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In which Pickwick is discussed > Episodes XI-XII, Chapters 29-33

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message 1: by Jonathan (new)

Jonathan Moran | 666 comments Mod
Begins with The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton;
Pickwick and company are introduced to a couple of sawbones;
Winkle finds a rival in his pursuit of Arabella;
the next adventure of the Pickwick Club is ice-skating, in which Winkle is once again able to demonstrate his sportsman's prowess;
during which, the illustrious gentleman has a brush with death.

After which, a Mr. Jackson serves subpoenas to the Club on behalf of the benevolent folks at Dodson and Fogg;
Sam recounts the mysterious disappearance of a sausage maker;
Pickwick pays a visit to his solicitor Perker, who accompanies him to Serjeant Snubbins' busy office, whereat they meet with the brains behind Pickwick's defense in the person of the untried, but true Mr. Phunky.

Next, we find Mr. Bob Sawyer in trouble with his landlord while the Pickwick Club is en route to his Bachelor's Party; during which, a Mr. Jack Hopkins relates an incident of a child who swallowed a necklace; while the entertainment of the evening is provided by a Mr. Noddy and a Mr. Gunter, who have a spat, then kiss and make up.

Finally, Sam composes and sends a love letter to his valentine, of course, in his master's name; Mr. Weller offers his legal advise: "prove a alleybi"; then, Weller and Son crash the party of The Committee of the Brick Lane Branch of the United Grand Junction Ebenezer Temperance Association by means of dropping a certain red-nosed deputy-shepherd, in a drunken stupor, on them.

Fellow Pickwickians, place your own observations here:


message 2: by Kim (new)

Kim Joy wrote: "Is Gabriel Grubb perhaps a precursor to Ebenezer Scrooge?"

Here is a little of what I've read of both characters:

The Charles Dickens character Ebenezer Scrooge, may have been inspired by the real life of Gabriel de Graaf, a 19th century gravedigger who lived in Holland. De Graaf, a drunken curmudgeon obsessed with money, was said to have disappeared one Christmas Eve, only to emerge years later as a reformed character. While Dickens never travelled to Holland, he may have heard of de Graaf, who attributed his transformation to visions from dwarves, through his friend Hans Christian Andersen. It has been widely accepted that Scrooge was an expansion of an earlier Dickens character, Gabriel Grub, from The Pickwick Papers. Grub almost mirrored the life of his namesake in Bronkhurst, 20 miles from Arnhem, Holland. "According to local people, the real Gabriel was a terrible man, unpleasant, addicted to alcohol and violent to children. Because he was so keen on money, he even dug graves on Christmas Eve. Then he disappeared. All he left was an empty bottle of gin in the grave," Dr de Jong said. "Years later, Gabriel showed up saying he had changed after dwarves showed him a vision of a poor young child that died because nobody cared."

And here are a few other theories as to where Scrooge came from:

The now obscure English verb scrouge, meaning squeeze or press.

One school of thought is that Dickens based Scrooge's views on the poor on those of demographer and political economist Thomas Malthus.

Jemmy Wood, owner of the Gloucester Old Bank and possibly Britain’s first millionaire, was nationally renowned for his stinginess, and may have been another.

The man whom Dickens eventually mentions in his letters and who strongly resembles the character portrayed by Dickens's illustrator, John Leech, was a noted British eccentric and miser named John Elwes (1714–1789).

The character was taken from an anti-Scottish stereotype of a miser. Particularly, inspired by Ebeneezer Scroggie, who won the catering contract for the Visit of King George IV to Scotland.



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