Bleak House

It sounds like I'm not the only one struggling to keep track of the various characters. If you missed, it, commenter V sent a wonderful link to a Bleak House character cheat sheet. 

If you haven't already, go check out this link he sent last week too: Literary Artifacts of Dickens. I'm particularly interested in this quote:

"Looking at them all, one wonders: how exactly did he manage it? What insights did he have into the complexities of human character that let him render his own so unforgettably?

"Especially because...Dickens’s characters are often rather two-dimensional. Poor orphaned Oliver Twist hasn’t a bad bone in his body and is unendingly sweet to everyone (even if he’s got to pick a pocket or two) while the barbaric Bill Sikes is never seen to do anything but spit, snarl, and wipe beer from his mouth with a handkerchief. Sikes beats his own bulldog until it needs stitches, murders his prostitute-girlfriend Nancy, and basically makes Breaking Bad’s Walter White look like a saint.

"The exhibit’s curator, Professor William Moeck, agrees that many of Dickens’s memorable characters are “melodramatically polarized,” explaining that he was “influenced by the fairy tales and allegories [he] read in his youth […] villains are exaggeratedly wicked, while heroes and heroines wear almost saintly auras.”

"But if this seems like a recipe for caricature and not character, then why are they so long-lived? Writer E.M. Forster struggled with this same question. While condemning flat characters in his Aspects of the Novel, he gave Dickens a pass. “Dickens’ characters are types,” he wrote, “but his vitality causes them to vibrate a little, so that they borrow his life and appear to live their own.”

"Is it his vitality that really makes them resonate, or our own? If Dickens’s creations are flat perhaps they are elastic, like balloons, waiting for curious readers to come and inflate them. Like the heroes and monsters in our greatest myths, there is ample room inside them for us to live. Perhaps the secret to Dickens’s success was that he did not set out to create characters, but curiosities, which readers worldwide keep leaning closer to examine."

What do you think? Many of us have joked about the saintliness of Old Woman Esther, and one could point to the guardian and Ava as other sources of extreme goodness. But even though Esther narrated this section, and was again her saintly self, those tiny hints of romantic distress in previous chapters have me a bit on edge and not as trusting that all is as well in her world as she'd have us believe. From that, I see a full character, and perhaps a more unreliable narrator than I first supposed. Is that what Dickens intended, or am I the curious reader coming in and inflating her character with more than is really there?

Some of the other characters could be described as two-dimensional--Mrs. Flite and Mr. Gridley, losing their lives and sanity to the Chancery, come to mind--and yet I can totally buy that they've given up the better parts of their lives to their obsessions (and I definitely agree with Esther that Richard is on the road to their future). The jury (or my jury, anyway) is still out on Mr. Bucket, that curious investigator.

What do you think? How does Dickens keep us interested in these characters when often, by modern standards, they don't seem fully fleshed out and human?

Other than that, I don't have much to add about chapters 23-25. Richard is definitely heading down a bad path, and Esther and Mr. Jarndyce can see it but are powerless to stop it. The scene of Esther helping Caddy and Prince tell their respective parents about their engagement was some much-needed humor. And I'll admit, I might have been a tad sleepy when reading Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All, because I'm not 100% clear on just what it was she saw. I did, however, guffaw at this description of her: "Finally, becoming cataleptic, she has to be carried up the narrow staircase like a grand piano." Maybe that's why I like Dickens so much--the man really knew how to turn a phrase.

That's it--we're officially on break! See you back here on Jan. 7, with chapters 26-29 (yes, that's 4 chapters). Enjoy whatever holiday you choose to celebrate, and may it be filled with wonderful books and plenty of fine beverages to enjoy them with!

Comments

[V]

I like the symmetry of the first two chapters: an engagement announced and another broken. Plus, there was Richard off to the army and the scene at the shooting range, and there was more action in those two chapters than in much of what has come before. That said, I, too, am unclear about the last chapter. Besides providing an interesting break to end on, it also seems to sow the seeds of dreads on many fronts while also further intertwining characters. But I need to consult my notes that I have supplemented my reading with.

I had earlier suggested that Bleak Blog would make a fine blog title, and I have to admit your blog post on the character list raises another possible one: Bleak Housekeeping.

[Girl Detective]

I caught up! Feeling v. please w/self. I think the last chapter is meant to show that Mrs. Snagsby is onto Mr's secrecy. Hilarious that she deduces incorrectly that Jo is his illegitimate son. But I think also setting the scene for when she does learn of some of the Lady Dedlock shenanigans, and that she might spill the beans.

I really like Mr. George, and thought it interesting that Esther seemed "into" him, given her previous yet for the good doctor.

Bucket does seem like that Dickens rarity, the non-polar good-bad character.

Hoping Richard dies at sea and Ada finds a nice man. Mr. George, perhaps?

Reading Les Miz alongside, and had just gotten to the battle of Waterloo when Bucket name dropped Waterloo heroes to George. Weird synchronicity.

[Heideland]

Finally all caught up, just in time for the holiday break. As all these characters (2D or 3D) come and go I really find myself wishing for a character glossary. Thx V. for link to character map, but dang! missed opportunity Penguin Classics!

Plan to keep my eyes open for more of Mr. George. He's some sort of lynchpin btwn other characters, I'm sure of it. Mrs. Snagsby seems like someone ripe for exploitation, what with all she sees (or imagines she sees). I predict trouble from her. She's kind of the Dickensian Mrs. Kravitz.

[Heideland]

Oh and fair warning. Lots of plot spoilers in the character map / cheat sheet. Girl Detective you may wish to avoid for now. ;)

[Miss T]

I'd really like to follow Mr. Bucket around a bit more. And thank goodness for our break -- maybe I'll get caught up!