Stephen Furry
The Border of Life and Death
The magical and mysterious is not lost on Charles Dickens, a man known for following
these traits down their own rabbit holes. There are certain eccentricities that spike
everyone's imagination but most of the time they stay locked away in the mind. Dickens
is able to invoke the reader with the same kind of excitement he gets in the presence of
these qualities by providing rather interesting characters centered around strange
qualities. The characters may not have "magical" or "mysterious" in their title but there is
no leap from these titles to the work of characters like Gaffer and Mr. Venus. Dickens
fascinations led him to many unusual dark places but this is not surprising, as we see
"Our Mutual Friend" practically starts in total darkness. As readers are drawn to the dark
characters in the novel, so are they drawn into the story, and they begin to care about the
outcome. Many of the jobs described by Dickens are strange and the readers become
attracted not only to the bourgeois society but also to the contrasting strange lurking
around every corner in the novel. The possibility that many of the descriptions of these
working class people have been overblown seems inherently obvious but one can
question whether it makes sense to attach them to the mysterious and magical; and
whether or not they merely survive on the darkness surrounding the novel. Their overt
nature is unequivocally enhancing to the novel itself but Dickens may have wanted
readers to see deeper into their lives, past the cover story.
In an article written by Daniel Scoggin it is easy to see that many of the jobs used are in
answer to the current economy, serving as a critique; "Throughout Our Mutual Friend,
Dickens carefully outlines how the demands of mid-Victorian capital have successfully
naturalized the most nauseous of economies..." (Scoggin 99). Gaffer Hexam seems like a
likely candidate for being the spokesperson for the most nauseous of economies. His job,
setting the tone for a novel of murderous lust and general deceit, seems so odd to
someone reading in today's society that one often wonders how much of this could be
true. As a self described "waterman" we realize that technically Gaffer should be willing
to do anything for the public as long as it involves a boat and water. The fact that this job
would be underneath everyone else makes it the prime target for someone who has the
stomach for it. As Dickens plays with Gaffer's character, until his untimely demise, we
see a man struggling with right and wrong but this character trait can be explained also.
The qualities of Gaffer Hexam are not to be taken lightly, like he is just another character
in a novel full of quirky Victorian models. The man is increasingly distraught with the
morals regarding what he can or cannot do once a the life has passed on from a body, and
we are even opened up to this thought process as he speaks on the morality of his
thievery. A strong reason for Gaffer's increasing confusion is because often he is playing
with the afterlife, skirting a line between what he belongs to and a world he does not
know. It seems as if Dickens created a contrast to the normal though process, giving the
lowest job in the novel a description that shows its workers reaching a higher level of
thinking than anyone else. The rivermen skirt the very line of life itself and are able to
come back everyday and do it again. It seems lucky to me that Dickens is able to create
such a worldly character able to do extraordinary things because it seemed to be his own
wish to do the same in his life. Dickens often attached himself to anything outside of the
ordinary which often makes his success an underdog story. It is not hard to see that his
writing is excellent but his quirks often relate him with the outcast characters and not
with someone coming up in society. Scoggin writes, allowing us an inside look at
Dickens, that the author often found himself interested in the bodies of the dead; "We
know that on Dickens's trips to Paris he was especially captivated by the fact that that city
had a public morgue. He often visited the morgue, occasionally in the company of Wilkie
Collins, to satisfy a compelling curiosity about what he considered to be an absolute
enigma" (Scoggin 106). It is lucky that not only is Dickens able to critique the economy
while plunging deep into his own fascinations, but he is able to create a character so
interesting that readers are willing to overlook the grotesque if only for a glimpse at
someone skirting the magical afterlife.
Dickens's fascinations with death and the magical lead readers from one character to
another like dark stepping stones throughout the novels foggy storyline. A character who
makes quite the stir near the end of the novel could easily be overlooked as a creepy
Dickensian character and nothing more. Although we are introduced with Mr. Venus
rather early and with well put together descriptions it is hard to immediately see how he
will play a role in story that seems to surround characters much apart from him and with
this fact it is easy to overlook him altogether. This is yet another moment where all of
Dickens's interests are put together not only for the sake of the novel but for the audience
to consistently furrow their brow at. The term taxidermist seems to pop up in the 19th
century as the career path is recognized as something people wish to do, and it is not a
leap in assuming this would grab Dickens's attention. As someone who so freely plays
with life and death, the fact that someone "works" to bring the dead back to a semblance
of life seems like the appropriate next step. In comparison to Gaffer there is a certain love
behind Venus's eyes for his work, and we are not so surprised that by the end of the novel
he has become a hero for the lower class. Unfortunately for Venus " It was only during
the beginning of the 20th century that taxidermy really evolved into the art form we see
today" (Taxidermy Hobbyist). This man was doing what he loved and although his career
existed there were not many willing to pay for any of the services he offered. We are
presented with a character whose true love is to play with the dead and somehow Dickens
makes this character the most relatable to the audience. We forever wish for a character
in this novel to not only remain true to his love but to rise above his class as the hero he is
asked to be. We are again confronted with a character that Dickens has created out of his
own fascinations but one that even a high class reader can relate to. Of all of the
characters that can be compared to the rather quirky character of Charles Dickens, Venus
seems like the best possible candidate which is why his character seems so genuine and
real, while still allowing him to play with the mysterious. Although magical and on the
verge of becoming another spokesperson for the dead like Gaffer, Venus has a likability
often not associated with what could be deemed as grotesque.
Jenny Wren is yet another character playing with the boundaries of her own life. As
someone who has an obvious strangeness about her, Jenny accomplishes quite alot in the
novel, not always making her point with fluency but always having an opinion to share.
Jenny is a doll maker who lacks a certain control when it comes to social encounters but
uses her awkwardness to fend off those attempting to take advantage of her good nature.
The magical nature of Jenny is that someone who clearly struggles with the normal is
able to do such amazing things with not only her creations but with her relationships. She
is a social dark horse in this novel, consistently clinging to her strangeness up until the
end but unlike the other characters she seems less defined by her economic status in
society. Venus and Gaffer always struggled to make it up the ladder to a better life while
Jenny, although her age (which is debated) may be the reason for this, seems quite
content with her place in society. Much like Venus, Jenny is a woman of creation,
bringing to life something she sees in her mind. The life and death not only in people but
in animals and dolls is characterized so well in the novel that it makes it hard to dig out at
times. Jenny, although kind hearted, is a strange girl and that allows readers to start to
interpret her attributes in different fashions and I do not believe this is accidental on the
part of Dickens. At the time of writing Our Mutual Friend there is no way for Dickens to
realize how many people would be interested in his life outside of the words on the paper.
He needed to provide many likenesses for not only himself but for others whom he
wished to acknowledge. I think Jenny is one of the easier characters to relate to because
doll making seems so innocent while still playing with a theoretical line of supreme being
and creation. She is able to enhance his ever-growing idea that the supernatural and
magical exists in multiple areas of our society and that his fascinations with these areas
have led him to quite an amazing social critique. Jenny's role here is also to play with the
middle ground between what society would view as normal and what people such as
Gaffer represent.
Bibliography
Scoggin, Daniel P. "A Speculative Resurrection: Death, Money, and the Vampiric
Economy of Our Mutual Friend." Victorian Literature and Culture (2002): 99125. Print.
"Victorian Taxidermy." Victorian Taxidermy. Taxidermy Hobbyist, n.d. Web. 9 Apr.
2013.