Summary Chapter 21 introduces Bart Smallweed’s grandparents and Bart’s twin sister, Judy; also introduced is Charley (Charlotte) Neckett, who is badly treated as a servant girl in the Smallweed household. Grandfather Smallweed receives Mr. George Rouncewell, who comes to make a payment on a high-interest loan he contracted with the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 20-21 – A New Lodger & The Smallweed FamilySummary and Analysis Chapter 19 – Moving On
Summary Analysis Here the comic and the pathetic are intermingled — little Jo providing the pathos and the Chadbands the comedy. Mr. Chadhand, whom Dickens satirizes, is one of the book’s numerous eccentrics but is also a type: He represents the loud, voluble, but empty and rather hypocritical sermonizer, a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 19 – Moving OnSummary and Analysis Chapter 18 – Lady Dedlock
Summary Later, by chance, Esther, Ada, and Mr. Jarndyce encounter Lady Dedlock in a gamekeeper’s lodge, where they have all sought shelter from a fierce thunderstorm. Hearing Lady Dedlock speak, Esther’s heart beats wildly, unexplainably: “. . . there arose before my mind innumerable pictures of myself.” Lady Dedlock offends […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 18 – Lady DedlockSummary and Analysis Chapter 17 – Esther’s Narrative
Summary Mr. Jarndyce tells Esther what he knows about her past. He had agreed to become her guardian if and when her aunt (Miss Barbary) died. The next day, Allan Woodcourt, accompanied by his mother, comes to say goodbye. Allan is bound for the Orient as a ship’s surgeon. The […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 17 – Esther’s NarrativeSummary and Analysis Chapter 16 – Tom-all-Alone’s
Summary Analysis Suspense increases as readers wonder why Lady Dedlock is so intent upon learning all that she can about the deceased Mr. Nemo. In Jo and in the vivid descriptions of his street and Nemo’s graveyard, Dickens creates a powerful image of the wretched folk of London and their […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 16 – Tom-all-Alone’sSummary and Analysis Chapter 15 – Bell Yard
Summary Mr. Gridley (a fellow boarder at Mrs. Blinder’s), a bitter, truculent “man from Shropshire,” is surprisingly kind and helpful to Neckett’s children. He tells Mr. Jarndyce and his wards the cause of his bitterness: The delay of the Chancery Court has destroyed the inheritance that belonged to him and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 15 – Bell YardSummary and Analysis Chapter 14 – Deportment
Summary Esther’s narrative continues. Embarking upon his new career, Richard leaves the Jarndyce household but remains foolishly hopeful of becoming rich from the Chancery suit. From a surprise visit by Mrs. Jellby, Esther learns that Caddy, hoping to escape from her mother’s tyranny, has become engaged to Prince Turveydrop, a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 14 – DeportmentSummary and Analysis Chapter 13 – Esther’s Narrative
Summary Esther has been attending various theatres and has noticed that Mr. Guppy follows her and always manages to have himself seen — wearing the downcast expression of a rejected suitor. Richard and Ada now realize that they are in love, but Mr. Jarndyce advises them to postpone marriage because […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 13 – Esther’s NarrativeSummary and Analysis Chapter 12 – On the Watch
Summary One evening Tulkinghorn brings news about Boythorn’s legal action against Sir Leicester. While the lawyer is there, Lady Dedlock thanks him for sending her a message about the handwriting that caught her interest earlier. When she hears about Nemo’s death, she insists on hearing the whole story. She pretends […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 12 – On the WatchSummary and Analysis Chapters 10-11 – The Law Writer & Our Dead Brother
Summary One afternoon, Mr. Tulkinghorn visits the stationery shop and asks Snagsby to identify the handwriting of certain Jarndyce and Jarndyce affidavits. Snagsby tells Tulkinghorn that the handwriting is that of a Mr. Nemo (“Nemo” is Latin for “no one”), who lives above the rag-and-bottle shop of Mr. Krook. Tulkinghorn […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 10-11 – The Law Writer & Our Dead Brother