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Dombey and Son

Charles Dickens

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Apr 10, 2021 Werner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction, classics

Note, Oct. 13, 2022: I've just edited this review to correct a misspelled word.

I've now read this wonderful novel twice, the first time being some 50 years ago, give or take. But my appreciation of it really benefited from my taking part in a (still ongoing --I finished ahead of schedule) group read in the excellent Goodreads group Dickensians! (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ). Though I could remember the very bare bones of the plot, the main characterizations, and in several places e Note, Oct. 13, 2022: I've just edited this review to correct a misspelled word.

I've now read this wonderful novel twice, the first time being some 50 years ago, give or take. But my appreciation of it really benefited from my taking part in a (still ongoing --I finished ahead of schedule) group read in the excellent Goodreads group Dickensians! (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ). Though I could remember the very bare bones of the plot, the main characterizations, and in several places exact or nearly exact words of dialogue or narration, I could never have done this book justice in a review without the reread!

Dombey and Son, our titular firm here, is a long-established and very successful mercantile house, engaging in both domestic and foreign trade. It was established by the grandfather of our wealthy protagonist, Paul Dombey, who rose (like his father before him) from "Son" to "Dombey." As the book opens, he's exulting in the minutes-ago birth of his first son, after 10 years of marriage (he's 48, at this point), whose future he already has mapped out as following the same pattern. (He also has a daughter, Florence, but she's unwanted and unloved --as a female, she's incapable of being "Son" to his "Dombey.") From this beginning, Dickens spins his tale, keeping Dombey at the center, but deftly weaving into the story various sub-plots of characters related, connected or known to him or to his firm, and of their own connections. Always a master of complicated plotting, he ties these together adroitly.

The central moral question of this novel, as it is in several of Dickens' other works, is: what is most important in life --money, and the physical things and social position it can buy, or human relationships and human kindness? Here as always, Dickens comes down on the side of the latter. But Dombey has a lot to learn about that. The main point of suspense here, of course, is whether he actually will learn it or not; and his chances frankly don't look very good. From my earlier read, I remembered him as a proud, arrogant, emotionally cold man utterly wrapped up in his thriving business and the sense of self-importance it gives him, to the exclusion of real relationships even with his own family. But I'd forgotten just how utterly obnoxious, conceited, overbearing, self-centered, insensitive, condescending, classist and sexist a horse's posterior he actually is, so that struck me full force on this read. Few Victorians, even of the upper classes, were quite as self-absorbed, business-obsessed, indifferent to family life and devaluing of women as he is. But Dickens isn't beating a dead horse here. Not just in Victorian England, but in all times and places, the temptation to overvalue money and social prestige, to center our universe around ourselves as if we could be God (or at least make those around us treat us as if we were) and to view other humans solely in terms of their utility to us is a universal human one. By creating an exaggerated version of these traits in Dombey, Dickens lets us recognize them for what they are --and implicitly invites us to take stock of whether we recognize features of ourselves we should change. That's why this novel still speaks to human experience over 170 years after it was written.

At 878 pages (in this edition), this is a long read, demanding a pretty fair investment of time. But it's well worth it, and it held my interest throughout. The length isn't due, as some people mistakenly believe, to Dickens being paid by the word (he wasn't); rather, it's the result of his taking time to develop the story and characters in depth, and with great literary artistry. (Fiction writers are sometimes divided into "pantsers" or "plotters" --that is, those who write "by the seat of their pants," making up the story as they go along without a definite prearranged plan, vs. those who lay out the plot in detail before they start. Interestingly, in his previous works Dickens had always been the former; this is the first novel he had plotted out before starting it.) All of his inimitable features are displayed here, including his broad range of interest (encompassing all strata of society) his social consciousness, and above all his capacity for creating memorable characters, good and bad: Dombey himself, Florence, Captain Cuttle, little Paul, Walter Gay, Susan Nipper, Mr. Toots, Major Bagstock, Edith, who's one of his most compelling and complex female characters, and many others. (And he gives us here one of his most despicable villains; and no, surprisingly, it's not Dombey!) I'd also forgotten the rich leavening of humor he brings to an often somber tale (I often found myself laughing or chuckling out loud in places on this read!) and the frequent clear references to Christian faith and hope that pepper the text. His mastery of symbolism is on full display as well. Deathbed scenes were a staple feature of 19th-century fiction --as of 19th-century life; most people then died at home, without massive medical interventions that kept loved ones at arms length-- they're sneered at by modern critics, who dislike being reminded of their own mortality, but more perceptive readers recognize that these have a potential for a meaningful and serious look at ultimate realities that few other human experiences do. Nobody does deathbed scenes better than Dickens. He gives us more than one here; and at least one is among English-language literature's most powerful.

Note: I read this in the Oxford University Press hardcover edition, part of its Oxford Illustrated Dickens set. It includes an Introduction (IMO, un-illuminating, unperceptive, and patronizing) by an H. W. Garrod, whom I'm guessing was a faculty member at the university. Since it contains spoilers, I'd advise readers to do as I did, and read it (if at all) as an afterword. (The same actually goes for Dickens' own Preface.) It also includes the 40 black-and-white illustrations by Dickens' friend Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz") that graced the novel during its original serial publication in 1846-48 --a nice feature, though many of them aren't placed with the part of the text they're illustrating. ...more

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