It is indeed a mark of social class and that's why I find it patronising and sentimental. The middle class characters speech is not rendered phonetically because of course they speak normally.Originally Posted by Danik 2016
It is indeed a mark of social class and that's why I find it patronising and sentimental. The middle class characters speech is not rendered phonetically because of course they speak normally.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
As regards Amy and Fanny, it is noticeable that they both in very different ways have energy whereas their father, brother and uncle certainly do not. Indeed William Dorrit is a good example of negative energy drawing everyone he meets into his fantasy as Father of the Marshelsea.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
William Dorritt was suitably punished. Dickens generally punishes his bad characters according their crimes. William Dorritt is not a villain or monster. He's just vain, selfish and pathetic.
His increasing dementia was done quite well, although rather more sudden than in real life. I noticed his speech became more hesitant. He was still articulate, but he said more 'hums' than early on in the book.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
I quite agree, Jackson. But then David Copperfield addopts a patronising tone when writing about the Pegottys. Although he loves them he is conscious of the social differences.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
The two Dickens heroines admired by kev's critic are Bella Wilfer in Our Mutual Friend and Florence Dombey in Dombey and Son.
Bella starts of as a brat and is almost a comic version of Estella, but married love and motherhood transform her into an angel in the house, which I imagine many feminists would be very uneasy about. (She is much nicer though less funny as a result.)
Come to think of it, Florence is very similar to Amy - both are taken for granted by their fathers and suffer patiently doing their duty. Mr Dombey is a far less interesting character than Mr Dorrit, more a conventional heavy. At least he learns at last to appreciate Florence.
I agree Mr Dorrit isn't a villain. Like Mrs Clennam he is tragic. They both mess up their children's lives. Despite all his sentimentality about the family, Dickens instinctively knew how it could go very wrong. A pity he didn't bear that in mind in his treatment of his own wife, poor soul.
Last edited by Jackson Richardson; 04-16-2020 at 11:41 AM.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
Actually, my booktuber critic's heroines out of Our Mutual Friend were Lizzie Hexham and Jenny Wren. Lizzie Hexham was a big, strong girl who bodily lifted her gentleman friend to safety. Jenny Wren was small and handicapped, I think she had rickets or something like that, but she was a forceful character who looked after her alcoholic father and scratched a living making dolls' clothes. I have not read Dombey and Son, but I think the point was that Mr Dombey wanted an heir to take over his company, but it was his daughter who was the capable one. I used to wonder why my booktuber critic rated Our Mutual Friend as her favourite book, because most fans would pick Great Expectations, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities or David Copperfield.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
Our Mutual Friend is one of my favorites too. I think, some of the figures and plot developments are more complex than in earlier novels and there is a lot of symbolism in it, starting with the riches obtained through a mount of garbage.
Lizzie Hexham reminds me a bit of Emily Pegotty, but in every sense tougher, more mature and more resilient.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
I was thinking of the comparison as well. They are both working class women. But Lizzie is a character in her own right, whereas Little Em'ly is only seen through the sentimental eyes of David and Mr Pegotty. Steerforth of course sees something else in her and she may well have welcomed the change.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
I agree, Jackson. She is mainly seen through the eyes of two men who idealize her and that certainly limits the character.
Just a curiosity. Julia Lopes de Almeida, our first female author, who wrote her novels during the first decades of 20 C, seems to have based one of the characters of her novel Cruel Love on Little Em´ly. The novel is not so good, but the girls struggle between convention and desire is represented more realistically than in David Copperfield.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
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