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 his brother.

Analysis

Harold Skimpole and the Chancery Court have something important in common: Both seem unreal in attitude and both are quite irresponsible. Through the figure of Gridley, Dickens strengthens his criticism of Chancery. The unmerited and pathetic suffering of children, a recurring theme in much of Dickens’ fiction, is portrayed again in the children made orphans by Neckett’s death.