LOST, of course, but there is a very specific parallel to “" Whatever the Case May Be ", where Sawyer takes the wallet off the dead man he and Kate find in the water, or “" Born to Run ", where Kate accuses Sawyer of robbing dead people.

Hexam justifies his action by asking “Has a dead man any use for money?” Similarly, Sawyer explains that the dead don't need money. (In a further act of “scavenging,” Kate and Jack dig up the marshal again to go through his wallet for the key.) Fathers and daughters Almost every relationship of any importance (except for the two “love affairs”: John Harmond, aka “our mutual friend,” and Bella Wilfer; Eugene Wrayburn and Lizzie Hexam) revolves around fathers and daughters. The novel opens with Hexam, the scavenger, and his daughter, Lizzie. After her father dies, Mirah (a saintly Jewish character whom Dickens seems to have created to refute charges of anti-Semitism leveled against him in relation to Oliver Twist) becomes a second father to Lizzie. Hexam’s nemesis is a man named Rogue Riderhood whose only relation is a daughter, Pleasant Riderhood. Bella Wilfer (the woman Harmond is supposed to marry) loves only her father (she intensely dislikes her mother and sister) until she meets Harmon and the Boffins. Mr. Boffin who sort of adopts Bella becomes a second father.

Lizzie befriends a young girl named Jenny Wren (real name Fanny Cleaver, also referred to as “the Doll’s Dressmaker”) who is the sole support of her alcoholic father (who she calls her “Bad Child”). John Harmon’s father has disowned both his children: Harmon’s sister (who is now dead) and perhaps Harmon himself. (Whether this is true or not is not clear, as there are several versions of his will in play.) Georgiana Podsnap is also manipulated by her father. Fathers and daughters also abound in LOST: Kate , Sun , Shannon , Claire , Penny ; all of them have similarly troubled father/daughter relationships . In fact, mothers are, for the most part, strangely absent or relatively unimportant in both Our Mutual Friend and LOST. Mutuality The title of Our Mutual Friend refers to John Harmond who shows up independently in two sub-plots. At some point, two men meet and realize that they both know the same person; one refers to him as “our mutual friend.” Dickens powerfully suggests in the novel the interconnectedness of people (and narratives).

Some readers have argued that this is Dickens’ critique of the rigid class structure that defined English society in the 19C; others suggest that this theme of connection and mutuality is influenced by Darwin. This “mutuality,” the myriad connections and relations of the novel, seem very much a LOST trope: we similarly see people from one plot reappear in someone else’s story. How significant these mutual friends are remains to be seen. Garbage The plot of Our Mutual Friend revolves around several mysterious garbage heaps, called dust mounds, that were the source of John Harmon’s father’s fortune. Who inherits these mounds is a major plot concern. (There are several wills floating around, one of which is actually buried in a dust mound.) The mounds are eventually demolished. But we never learn exactly what they were made of. (One critic, Humphrey House, speculated that human excrement was part of them.) These mounds, like the LOST fuselage and all the trash that the crash generated and that litters the beach, are both mysterious and frightening.

Baugh's Blog: Essay: Dickens's Novels - The Best of Books; The Worst of Books Sunday, 30 December 2012 Essay: Dickens's Novels - The Best of Books; The Worst of Books OK, ranking artists, or ranking their works, is a bit silly, I know. How can you compare books that are really quite different and then say that one is better than another? Yes, a list that declares that this novel is better than that, and that those books are worse than these, is rather ridiculous. But the enterprise is fun anyway! Although, instead of listing the “best” of anything, however, it would make more sense to talk of one’s “favourites” – that would make it clear that the choices are strictly personal, and often based on highly subjective reasons, rather than measured distinctions. With that in mind, I am going to divide the 15 Dickens novels that I’ve read and reviewed this year into three groups: top 5, middle 5, and bottom 5.

Some of these novels I’ve only read once – encountering them for the very first time in 2012 (Dombey and Son, Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood). Some of them I’ve read twice (The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, and Martin Chuzzlewit). The other four I’ve read several times (Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations). So the rather cursory nature of my acquaintance with some of these books needs to be kept in mind! All of Dickens’s novels, of course, are worth reading – at least once. And over the course of a long reading-life, one ought to come back to some of them several times. As one’s own life experiences enrich and bruise one’s attitude to, and knowledge of, the world, there is so much more in these books to admire and to think about. Top 5 Great Expectations : the first Dickens novel I read – back in the mid-60s. I also studied it twice in university.

A gripping coming-of-age novel that charts its protagonist’s inner development at the same time as introducing some truly memorable characters. It is also the most self-revealing of Dickens’s books. It was published weekly, and is about half the size of his usual novels, which makes the story move along at a good clip. Much less rambling and discursive than the longer books and the well-constructed plot keeps the story-telling taut and focused. David Copperfield : another bildungsroman (coming-of-age story) presented with a first-person narrative. The book is chock-full of wonderful characters. The description of young David’s time at the Murdstone and Grinby factory is a fictionalised account of Dickens’s traumatic experience of working at Warren’s Blacking Factory, whilst the rest of the family was in the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison. Despite this and some other parallels to his own life, Dickens reveals less here about himself than he would later in Great Expectations. Oliver Twist : a compelling story that charts the development of an orphan raised in a parish workhouse.

It is one of Dickens’s most melodramatic stories – gripping its readers, with its sordid descriptions of London low-life and yet another array of wonderful characters. A shorter novel than some, it moves along expeditiously – but the mystery of Oliver’s parentage leads to some unnecessary convolutions in the plot. Martin Chuzzlewit : a funny, satirical look at selfishness and greed as they contaminate the history of the extended Chuzzlewit family. The novel includes two of Dickens’s funniest creations – the self-styled “architect” Seth Pecksniff, who is a delightfully unctuous hypocrite, and the booze-loving nurse Sairey Gamp, whose loquacious ramblings both irritate and entertain at the same time, as she tells us constantly about the thoughts and actions of her (apparently ‘fictitious’) friend “Mrs. Harris.” When the sales of this novel begin to slump, Dickens added a long interlude describing the disastrous trip of young Martin Chuzzlewit and his friend Mark Tapley to the United States.

His British readers were not that interested with this satirical account of America, based on Dickens’s own recent trip there, and many of his American readers were highly offended. The Pickwick Papers : this was Dickens’s first novel. It’s a picaresque comic novel describing the adventures of the Pickwick Club, financed and led by the beneficent Mr. Samuel Pickwick, a retired business man who likes to travel around the country, with his friends, engaged in mild adventure. The introduction of the cockney servant Sam Weller took the novel into a whole new dynamic realm of fun and social commentary. Weller represents the worldly-wise, working-class man, always eager for the main chance. Pickwick symbolises the benevolent nature of the reputable middle-class gentleman. Dickens’s working-class readers loved the character of Sam Weller. Here was a writer who understood them, and championed their cause. Middle 5 Bleak House : many academic critics select this complex, poetic novel as Dickens’s greatest artistic achievement.

It is notable for containing two narrators, who share half of the story – an objective third-person narrator telling the story in the present, and the first-person narrator, Esther Summerson, who relates the story from a seven-year vantage point in the future. The biting satire of the book is focused on the corrupt legal system – specifically, the fate of a long-standing lawsuit, dealing with a contested will, that is making its slow-motion, tortuous way through the Court of Chancery. Despite its complex form and rich style, I found the book less involving than others – the story takes a long time to get going, and is not that interesting anyway. Nicholas Nickleby : this is Dickens’s third novel. It combines humour and melodrama, and it also presents a young gentleman as protagonist – a man with no money or property, who is struggling to make his way in the world. In the opening section, Dickens does for Yorkshire boarding “schools” what he did for parish workhouses in Oliver Twist – skewer them unmercifully!

The novel has elements of the picaresque adventure – Nicholas hits the road in search of his fortune, and enjoys an extended interlude as actor-playwright with the Vincent Crummles acting troupe. And it has elements of melodrama in the struggle Nicholas undergoes with his malignant uncle Ralph. A Tale of Two Cities : is the second of two historical novels Dickens wrote. This one is set during the French Revolution, and Dickens does an amazing job meshing the fate of a single family with the key events of this dramatic political event – which is spread over many tumultuous years. The emotional underpinning of this novel was Dickens’s interest in projecting himself as a self-sacrificing hero, dealing with the pain of an unrequited love. It really had to do with the mid-life crisis in the relationship between himself and his wife Catherine. But he transmutes this inner turmoil into a wonderful story of dual identity and personal sacrifice. “It is a far, far better thing …” Little Dorrit : is a wonderful book built ultimately on Dickens’s childhood memories of his family’s incarceration in the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison. The first half of the book gives a detailed portrait of the life experienced in that place.

Arthur Clennam - one of the main protagonists in this novel – is a revealing self-portrait of the disenchanted author himself. And William Dorrit, the “father of the Marshalsea” is another portrait of his father, John Dickens. Micawber (in David Copperfield) had been a positive version of his ambivalent attitude to his father, William Dorrit is the negative view. Little Dorrit is another portrait of a sweet and innocent young woman – she is quite unreal – a figure of self-abnegating perfection. Our Mutual Friend : Dickens’s final complete novel. It is a biting, satirical look at the corrupt nature of English society – which Dickens considered more and more obsessed with money and social position. A key element of the plot is the fall-out from the apparent death by drowning of a young man, returning to London from overseas, who was the inheritor of a fortune earned by his father in dust heaps. The plot is a bit convoluted; some of the characters are not that appealing; but the writing style is often archly innovative and entertaining. There are several intriguing female characters in the novel – not always one of Dickens’s strong suit.

Bottom 5 Barnaby Rudge : this is Dickens’s first historical novel (the second was A Tale of Two Cities). Although it was his fifth novel, he had the story in mind very early in his career, but put it off because other work took precedence, or because of disagreements he had with his publishers. The novel is set during the anti-Catholic riots in London in 1780. Like A Tale of Two Cities, the plot intertwines real history with the fates of a small group of characters living just outside the city. The book is interesting for having a simple-minded youth as its main protagonist. And there are several characters that get the usual satirical treatment. The description of the riots – spread over a week, or so – is gripping, and it makes you want to learn more about this dramatic period. Dombey and Son : this novel begins, it seems, as a satirical account of mercantile capitalism – through the figure of wealthy businessman Paul Dombey. But it is pulled this way and that as Dickens shifts focus several times. There is a Little Nell-like interlude, which charts the slow decline and death of the young boy, Paul Dombey, Jr.

And there is the increasingly melodramatic account of the marriage between Dombey Senior and Edith Granger. Edith is pushed into the marriage by her scheming mother, who is desperate to see her widowed daughter marry into big money. After the death of Paul, Dombey’s daughter Florence becomes the focus of the rest of the novel, and she is another of Dickens’s innocent young women who are exploited and neglected by selfish fathers or grandfathers. And the book ends with the rather unbelievable redemption of the recalcitrant father, Paul Dombey, who finally learns to appreciate his daughter’s selfless love. The Old Curiosity Shop : the notorious story of Little Nell, who sacrifices her own interest throughout, in order to care for her selfish and gambling-addicted grandfather. They abandon their home – the Curiosity Shop – in order to escape the vengeful clutches of the malign dwarf Daniel Quilp. The endless account of Nell’s road-travels with her grandfather is rather tiresome. Her fate is telegraphed fairly early in the book and one waits for it with mounting anticipation and – dare I say it – also with growing irritation.

Victorians, apparently, were a much more sentimental bunch than us jaded and rather cynical moderns – they lapped up the pathos in this book with glee. The Mystery of Edwin Drood : Dickens’s last novel. It was planned to be half the size of his usual epics. But he died, anyway, before finishing it – completing six of the twelve parts he had intended. It is based in Cloisterham, a town based on Rochester in Kent, where Dickens had grown up as a young boy, and where he returned (the nearby village of Higham, where his house, Gad’s Hill Place, was located) to live in later life. So his last novel is set in the two locations that had fuelled his creativity most (the other, of course, was London). This was a detective story – one of literature's first – so it was ironic that he would die without having revealed the secret to the mystery, although the murderer’s identity is pretty clear from what he had already written and, more importantly, what he had told to a few friends and associates.

The most interesting character is John Jasper, who can be seen as another self-portrait by the author, a troubled, self-divided man – motivated by love and hate – with many secrets to hide. Hard Times : a quickly written novel, published in weekly parts for Dickens’s magazine. It is the most didactic and straightforward novel he ever wrote. It is also the shortest – so it contains a very small cast of characters, and very little in the way of sub-plot and discursive digression. The book is a polemic against the philosophy of utilitarianism, which underpinned the no-nonsense industrialism of the mid-nineteenth century. Dickens had travelled north to Preston to witness for himself a notable industrial dispute. He was appalled by the working conditions in the factories, but he was also critical of what he thought was the immoral opportunism of some trade union leaders. An interesting, uncharacteristic oddity in Dickens’s body of work. The type of novel he might have done a lot more of, if his work had been centred on ideas, rather than the portrayal of humane and life-like characters.

Posted by Babbling Books: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens Monday, August 19, 2013 Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens Our Mutual Friend was Charles Dickens’s last novel. I found it to be an engaging, entertaining and fun. The story and characters can best be described as lively and full of philosophy and symbolism that reach into the heart of Western culture as well as the human psyche. The book is full of both tragedy and comedy. As is typical of Dickens, it is peopled by a host of larger then life characters, ranging from the virtuous to the villainous. In some ways this novel is a series of case studies on what money does to people and how they react to it. Some behave horribly while it brings out the best in others. This is also an exploration of death, resurrection and rebirth, the power of books and learning, and a whole lot more. It is also a hilarious satire of upper class manners and lack of morality as well as a plea for social and economic justice. The plot is somewhat complex and includes lots of characters. When the old, rich and mean Mr. Harmon dies he leaves a last Will and Testament that sets things in motion.

He bequeaths most of his fortune to his son, John Harmon who he all but abandoned in childhood. The inheritance is conditional on the eventuality that the younger Harmon marry the impoverished Bella Wilfer who he has never met. While traveling to meet his intended bride, Harmon is assaulted by thugs, knocked insensible and is mistaken for dead. Though he eventually regains his senses Harmon continues to uphold the fiction that he was killed and takes on fake identity. He decides to scope out Bella, from the point of view an uninterested stranger, to out to determine if she would make an honorable and virtuous wife. Meanwhile, the old miser’s servants, Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, inherit the fortune as per the Will, since the younger Harmon is presumable dead. Lizzie Hexam, the daughter of the man who is falsely accused of killing Harmon, and Eugene Wrayburn, the attorney handling Harmon’s Will, are also key characters as Wrayburn becomes romantically interested in Lizzie. Bradley Headstone is a schoolmaster who is also a psychotic stalker obsessed with Lizzie. The are numerous other important characters and lots of plot twists. Some Thoughts on Bella I like complex characters.

At times I have trouble with Dickens as he often portrays people as extremes of either reprehensible monsters or unquestioned saints. Thankfully this is not true of all of his creations. Those who fall into the grey areas particularly intrigue me. I was initially impressed by portrayal of the character of Bella Wilfer for these reasons. Early in the novel Bella is intelligent, kind and empathetic if a bit coquettish. She is not perfect however. She is also unabashedly greedy. She is searching for a husband whose main attribute is wealth. Talking to her father she remarks, “I have made up my mind that I must have money, Pa. I feel that I can't beg it, borrow it, or steal it; and so I have resolved that I must marry it.” and later, “I have money always in my thoughts and my desires; and the whole life I place before myself is money, money, money, and what money can make of life!' I love the unabashed, unashamed exuberance of the above! Bella understands that to many this is a character flaw she later comments, “When I was at home expecting to be rich, I thought vaguely of all the great things I would do.

But when I had been disappointed of my splendid fortune, and came to see it from day to day in other hands, and to have before my eyes what it could really do, then I became the mercenary little wretch I am.” At the same time that she exhibits such avarice, Bella shows displays positive traits. She shows great tenderness to a dying orphan. She also has a strong bond with her hapless father whom she is exceeding kind to. This relationship is a bit unusual. She is extremely close to “Pa”. She confides her secrets to him. However, in some ways she treats him as a beloved child. She dotes upon him like a mother. At one point she bristles when his co – workers chide him. What a complex and in my opinion, realistic combination of traits that Dickens has endowed into Bella! Another aspect that enhances Bella’s character is that, as expressed in the above passages, she is self – aware. She knows that she is greedy. She also knows that this is a character flaw. At least in this part of the narrative, she accepts this about herself. But Bella is destined to disappoint me. Observing how mean and miserly Mr.

Boffin has seemingly become as a result of his newfound wealth, and having fallen in love with the seemingly poor and disguised John Harmon, she decides to forgo riches in lieu of marital bliss. By the novel’s end she has transformed into a completely unselfish and self - sacrificing woman. It may seem odd that I am complaining that a character, with lots of redeeming qualities, forgoes a terrible character weakness in favor of virtue. Of course if Bella was a real person, I would rejoice that she had put aside such rapacious tendencies. However, when it comes to literary characters, I like a little darkness even in the best of them. A mix of virtue and vice makes a delicious and interesting stew. When characters become too good they become less interesting. Bella seems too real of a character for such a simplistic epiphany. Had she been a pure villainess she would not have been as intriguing either, it was the amalgam of traits, much like real person, that was unfortunately lost here. I am just being cranky on this point. This is a terrific and important work. Bella’s redemption is only a small part of the book. I must also admit that the transformation is appealing on some levels.

A completely unimproved Bella might have been a disaster for the narrative. Perhaps however, in the end, a few materialistic tendencies in a partially changed Bella would have added some spice to the stew. Posted by

Question: John Harmon is the main protagonist in which Dickens novel?
Answer: OUR MUTUAL FRIEND