Reading 1001 discussion
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Final Questions-When it is all said and done.
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Question 2: under the circumstances, Esther did seem too perfect. A person that finds that their mother has given them up as dead even if the mother didn't know she hadn't died usually is not so understanding and forgiving.
Question 3: The mystery is what pulls all the characters together.
Question 4: interesting comment about characters. I think Dickens always has interesting names for his characters that also tell you a lot about the character.
Question 5: Both treat Esther with great respect and kindness.
Question 6: I really had nothing much against Sir Leceister. In the end I thought he was all right.
Question 9: having an illegitimate baby would be very socially shaming in these times. She might have married without love because of he shame and not feeling she deserved any happiness.
Question 11: Mr Tulkinghorn is evil and what he was doing felt like blackmail to me.
13: I spose since this is considered the best of Dickens, maybe it belongs on the list. I felt it was different and not the usual Dickens story. It might be the most complex as far as the many characters and how they all are linked. The two narrators; third person unnamed narrator and Esther has been criticized as a mistake by the author.
1. I have discussed the weather earlier, but it is again a symbol of rage and despair when Bucket and Esther pursue Lady Dedlock2. I disagree with Kristel about being forgiving of a mother who has given up a child. My mother had me adopted and I was not censorious of her decision, despite her being far less emotional on the one occasion we met, unlike Lady Dedlock.
3. There is mystery all the time and the characters just accept it. There are multiple instances of characters hinting at things without explanation and it drove me mad: Ada on her marriage; Esther on her love for Dr Woodhouse which she doesn't even admit to herself; Bucket's arrest of George although he is almost certain he is innocent; Gridley's waiting til midnight to spill the beans; Hortense's motivation and the grand-daddy of them all Tulkinghorn's collection of evidence.
4. Caddy is very like Esther, but them she used Esther as a role model. George is dependable like Dr Woodhouse, too, if that is not stretching it too far.
5. There is no passion in either relationship. They are good in the same way that Esther is good and Jardyce's lack of jealousy is unlikely.
6. Mr Boythorn's rejection by Lady Dedlock's sister without ever being told why (another mystery I forgot in the earlier answer) is rather lame, I think.
9. Illegitimacy was scorned and a fallen woman was a pariah (while men could sow wild oats with aplomb) so Lady Dedlock hid her pregnancy to maintain her place in society. Actually, by marrying Lord Dedlock, she actually raised her station. I see her as a tragic figute and not unredeemable at all.
13. I have read Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, A Christmas Carol, Martin Chuzzlewit, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations. My favourite as a teenager was A Tale of Two Cities, I constatnly re-read it and wept buckets over the ending, but I think I rather fanced Dirk Bogarde at the time! I really enjoyed Bleak House, although I am underwhelmed by the discussion. I gave up a beautiful summer's day and a New Year's Eve Party to finish the book in 2017 and now I am berating myself for doing so!
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It was a 3.5 star read for me and probably one of my least favorite Dickens I think perhaps because the beginning was really slow and then the ending was like a whirlwind of events. I will give it some thoughts and will come back and answer questions/discuss tomorrow.
Happy New Year all!
Boy am I glad that I am no longer in English literature classes. I like Dickens for the stories and scenes and caricatures, and for the fact that one can read them without ever needing to resort to tricky symbolism to understand them. Theu remind me of Shakespeare, in that you can recognize the types of characters in the story and follow the plots and subplots pretty easily. This novel even references Shapespeare directly, in the scene where Mrs. Snagsby is told to look to Othello before her jealousy and suspicion destroy her and her family.The mean, miserly bad guy who is a sort of necessary evil is a common character type in Dickens. They have backstories of sorts but not enough to make them really complex characters. In this book we have the moneylender Smallweed, whose scenes reminds me of the Merchant of Venice. In Oliver Twist it is Mr. Fagan, without whom poor Oliver would have been lost early in the story, but he's not a very nice man. In Dombey and Son Mr. Dombey's chief advosir is a snake of a man who reminded my of the scheming louse who causes all the trouble in Othello. I suppose this could work into a thesis on Shakespearean archetypes in Dickens, but a thesis blissfully symbolism free.
The way the murder and Esther's romance with Woodcourt are resolved so quickly, and the big court case too, reminds me of the way TB series wrap up their plots in a hurry when they find out they won't get funding for any more seasons. I'd imagine Dickens structured this story to be able to draw it out for as long as he could get new installments published, and maybe it could have gone on another few months if he'd had a guarantee that he could continue to sell that many more segments for publication.,
Bleak House Essay Questions
1.
Discuss how the weather in many situations in the novel reflect Dickens' idea of society. How does the fog, for example, show what Dickens thinks of mid-19th-century law courts? What do the storms, rain, snow, fog, and cold contribute to various scenarios within the book? Why does Dickens use whether to express subjective or moral states?
2.
Is Esther an emotionally neglected child? Is she complex? Is she believable? Is she the creation of a misogynistic author? Either criticize or defend Esther's character -- that is to say, the manner in which she is presented to us. Furthermore, is she a suitable narrator for Bleak House?
3.
Discuss the murder mystery within Bleak House. Does this plot serve a greater purpose than to create tension (and sell newspapers)? What elements of mystery pervade other plots of the book?
4.
Some critics of of Bleak House think that that most of the characters are signs and symbols for other ones. Krook is considered by some writers to be an underclass symbol for the Lord Chancellor, in their shared obsession with documents. The various suitors in Chancery are all like each other. Esther's doll is a parallel to the brickmaker's baby. Show some other parallels between characters which, on the surface, may not seem to be alike.
5.
In what ways are Esther's two serious suitors, Dr. Woodcourt and John Jarndyce, good for her? Do they appeal to different aspects of Esther or to the same general decency? Why does each love Esther?
6.
What is the function of the character of Mr. Boythorn? Is his railing against Sir Leceister just comic relief, or is it satire? Do you agree with his views, or are you more sympathetic to Sir Leceister? What other functions, within the plot, does Mr. Boythorn fulfill? Could the story have gone on the same without him, or is he necessary?
7.
Did you understand the significance of the property of Tom-all-Alone's? Is Tom-all-Alone's an allegory for property in Chancery, or is it an allegory for the whole of England? What is Dickens trying to say by describing this place, and what is its function within the narrative?
8.
Why do you think Dickens made Grandfather Smallweed so viciously opportunistic and almost illogically greedy? Was it simply to heighten the dramatic tension of the possession of Krook's shop, or was it to illustrate the kind of grasping business attitude that a capitalist society creates?
9.
Discuss why Honoria Barbary would hide having an illegitimate child, and marry a man she didn't love. What were the social constraints of her time that would have lead a woman to do such things? Do you consider Lady Dedlock a vain, shallow woman, who did something heartless and selfish, or do you see any redeeming qualities in her? Were the rigid social mores of the time an excuse for her actions, or is she an entirely unredeemable character? Does the loss of Captain Hawdon, and her love for him, redeem her at all?
10.
Show examples of Mrs. Snagsby's maniacal suspicion of her husband. What purpose do these episodes serve? Is Dickens merely adding them for a black comic effect, or is he commenting on the likelihood, or supposed likelihood, of adultery in Victorian marriage? Discuss the other marriages in the book, and how they are like or unlike marriages today.
11.
What do you make of Mr. Tulkinghorn? Is he only a Dickensian representative of the evils of the system, or does he have greater depth than that? Do you see any humanity in him? Does his persecution of Lady Dedlock follow from morality, selfishness or sadism? Analyze Tulkinghorn's own words, especially when he speaks to Lady Dedlock, for clues as to his motivations.
12.
Dickens is fond of noting and criticizing personal and public hypocrisy. Discuss hypocrisy in its many manifestations, from the deceptive life of Lady Dedlock to the superficial love of Guppy to other examples. What hypocrisy can you find in Esther's behavior, or in Ada's behavior regarding her marriage to Richard? Explain the types of hypocrisy you see in the novel, and how they function within it.
13. Does this book belong on the 1001 list? How many Dickens books from the list have you read? Which is the best. If you could pick only one, which would it be.