Montreal Dickens Fellowship Study Questions: “Dombey and Son”
Westmount Public Library
January 8, 2019 1:00-3:00
Chapters 21 - 30
- Susan Nipper with her quaint sayings is reminiscent of Mr. Pickwick’s servant Sam Weller with his “Wellerisms” which were hugely popular. Comment.
- Mr. Carker’s smile is reminiscent of the Cheshire cat’s in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”. Both characters are sly and deceptive. Do you think Carroll might have been influenced by Dickens?
- Comment on the fairy tale description of Florence as a damsel in distress as a prisoner in a castle. Dickens admired and was much admired by Hans Christian Anderson (they met in 1847!) and the two had a long correspondence, with Anderson visiting Dickens home on two occasions. (He in fact outstayed his welcome.)
- “ Strange study for a child to learn the way to a hard parent’s heart’ “ What motivates Florence to keep trying to win her father’s love?
- What do you think has happened to Uncle Sol? Might he have committed suicide?
- Comment on Dickens’s likening Mr. Dombey to a “gorgon"
- Comment on the way Dickens uses the happy family scenes at the Skettles to accentuate Florence’s loneliness and distance from her father.
- Why is Captain Cuttle so afraid of Mrs. MacStinger?
- Comment on the exchange between the two odious, shrewd, calculating and grotesque hypocrites, Mrs. Skewton and Joey Bagstock. What motivates them?
- Why is Mr. Dombey interested in Edith? Is it her stiffness and pride? Does he see winning her a sort of sign of his superiority? Is he tricked by Joey and Mrs. Skewton?
- Do you think Florence was adequately warned or given notice of her father’s remarriage? It must have come as such a shock, yet she embraces the fact and her new “mama”. Today, how do you think a parent should broach the subject with their children?
- Why does Mrs. Chick “drop” Miss Tox? Does Miss Tox react appropriately?