NEW Dickens readalong Dombey and Son - the 2025 Dombeyalong!

Aaarh, at least it’s ‘only’ 10 weeks of intense work Fuzzy and not 3 years!

Apologies if you twigged this part of the puzzle @Terpsichorebut the beautiful young woman who rejects Harriet Carker’s charity is the daughter of ‘Good Mrs Brown’ who abducted Florence briefly in Chapter 6.

Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchief
It's a teaching qualification in TEFL certified by CELTA. It's a ten-week course. The workload is staggering. I feel completely overwhelmed. Maybe it's because I'm out of practice with learning and studying. I'll look forward to catching up when I get my life back in November.

This did seem more of what they call on the Archers threads a 'filler episode' - putting the essential machinery in place for the next bit of the plot.

Who is the mysterious poor-but-beautiful woman who turns up at the Carker household and then curses her when she finds out who she’s accepted charity from? No clue at the moment, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough!

Your question about what was going on in Dickens’s life at the time is a great one, @Piggywaspushed. He was 12 years into his marriage by the time D & S appeared, in 1848, and he and Catherine had 7 children, the youngest exactly a year old when the book came out (I think there had been some miscarriages too). When they split a few years later he claimed that he'd been unhappy for a long time, but it’s hard to say exactly when his feelings changed. What did happen was that Catherine’s sister Georgina had come to live with the family in 1842, and took a big role in looking after the children and running the household. So maybe thoughts about care-giving, motherliness and child-rearing - even the 'two mothers' idea - were especially preoccupying him at around that time?

The other big thing in his life just then was helping to set up a hostel-type establishment for 'wayward' girls, with a view to training them for jobs and finding employment for them, usually in Australia. This was Urania Cottage in Shepherds Bush - he was, as ever, extremely hands-on, and got very involved with the lives and past histories of the girls. I can definitely see that in the introduction of this mysterious ex-convict woman, and it'll be interesting to see where he takes that storyline.

Congrats on going back to college Fuzzy, what a brave move. What are you studying?

As far as the book goes I have nothing much to add. I felt it went off the boil a bit in this section and there seemed to be lots of padding. My mind started to wander as I read it. I’m also disappointed that the Audio version has been removed from the free offerings on Audible so I can’t let it wash over me as I get on with other things. I’m halfway through chapter 38 so have fallen a bit behind, maybe things are about to pick up.

Hello Piggy, hello all.

I'm afraid I'm going to be behind in the book for the foreseeable future.

I have gone back to college and my life is completely on hold including reading, unfortunately. Sorry everyone :(

I have just caught up on August! Thanks for all your comments - made it keen for me to catch up. Will try to do better in September.

Finally caught up, this felt like a really long instalment! Thanks for sharing all your thoughts. Nothing else to add but I’m really enjoying this one.

Finally finished this month’s section, it was a great instalment! I was confused about Edith’s haughty but troubled character until that brilliant ‘reveal’ section where she confronts her mother. Dickens is surprisingly astute on what it must have felt like to be bred up for the marriage market - he does know that women are actual people with complex psychology, for all his angels of the hearth. So relieved she isn’t going to be an evil stepmother. And I don’t think she’ll do anything to the dog. (Wouldn’t put it past Carker though…)

Excellent posts! Thank you cassandre!
I love the illustration too.* *

A couple more random thoughts:

There is the theme of mothers, good and bad: Florence's dead mother, Polly Toodle, Cleopatra, and Edith, who is already poised to become a surrogate mother to Florence (and is thankfully determined not to imitate her own mother).

Piggy, I'm also interested in the Black servant, after reading David Olusoga's Black and British last year.

I noticed that in an illustration of the Black servant, he is wearing formal attire, and looks like any other valet would apart from the colour of his skin. Here's the image reproduced on the Victorian Web:

https://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/phiz/dombey/19.html

On a lighter note, I also thought the conversation between Carker and Cleopatra was hilarious.

'Those darling byegone times, Mr Carker,' said Cleopatra, 'with their delicious fortresses, and their dear old dungeons, and their delightful places of torture, and their romantic vengeances, and their picturesque assaults and sieges, and everything that makes life truly charming! How dreadfully we have degenerated!'

'Yes, we have fallen off deplorably,' said Mr Carker. 😂😂😂

The mad regret for the good old days - it's still so relevant now, as some of you have said!

I also feel compelled to draw everyone's attention to Susan Nipper's excellent formulations of what she is NOT. That woman does have a way with words.
I may not be a Amazon, Miss Floy, and wouldn't so demean myself by such disfigurement, but anyways I'm not a giver-up, I hope.

'...though I can bear a great deal, I am not a camel, neither am I,' added Susan, after a moment's consideration, 'if I know myself a dromedary neither.'

Oh wow great posts everyone, thank you.

Edith is a fascinating character. The many references to her pride reminded me a bit of Lady Dedlock in Bleak House. I had expected her to become a wicked stepmother figure, so I was very surprised by the instantaneous bond she formed with Florence. It's good to see a relationship between women framed so positively (in contrast to the abominable Mrs Chick! yes, she was TOTALLY pushing Miss Tox towards Mr Dombey earlier in the novel! what a frenemy and a gaslighter she is).

And yes, the idea (as expressed by Edith) that marriage is 'a form of legalized and socially sanctioned prostitution' (thank you Desdamona for that interesting Gradesaver analysis) is like Simone de Beauvoir avant la lettre. Very striking! Terpsichore, your comparison of Edith to Kate in Nicholas Nickleby is spot on. But Kate has her brother to sustain her, whereas Edith has been alone with her mother all her life... It's complex, the way in which she's yielded to her mother's wishes but is still carrying out a fierce form of silent protest. I liked the way she intervened with her mother to protect Florence. Her mother is clearly a little frightened of her, and knows that her threat to pull out of the marriage isn't an idle one.

I think Gradesaver is right to compare Dombey's attitude toward money with Edith's. He is like a walking symbol of patriarchy and capitalism, whereas Edith complies with the patriarchal/capitalist system even while critiquing it and despising it.

people certainly have not moved on (or perhaps come full circle) in terms of Little Englander mentalities

That's for sure!

I barrelled through this whole section yesterday, having left it (as usual) very late. Lots of action here, and thanks all for some great insights.

The scenes with Edith and her mother were powerful. I was particularly struck by the echo of the grim bits in Nicholas Nickleby where poor Kate is pretty much pimped out by uncle Ralph to Sir Mulberry Hawk (saved by Nicholas overhearing them and leaping in to the rescue). Mrs Skewton was doing exactly the same, with the difference being that Edith has come to accept her fate, and has no-one to save her. Dickens could be so astute and on the button when he wanted to be about the sordid realities of life (and yet still scuttle back disappointingly into his child-wife/angel of the house mode).

I too loved the drunk servants, and Miss Tox (in her old gardening gloves) being torn off a strip by Mrs Chick. There was a lot in this section that made me marvel all over again (and I know I've said this at least once, if not more, in these readalongs!) at Dickens's gift for making a modern-day reader sit up and think 'yes! That’s so true and funny!' and then remember he was writing 150 years ago, and yet somehow hits on the perfect turn of phrase to make us feel that, in so many ways, people in the past were essentially just the same as us.

I agree with your views on Mrs Chick Desdamona. Gradesaver has it wrong. She is despicable and is no friend to Miss Tox as Summerbaby81 said.

I agree that the use of Mr and Mrs Chick and a character called ‘The Chicken’ is unnecessarily confusing. The Gradesaver website says this of the latter in its character summaries:
The Chicken: A young man of rough manners who becomes good friends with Toots.

I must say I like Toots as a character, such a sweetie.

It’s difficult to believe Domby is so gung-ho about marrying a woman who treats him with such obvious disdain and dislike
I was delighted however that the cold fish Edith turns into a warm loving step mother where Florence is concerned - I thought we were being set up for a David Copperfield, Mr Murdstone turn of events. But two heartless parents or guardians is obviously one too many for Dickens, thankfully.

This is The Gradesaver websites analysis of chapters 26 - 31 in case anyone is interested:

Analysis
This section revolves around Dombey's engagement and marriage and the impact it has on a far-flung cast of characters. The idea of the Dombey household as the nucleus of action that spreads far beyond it is perhaps most evident in the chapter describing the events of the wedding, which reverberates through a number of social rankings. Dombey's actions and choices carry significance for many people around him because of his economic impact and his status as a public figure. This should place him in a position of responsibility, although it rarely seems to impact his choices. At the same time, these scenes make it clear that there is a gossipy, voyeuristic interest in the lives of the Dombey family. They occupy a kind of celebrity position and this exerts a kind of pressure, especially since celebrity does not always ensure popularity. Illustrated most extremely by Carker, but also displayed by other characters like the Dombey servants, there is often a tinge of resentment, and a sense that a downfall would be welcomed by those envious of his power and privilege.
The cynicism around what should be a joyous event is developed most strongly by the insight the reader is given into Mrs. Skewton and Edith's feelings about the marriage. Mrs. Skewton acts as a kind of parallel to Dombey in that her parenting is preoccupied with how she can gain from her daughter's beauty and desirability. She believes Edith should welcome the chance to marry Dombey, whether or not she feels affection for him. Edith occupies a much more ambivalent position in that she expresses disgust and self-loathing with the feeling that she is selling herself. However, she also seems resigned to this fate. She does not believe that there is any possibility of happiness left for her, and seems to think that her mother's education has corrupted her perspective so much that she can indeed only aspire to money-driven marriages, even if she resists at the same time. In this way, Edith's perspective shows the damaging effects of bad parenting, perhaps prefiguring what could have become of Paul had he not died with his childhood innocence intact. By having been taught that money is the most important thing, and that her beauty is a tool for achieving it, Edith has been irreparably damaged.
At the same time, Florence's innocence, innate goodness, and willingness to love, pierce through even Edith's cynicism. She quickly warms to her stepdaughter and feels ferociously protective of her, especially when it becomes clear that Florence's beauty has caught Mrs. Skewton's attention. Edith knows that her mother will try to warp Florence's perspective, values, and sense of modesty, and is determined to prevent her own unhappy fate from being passed onto the next generation. In this way, Edith does function as a kind of surrogate parent to Florence. At the same time, however, her sense of shame is so deep that Edith fears a kind of moral contamination and tries to draw boundaries between herself and Florence. This reflects the way in which, although she has not yet committed any sexual transgression, Edith thinks of herself already as a kind of fallen woman, and her marriage to Dombey is revealed as a form of legalized and socially sanctioned prostitution.
The reaction of characters to Dombey's marriage functions as a kind of test for their true feelings and intentions. Florence is immediately hopeful and optimistic: she is eager to forge a relationship with her stepmother and wonders if this is the occasion that will finally allow her to bond with her father. Miss Tox is deeply hurt by the news–so hurt that her long hidden emotions come to the surface, and Mrs. Chick finally realizes her friend's long-standing affection for her brother. While Mrs. Chick has been unimpressed with the news of the wedding, resenting the idea that anyone would be good enough for her brother, but she is so outraged by what she considers a betrayal from her friend that she ends the relationship. This signals the Dombey family pride, as well as the perception that those outside the family circle are inherently inferior, and should be viewed as threats.

I thought analysis around Edith’s reaction to Florence was interesting, suggesting that, despite being chaste Edith already feels like a fallen woman with her mother as her pimp!

I was under the impression that, far from being oblivious to Mrs Tox’s intentions towards her brother Mrs Chick had encouraged and planted the seed of those intentions, so I’m not sure that I agree with Gradesaver on her suddenly seeing the light and ending the friendship. I think with the introduction of Edith, Mrs Chick has realised that her esteemed brother can do so much better in looks and status than her poor old friend, and having Mrs Tox around under these circumstances is an embarrassment and a constant reminder of her original misplaced lowly ambitions for her brother. This being the case she cuts poor Miss Tox off completely in favour of the higher society she now finds herself moving in. Hopefully a decision that will come back to bite Mrs Chick on the bum!

Great analysis Piggy and Fuzzy. I binged yesterday on the last three chapters and fell totally into the world of Dombey. The scene is certainly being set for some big drama ahead. I felt so sorry for Mrs Tox, I don’t think Mrs Chick is a great girlfriend

Hello all!

This was another enjoyable instalment.
I enjoyed your analysis, Piggy and agree with it.

After a slightly slow start, the outing to Warwick Castle was brilliant and worth the wait. The shallow conversion between Cleopatra and Mr. Carker about 'the darling byegone times' of the Middle Ages was funny, while the two of them spied on Mr. Dombey and Edith. Mr. Carker the manager is a really sinister character. Dombey refers back to him in relation to absolutely everything. He seems to be the real power here.

Mrs. Skewton is another very sinister character. That scene between mother and daughter was excellent. It took me by surprise, it was such an abrupt change of tone. Off came the mask and the real person emerged.

I'm glad that Edith is well-disposed towards Florence. She is going to save her as she can't save herself. I liked these lines; 'Gentle Florence tossed on an uneasy sea of doubt and hope; and Mr. Carker, like a scaly monster of the deep swam down below, and kept his shining eye upon her'.

The description of the wedding was also good. Poor Miss Tox was so distraught and even got spurned by her so-called friend Mrs. Chick. (It's very confusing with Mr. and Mrs. Chick and The Chicken. I think the latter is a friend of Toots from the boarding school). I really enjoyed the wedding scene as well, particularly the party in the kitchens at Dombey's. The description of merriment and over-indulgence was great. The ineptitude of Cousin Feenix made me smile. He would be good fun at a party, I think!