Kyle’s Reviews > Bleak House > Status Update

The narrative draws to a close with a couple mild discoveries, one concerning the eternal bumbling of Mr. Guppy, the other tugs at the bit of yarn sticking out from the everlasting court case, unraveling the very fabric that kept the various levels of society and all its related personal tragedies together. Seems fitting that such damaging legality and the marital status of a foolish man are how Esther’s tale ends.

I can tell how Dickens remains in no rush to get to this novel’s conclusion, but how about a Hemingwayesque summary of the penultimate part: mother missing, lord languishes, dismal discovery. It shouldn’t really take around fifty pages to narrate this tragedy, with all the nearly-forgotten characters being thrown in to pad out the print order. Inspector Bucket suggests Mrs Snagsby watch Othello for clarification!

For all the meandering instalments, these three crisp chapters tell a succinct story of a criminal being caught (albeit with a very confusing cover story to smoke out the real murderess), a miscommunication (in the hands of a briefly returning Mr Guppy no less) and the search for a would-be criminal on the lam. Must say, when Esther’s narrative is removed, it is almost as if the story has somewhere to take readers.

It is a trying task to keep track of what Esther’s narratives, roughly a quarter of the chapters, have to do with the remaining three fourths, other than checking in with a random assortment of caricature while a murder case slowly gets solved. A similar case could be made for many of the way-too-many characters populating their own narratives but barely connecting to others such as absent Mr Boythorn and Mr Guppy.

It should be no surprise by now, more than halfway through the novel as well as close to fifty-percent through the total Dickensian output, that oddly-spoken street urchins would have such a central role to play, even in the case of Jo’s death, upon the reader’s attention. On the other hand, a conniving antagonist like Tulkinghorn for all his eloquence is only spoken of in passing, barely moving the plot forward.

It should be no surprise by now, more than halfway through the novel as well as close to fifty-percent through the total Dickensian output, that oddly-spoken street urchins would have such a central role to play, even in the case of Jo’s death, upon the reader’s attention. On the other hand, a conniving antagonist like Tulkinghorn for all his eloquence is only spoken of in passing, barely moving the plot forward.

For a character marked by the peculiar Dickensian passivity most heroines seem to have, Esther is getting things done in this instalment. Not only is she affianced to the only character of means, but she travels to London to get Richard to repent his waywardness and reunites with former flame Allan, who in turn tracks down Jo for some slangy exposition in the slum part of London affectionately called Tom-all-Alone's.

A couple of chapters for the oddly-ominously named characters to reassert their dominance over the long-suffering ones: Guppy over Richard, Tulkinghorn over Lady Dedlock, Snagsby over France and other foreigners. So much of these characters are motivated by the illusion of one's proper place in society rather than any tangible gain that even a non-entity like Sir Leicester gets vaulted up as if he's the novel's hero.

Things start to change for Esther, who suddenly meets her mother and learns there is nothing to be gained from this link to her past. It somehow makes her a more determined character as opposed to her closest friend Richard, still stubbornly seeking his share of the family fortune. Two more odd characters show signs of change as Caddy’s deportmented father-in-law widen his social circle and Mr Guppy’s circle shrinks.

Characters’ motives begin to become a little more explicit so soon after what passes for an inciting incident (howsoever very near the middle of a long-winded narrative) with vaguely familiar scowlers like Snagsby, Smallweed and Tulkinghorn turning upon more gullibly trusting persons. Meanwhile, storyteller Esther who was sidelined with a non-explosive ailment learns of plot twists, sharing her secret of a lost love.