Montreal Dickens Fellowship Study Questions: “Our Mutual Friend"
January 6, 2026
Book II Chapters 1-8
- What are Dickens’ objections to the “ragged” schools, like the one Charley Hexam attends?
- Comment on Dickens’ use of names as symbols when he changes Fanny Cleaver to Jenny Wren.
- What do you think of Veneering as a parliamentary candidate?
- The Lammles dinner for Georgiana and Fledgeby is written like a play being acted out. Point out examples.
- Comment on Dickens’ treatment of Mr. Riah in terms of anti-Semitism.
- What does Jenny mean by the phrase: “Come up and be dead”?
- Do you think Bradley Headstone is justified in his hatred of Eugene? Do you like Eugene?
- Silas Wegg and Mr. Venus are such dark characters, one nasty and legless, the other depressed and somewhat ghoulish. They vow to hunt for treasure in the mounds of refuse, a grimy, grisly task and yet they provide some comic relief to the themes and imagery of the novel. Comment.
- Discuss Bella’s relationship to her father. Is she a sympathetic character? Is he? Are the Wilfers a realistic family?