Montreal Dickens Fellowship Study Questions: “Dombey and Son”
Westmount Public Library
March 12, 2019 1:00-3:00
Chapters 31 - 40
- How does Dickens set the tone of Mr. Dombey’s marriage to Edith? Give examples from the text.
- In Captain Cuttle’s visit to Mr. Carker, their two personalities are contrasted very effectively. Captain Cuttle is trusting, open and honest and Mr. Carker is cold, suave, cruel and deceitful. Discuss.
- Why does Edith marry Mr. Dombey after rejecting so many others and why does he marry her? Does he love her? Is he capable of loving anyone?
- Do you think Mr. Dombey might have softened toward Florence in recognizing her maturity and beauty? Why? Did he love her mother? Does she remind him of her?
- Do you think Edith’s haughty coldness as a wife is a welcome challenge to Dombey or a surprise? Did he think that by marrying her he could make her subservient like his first wife?
- Is Mr. Dombey jealous of the love and attention his wife bestows on Florence? Is Edith driving a further wedge between them?
- In Dickens’s personification of Diogenes, he is revealing his great love of animals. Discuss.
- Do you think Edith is sleeping with Dombey? “Paris was so dull and cold”. “Her dressing room was so empty and lonely”
- Why was the Dombeys’ dinner party such a failure? What would have improved it?
- What were the “Charitable Grinders”?
- Comment on Dickens’s use of mystery to keep his readers interested. Who is the dark haired convict? Who is the anonymous friend to Harriet and John Carker? Why does James Carker own a portrait of a woman who looks like Edith?
- Compare and contrast the two pairs of mother/daughters. (Mrs. Skewton and Edith, Good Mrs. Brown and Alice). Comment on how pride is a theme with both sets.
- Comment on Mrs. Skewton’s relationship with nature.
- Why does Miss Tox get reacquainted with the Toodle family? Do you like her?
- Do you think there is any hope for Edith and Dombey’s marriage? Do you like Edith?