Interesting Tidbits 31-67

CHAPTER SUMMARIES 31-67

CHAPTER 31

Back in those days, people would die from any old infection, like pink eye or the common cold. They didn’t know how it spread, whether it be through touch, air, or contact with blood. When Charley gets sick, Esther offers to take care of her one-on-one not letting anyone else come in contact with her, which is all the more heroic because she will almost inevitably become sick as well. Basically, this is a strange offer to make, and it supports the theme of Duty as it pertains to Esther and her need to take care of Charley.

CHAPTER 32

Krook spontaneously combusts at the end of this chapter. This is terrible because Krook was supposed to hand over the letters Snagsby is supposed to give to Lady Dedlock over to Weevle, from whom Guppy will steal them. Back when this book came out, Dickens was mocked for his use of combustion because it seemed so improbable, but his only defense was that he thought it could happen.

CHAPTER 33

Krook, the storeowner who combusted was actually Mrs. Smallweed’s brother! This means the Smallweeds will inherit all of Krook’s property, since he has no other living relations. But in addition to the property, they will also inherit all of the documents in Krook’s office (which might include the letters).

CHAPTER 34

The Bagnets are one of the only genuine families in this novel. Mr. George goes to them for advice when Mr. Smallweed tells him his entire debt is due, and he doesn’t have the money to pay for it. They are interesting because the majority of the families we meet in Bleak House are extremely dysfunctional; this is the use of a binary opposition for functional/dysfunctional families, because since the latter is mentioned more frequently, the privileged is more important.

CHAPTER 35

When Esther goes to Boythorn’s, she meets up with Mrs. Flite and she talks about how evil the court is. Apparently, it drove her father to become an alcoholic and her sister to become a prostitute. This hits close to home for Esther because Richard Carstone seems to be going down the same path.

CHAPTER 36

Lady Dedlock reveals to Esther that she is her mother, and asks Esther to keep it a secret because she would be a disgrace if the truth was ever found out. But seriously—WEDLOCK…DEDLOCK...

CHAPTER 37

In this chapter, Richard and Mr. Skimpole show up with Richard’s new lawyer, Mr. Vholes. His name is symbolism for the rodent, which is obviously not a good thing, and it mentions that he is turning Richard against Mr. Jarndyce by feeding him false information. Basically, Mr. Vholes is sucking Richard dry, and Richard has no idea.

CHAPTER 38

The fact that Mr. Turveydrop and Mr. Jellyby get along is so uninteresting, it’s interesting. Their relationship is one of convenience, because I can’t imagine many can stand the grandness of Mr. Turveydrops display of deportment and Mr. Jellyby is too passive to handle a regular conversation, so I thought it was nice they could get along so well.

CHAPTER 39

In this chapter, we get a clear view of how the third person narrator feels about the court system. He basically says that the Court is useless because every time something is purposed to change anything substantial in the Court, they testify that lawyers, whom apparently are very accredited and respectable, will be out of work. So, the legal system is more focused on creating jobs for itself then bringing justice. This is an example of the theme Corruption of Justice.

CHAPTER 40

Another example of Corruption of Justice (wow these are everywhere) is when Mr. Rouncewell inadvertently runs against Sir Dedlock. When Sir Dedlock’s conservative party gets into trouble, they began bribing people to vote for him, since only people who owned land or a business could vote. This is a corruption of justice in the same way bribing a judge to change their decision is corruption of justice—the influence of money on those in the court system.

CHAPTER 41

Why doesn’t Tulkinghorn give away her secret right away? Instead of revealing the truth right off the bat, he says that what’s best for the family is too keep up appearances…but for how long? (The theme of Appearances)

CHAPTER 42

In the last chapter, Tulkinghorn came to tell Lady Dedlock that he knows her secret and could reveal it at any time. She asks how she can keep Rosa from being tainted because of association. At the time, it seemed odd that she should care so much about one of her maids, but I’ve never had one so who am I too judge. Anyway, in this chapter, Hortense is stalking Mr. Snagsby because she needs a job, and goes to see Tulkinghorn at Tulkinghorn’s request. He tells her to go away, but she says that if he finds her a job then she will help him bring Lady Dedlock down. Why would she be so willing to do so if she was just angry over being fired, and more than that, how does she know that Tulkinghorn wants to bring Lady Dedlock down in the first place? I think Hortense knows Lady Dedlock’s secret (or at least has a very good, if unconfirmed, idea of what it is) and that’s why she is so desperate to get back at her for firing her. This also explains why Lady Dedlock would be concerned about the fate of Rosa, because Rosa knows her secret, too.

CHAPTER 43

Jarndyce is very willing to accept the façade that Skimpole has been giving him, the whole “I don’t know anything, I’m just a simple man”, but Esther doesn’t seem to be having it now that he is starting to effect one of her friends. This is an example of the theme of Appearances, which hasn’t been talked about much, but is very present throughout the book in the characters mannerisms, actions, and the setting.

CHAPTER 44

JARNDYCE PROPOSED TO ESTHER AND SHE SAYS YES EVEN THOUGH SHE ISN’T OVER WOODCOURT. But it is strange that when she does accept, Jarndyce call her “the mistress of Bleak House”, like she’s marrying the house instead of him…

CHAPTER 45

The theme of Corruption of Justice rears its’ ugly head again in the very seams of Richards character. Mr. Vholes comes by Bleak House to let Jarndyce know Richard is going to sell his army commission to pay for his pursuit of the Jarndyce & Jarndyce case, and Mr. Jarndyce is at a loss because Richard wouldn’t take his money even if he offered. So, Esther goes to see him, but he has already sold his commission and is, basically, a hot mess. He thinks Esther coming by and Ada offering him all of her money to not sell his commission is just Jarndyce attempting to buy him off. Jeez Richard, get it together. Of course, these are all just messages that Mr. Vholes and the “innocent” Mr. Skimpole have just planted in his brain.

CHAPTER 46

Okay, like Esther I might be in love Woodcourt. He finds Jenny while taking care of poor people and actually treating them like they’re humans (weird, I know), and she tells him to run after a boy that he assumes just mugged her. Well, turns out, it was Jo! Apparently he didn’t run away, someone took him, but he is too ill to tell them who. Now, he is severely disfigured and has returned to Tom-All-Alone’s to die. The theme of Appearances, they matter!

CHAPTER 47

Jo dies, this is very sad. Apparently when the stories were coming out, people would write to Dickens asking him to kill off more small children because he did it so well. Before I read this scene, I would’ve thought that was extremely morbid, but now I get it. I’ll miss you, Jo!

CHAPTER 48

Back to Lady Dedlock and this odd Rosa-fiasco, Lady Dedlock tells Rosa that she is going to send her away, and even though Rosa doesn’t want to go, she agrees because it’s for the best. It seems that Lady Dedlock has “adopted” Rosa as a makeshift daughter since she lost Esther, and is now trying to protect one of the only people who know what really happened.

CHAPTER 49

In this chapter, the theme of Appearances shows its’ face again. In the beginning it’s just Mrs. Bagnet having a small birthday party with her family and Mr. George, when Bucket walks in, pretending to be one of Mr. Georges good friends. When they leave the party, Bucket cuffs him for the murder of Mr. Tulkinghorn. Since Appearances are such a big deal in this book, the fact that Bucket was trying to help Mr. George save face is a big deal. It means that he is a genuinely good character.

CHAPTER 50

Ada turns twenty-one, meaning she is no longer a minor and can now marry Richard, but there is something wrong with her. Esther thinks she is worried about her marrying Jarndyce, but by the end we realize that is not the issue. Maybe she no longer wishes to marry Richard?

CHAPTER 51

Well I was wrong, Ada was already married to Richard. This is a case of Duty because Ada married Richard since she thought it was her duty to help him out of trouble, meaning she gave him all her money to spend on the court case. Now, she is not coming back to Bleak House, and Vholes says that Richard owes many people a lot of money, and now Ada is caught up in that debt as well.

CHAPTER 52

Corruption of Justice is prominent in this chapter because Mr. George refuses a lawyer, since he wants to get out based on the truth, not how a lawyer might work the facts. Mr. George is obviously aware of the evil the court has brought upon so many people, especially since he watched a man die in Mrs. Flite’s arms still condemning it, but it’s still kind of a ridiculous idea. Either way, he is very happy that Mr. Jarndyce and Esther think he is innocent, and seems fairly happy in his cell.

CHAPTER 53

This chapter is the third person narrator, but he is following around detective Bucket, who seems to be close to closing the case of who killed Tulkinghorn. The evidence toward his suspect, Lady Dedlock, is as follows: Mr. George saw someone who looked an alarming amount like Esther going up to his apartment the night Mr. Tulkinghorn was killed, she was seen out walking that same night by the post man, and Bucket received a letter from that postman with the words “LADY DEDLOCK” written on it. But something isn’t right, the pieces aren’t ALL fitting together.

CHAPTER 54

HORTENSE IS THE MURDERER. I figured she would get revenge, but killing Tulkinghorn and trying to blame Lady Dedlock is kind of a round-about way of doing it…So Bucket solved the case, which doesn’t surprise me since he is amazing, and Sir Dedlock, so overcome by the events of the day, collapses in a fit while lovingly calling out Lady Dedlock’s name. Even after he found out about her secrets, he still loved his wife, which is pretty amazing and very humanizing.

CHAPTER 55

This is kind of turning into a Dedlock soap opera. In this chapter, we see the otherside of the previous events when Mr. Georges mother, Mrs. Rouncewell, comes back and asks Lady Dedlock what she knows about the murder. Then, Mr. Guppy comes and tells her that Smallweed and the Chadbands are trying to blackmail her husband to keep quiet. This causes Lady Dedlock to freak out, leave all her possessions, and run. Sadly, Sir. Dedlock finds out about all of this and still loves her, but he may never get the chance to say so!

CHAPTER 56

CHAPTER 57

In this chapter, Esther and Bucket are hunting down Lady Dedlock. While doing this, they uncover that it was actually Skimpole who tipped Bucket off to the location of Jo the night he was sick. Jeepers, I really hate that guy. Again, this is theme of Appearances, mostly because Skimpole was so good at maintaining his naïve visod, even though Esther never bought it. Even Bucket says that those who pretend to know nothing about money are probably after yours.

CHAPTER 58

This chapter was very emotional because Sir Dedlock is fighting the effects of a stroke, and at the same time, trying to discuss how his feeling for Lady Dedlock have not changed and never will. He genuinely loves his wife, but I feel like these speeches might also be used to fight of the rumors going around on the streets, after all, keeping up appearances is important.

CHAPTER 59

LADY DEDLOCK IS DEAD. She asked where the “poor people’s” cemetery was because she believed that’s where she belonged since Sir. Dedlock had apparently disowned her. Even worse, she died without knowing that her husband had actually forgiven her.

CHAPTER 60

Mrs. Flite, the crazy court lady, has added two new birds to her otherwise terrifying collection: The Wards of Jarndyce. This is also her pet name for Ada and Richard. I am predicting that something is about to break at court, and the prophetic bird names will no longer be symbolic because they will turn into reality. Well, all except Spinach, I have a feeling that’s just a coincidence.

CHAPTER 61

THEME OF APPEARANCES x10,000! In this chapter, Woodcourt tells Esther that he loves her (awwww), but Esther is engaged to Jarndyce so they can’t be together. He says the damage to her face doesn’t change how he feels about her and they promise to stay close, even though they can never be married. This supports the theme because this is a very not-superficial relationship, unlike several that have been displayed, and the fact that appearances do matter so much throughout this book means that when a circumstance arises where they don’t, it is extremely important.

CHAPTER 62

Esther, of course, feels extremely guilty over the whole “I love Woodcourt” thing, and is very kind to Jarndyce for the next few days. They set a date for the wedding. Jarndyce keeps avoiding the word wedding though, and insists on referring to it as her becoming “a mistress of Bleak House”. In my opinion, he doesn’t want this marriage to actually take place, and is trying to distance himself from it. After all, he’s just doing it so she is taken care of and doesn’t die alone.

CHAPTER 63

CHAPTER 64

Esther and Woodcourt are getting married! Apparently when Jarndyce was saying she would become the mistress of Bleak House, he was referring to the house he bought and named after Bleak House that Esther and Woodcourt would live in! He set the whole thing up as a surprise once he found out she was in love with the kind doctor, and they got married in the same month.

CHAPTER 65

After all the pain, loss and greed, the Jarndyce case closes without a resolution. All the money that was to be inherited got spent on court costs over the course of eighty years, so now it will all just disappear. This is good for one family –Ada and Richard- for about one second, then Richard dies from an illness and Ada is left to raise a child on her own. All of it is really very sad, especially because the case would never be solved, and so many people lost their lives (in more ways than one) over its’ result.

CHAPTER 66

It seems that, at the end of the chapter, the third person narrator implies that the Dedlock’s line will lose Its’ hold on society when Sir. Dedlock dies. Lady Dedlock was a very important person within that family, and was respected by many people. I am assuming the loss of her life is what is going to bring down this family, and end it’s prominence.

CHAPTER 67

The last chapter basically summarizes what happens to everyone after the book ends: Esther and Woodcourt have two girls and are happily married, Caddy and Prince have a deaf daughter and Caddy takes over the dance studio, Mrs. Jellyby has abandoned Africa and has begun trying to get women into parliament, and Ada gives birth to her son whom she names Richard Jr. and raises him in Bleak House #1. It seems as though once the Jarndyce case ended, everyone’s lives took a turn for the better. Well, everyone except Mr. Skimpole, he just died after writing an autobiography about how selfish Mr. Jarndyce was.