Like Minds and Late Night Hilarity

What a great class tonight!  We have such a great time, and there is always tons of laughter to accompany any worthy scholarly pursuits we may undertake.  Knowledge surrounded with laughter is one of my favorite things on earth! I was so excited to discuss the end of Bleak House with everyone.  I love getting together and discovering things I completely missed when reading the novel. 

Surprises of the night…

1. I heard Esther’s narrative as a woman without ever questioning the fact that a man penned her words.
2. The fog was a sort of bleak house because it surrounded and clogged everything.
3. Dickens was much more miserable in his latter years that I had realized. 
4. Others swept through the ending as I did (and nobody knows what happened to Smallweed – miserable man that he was!)
5. Nobody really discussed the murderess or what prompted her to kill the lawyer.  I figured that would be a hot topic, but we all seemed to take that little portion of the story in stride.
6. Chris (ponderingdickens)  was responsible for all the blogs anybody mentioned… Oh, wait!  That’s not a surprise…

Anyway, there’s always lots of silliness and goofing off to accompany the serious work we do, and I for one, am glad to have been a part of it.

Love “Lady” Bucket

Dear Mr. Dickens,

Thank you so much for including Mrs. Bucket in the solving of the murder mystery ofBleak House.  My grandmother used to say behind every successful man is a tired woman.  She worked as hard or harder than Detective Bucket to catch the killer!  She was judicious and careful, sincere and tenacious… I love that she was the key to catching a killer!

Thank you again.

Revisiting Dickens

Dear Mr. Dickens,… follow up letter (Warning – **Spoilers**)

17 March 2010

To the Admirable Mr. Dickens,

I finished your latest novel, Bleak House, last night.  When I picked it up at around 8:00pm, I didn’t have the intention of finishing it.  However, once you left off of berating the court system, the upper classes, and society in general (as I asked you to do in my last letter – I’m sure your remember it) and reengaged the story and your characters, I found myself unable to put it down.  It turned out to be an excellent example of the balance between romance and realism so many writers seek. 

As per my last letter, I was quite frustrated with your diatribes that seemed to go on and on about the “bleak house” that was London; however, as I look back, I realize the fault was probably mine in my impatience to uncover the fates of your characters and clear up the remaining mysteries.

I see and appreciate your revealing society as a collection of bleak houses.  I love that the only setting which is NOT bleak is the home titled Bleak House.  Here there was happiness and peace. 

In the end, I was very pleased with the fates of most of your characters. While Richard’s death saddened me, I was fully prepared for it due to the parallels you drew between Richard and Gridley.  A life obsessed may only end one way, unhappily.  I was also terribly saddened by the fates of Lady Dedlock and Nemo (Hawdon), but I love that Lady Dedlock retreated to the cemetery where he lay to die herself – nicely done.  Leicester Dedlock certainly came down in the world – clearly as a result of his highhanded and antiquated ideas; however, the fact that George was able to find a place for himself (and Philip) brought me a great deal of joy.  After all, George was one of my favorite characters.

I am also happy with Ester’s marriage to Allan Woodcourt – it absolutely broke my heart when she burned the flowers that he had given her, and I’m not sorry she didn’t marry a man she continually referred to as her “guardian.”  Thank you for avoiding that uncomfortable and significantly icky ending. I was also thrilled to find that Detective Bucket was not the villain I had feared.  He was actually one of the good guys… you fooled me again.  (I also love that his wife was his trusty sidekick!)

The ending of the court case, Jarndyce and Jarndyce was also very fitting.  It reminded me of a children’s book that is one of my son’s favorites – Eric Carle’s The Greedy Python.  It is a story of a snake that gobbles up everything in sight and eventually bites his own tail and swallows himself… sounds like a Chancery Court case to me.

I very much appreciate your efforts to tie up loose ends when concluding your story, but I am left with several questions. 1) Does Jarndyce remain alone or is there some sort of connection forming between him and the elder Ms. Woodcourt? – I do hope so.  2) Does Mrs. Jellyby get a one way trip to her beloved Africa as I so hoped she would? 3) What happened to Grandfather Smallweed? Such a despicable character surely got his just desserts.

I have other concerns, but those are my most pressing.  If you could get back to me on these questions, I would be most grateful. 

Best Regards,

Samantha Vance

Dear Mr. Dickens – Tired of Being Beaten over the Head in Bleak House

Dear Mr. Dickens,

Recently I wrote a note of apology to you for having maligned some of your works based on my limited understanding.  I stand firmly by that apology but would like to express some additional thoughts to you about Bleak House.

One of the things that I love about Our Mutual Friend is that you deliver your social commentary without beating us over the head with it.  Even your rants about the Nuevo Riche are related to the plot.  You skillfylly tie your commentary into some details or at least use characters from the rest of the story.  In Bleak House,  you don’t even bother to make the commentary really relevent to any of the action.  

At this point, I have been bashed over the head with commentary on the Chancery Court until I am sick of it- okay, Mr. Dickens, I get that the legal system is a convoluted mess… you can move on.  I have been bashed over the head with the Doodle, Coodle, and Toodle and familial elements of the government – okay, Mr. Dickens, I get that the government is a convoluted mess… you can move on.  In addition, I don’t need to be continually reminded that this book is allegorical – as a matter of fact, the painted individual referred to as “Allegory” is overkill at best. 

I find myself “lightly reading” (I don’t dare say skimming due to Skimpole’s role) the parts which involve these long diatribes about the social system.  Is your personal life filled with events involving judicail or governmental interference?  That is the only explanation for this novel that is so full of vitriol that it makes an otherwise enjoyable and pleasant read turn into something tedious and distracting.

Mr. Dickens, please climb down off your high horse about the court and government systems and get back to the story…

Sincerely,

Samantha Vance

Bleak House – Pheckless Philanthropy

As always, I continue to cast my own values and priorities into what I read, and Bleak House is no exception.  There is a lot going on – weather, doubles, confusion, intrigue, etc…, but what I am continually drawn to are the comparisons Dickens makes between profitable and useful philanthropy and the sort of  ineffectual and impractical type we see with Mrs. Jellyby.

The Victorian Era saw a boom in philanthropic projects.  Here is a great article outlining some of the efforts at the time – http://www.philanthrocapitalism.net/bonus-chapters/victorian-giving/

Dickens himself was involved in several projects designed to help those in need; Urania Cottage is probably his most famous.  Dickens worked to help those in his “backyard” rather than spending his efforts helping those in distant lands.  Mr. Jarndyce is a great example of the kind of philanthropy that Dickens would have respected.  He has given of himself to help Esther, Ada and Richard, and now Charley and what’s left of her small family. I am not naïve enough to think that all these individuals aren’t somehow connected (I’m wise to Mr. Dickens’ tricks); however, there is a spirit of giving and sincerity represented here that is ENTIRELY missing in characters like Mrs. Jellyby.

Mrs. Jellyby’s family is falling down around her ears, and she is blindly devoted to some random cause in Africa which has nothing to do with benefiting her own family. Her own children are hungry and half-clothed; she has driven her husband into bankruptcy; and now, she has refused her blessing to her own child! She disgusts me, just as I think Dickens intends her to disgust me.  She is a shining example (one I am sure Mr. Dickens knew well) of an individual immersing himself in a distant cause when his own world could use his help.  London of the time was in desperate need of benefactors, much more so than distant causes which attracted a great deal of attention like cotton gins in Nigeria.      

There, of course, is Mrs. Pardiggle’s type of philanthropy which is so full of “moral determination” that it is brutal and demanding of those she seeks to help.  Mrs. Pardiggle dragged her own children (resentful and miserable) all over creation and exposed them to no telling what horrors; however, she never brought anything with her on her charity visits.  This is highlighted in her visit to the brick-maker’s cottage.  Pardiggle barges in and insinuates herself into the little house, but she offers them nothing tangible – only scolding and chiding remarks.  This contrasts sharply with Esther and Ada’s visit the following day during which they brought food for the family and comfort for the mother whose child was dead.  Esther and Ada, like their guardian, offer something tangible and useful in a time of crisis for those in need.

The characters of Bleak House are proving to be as telling as Dickens’ other characters.  I am beginning to enjoy it more and more… I just wish Dickens would stop introducing new characters and plot lines… we are half way through the book for pity’s sake!  Come on, Mr. D – give me a break!

OMF – Ecstasy and Agony

Mr. Boffin – Agony

I am completely distraught over the transformation in Mr. Boffin.  I was totally in his corner and was actually very excited that he and Mrs. Boffin had inherited the Harmon money, but after his radical transformation and his AWFUL treatment of Rokesmith, I find myself searching for a way to punish him separately from his wife.  She has remained steadfast, humble, and loving throughout their journey, and as much as I want Boffin to be forced to “come down in the world,” I can’t stand the thought of Mrs. Boffin suffering.

Bella Wilfer – Ecstacy

I began to love her the moment that she recognized her own tendency to be mercenary, but she sealed the deal for me with her abandonment of the Boffins due to his treatment of Rokesmith.  She really showed character and honor in her defense of Rokesmith/Harmon, but I was most pleased with her when she readily admitted the wrongs she heaped upon him herself.  Their passionate embrace may have been a bit overdone for me, but all in all – I am a Bella fan!