Esther as everyone can see is a caring and loving person and that is why we know she can make friends and that everyone will like her. What puzzles me though is why does Richard want Esther to move in with him and Ada when they get married. I wonder if there is kind of a love triangle going on. I wonder if Richard has any kinds of feelings for Esther. I also wonder if Richard is trying to say that Esther would not find some one to love and when she has to move out of Jarndyce house that she would not have a place to stay? or does he mean that Ada and himself really wants their friend to live with them because of how motherly she is?
Something else that confuses me is Jo's significance in this story. We all know that Jo seems to be just a boy who is poor and gets money from a man named Nemo who was found died and from other people for giving out information. We also know that Jo is the person who shows a mysterious woman around but if Jo is such a no body (like it seems in the text) then why does his character show up so much in Bleak House. I'm wondering could Jo be related to the Jarndyce case in anyway or related to any of the more wealthy characters in the story? Jo also always claim not to know anything but he is asked about what seems like everything from his connection to Nemo to the mysterious lady's identity, but why is that? Is it because he does know everything but does not want to say anything? or does he really not know anything at all?
Another character that seem to be confusing is Richard. Richard seems not to know exactly what he really want to do with his life. He even kept changing his mind about what he wanted to study from being a doctor to being a lawyer then wanting to join the military. If Richard can not make up his mind about what he wants to do in life how do we expect him to make up his mind about his love life. Richard claims to be in love with Ada and want to marry her but I wonder if Richard will eventually change his mind about wanting to be with Ada just like he does with his future? I also wonder if Richard would change his mind about wanting Esther to move in with Ada and himself?
The last character which will be mentioned and seems confusing is Lady Deadlock. She seem to be in a loveless marriage because of how dull and unhappy she is portrayed in the book. I wonder why she would not just leave her husband so that she could end up being happier. Another thing is that it seems as if she is the woman who wants Jo to show her where Nemo was (even though it is not stated) because it just so happens that she disappears when the lady appears to Jo. Also Jo recognizes her maids clothes but not her maids rings or voice. So I'm thinking that Lady Deadlock dressed in her maids clothes to disguise herself. Jo also seen the mysterious lady's fancy rings and Lady Deadlock owns a lot of fancy jewelry including rings. What I would like to find out is if Lady Deadlock is the mysterious woman and if she is why is she so concerned about the places where Nemo lived, died, and was buried?
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Characters and Things in Bleak House Which Seem Confusing
ReplyDeleteRichard is someone who does not like to make decisions. Esther is someone who would take care of others even at the expense to her self. He knows that if she lives with them everything would always be taken care of (Esther’s house, the pace she lives, would never look like the Jellyby’s house). I don’t think he has any romantic feelings toward Esther. He has been taken care of all his life, it seems that he has never had a care in the world and does not expect to, just like Miss Flite he expects the verdict any day, and thinks that he would be taken care of when that happens. I don’t even think he really loves Ada. He seems to care a lot more about the money that would come to him as soon as the case is decided. Maybe he’s thinking why settle for half of the estate if you can have it all.
As for the subject of Jo- As we talked in class, Dickens always, or almost always, makes one of the characters in his books an orphan. Dickens likes to show different sides of society and Jo is one of them. Richard and Ada are orphans seem to have minimum amount of hardships. The money and the people in the case, specifically Jarndyce, have been taking care of virtually their every need. Esther has had a relatively okay life. Miss Flite, it seems, has had it much harder but still better than Jo. I don’t think that Jo is related to the case, if he was known to be related to the case, Jarndyce would be providing him with some income, just like he does with Miss Flite.
Lady Deadlock married for money and leaving her husband would mean leaving that money behind. She is that woman and I think that she really loved him at some point in her life. I think she chose the deadlock status and money as opposed to a life with Nemo but has never stopped loving him. She regrets her decision which is why she has never been able to find happiness in her marriage and that is why she went to find out where he lived, died and was buried.
I had this crazy idea that maybe Jo could be the Dickensian Narrator seeing as though he tells everyone he doesn't know anything but always has an answer. Other than the small ties he has to characters, its the only other way i can think that he is significant. it probably isn't true for a plethora of reasons , mainly the language that the two characters use but the idea just struck me like two minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Richard and Esther situation goes I do agree that Richard wants Esther to move in as a mother figure. He is very indecisive and its almost childish how he changes his mind. and with he and Ada's involvement in the Jarndyce case Esther will always make sure things are in order in the home.
To comment on Mr. Garcia's comment about Jo being the narrator, I don't think so. If Jo is as uneducated as they makke him out to be in the book how could he be the narrator. During class everybody stated how much they hated the Dickensian narrator because they feel like he talks down to us (the reader) and such things like that. Jo doesn't even know his name, I am not sure if he can read, he doesn't strike me as a narrator. How could Jo talk down to us(the reader) if he seems to be the lowest of the low in the book. I don't think he would if he was the narrator talk down to anybody.
ReplyDeleteI like Carlos's idea about Jo as the narrator. Of course he is not the narrator for all the reasons Katharina points out. Indeed, the Dickensian narrator, because he is omniscient, knows everything; Jo "knows nothink." But perhaps Carlos is onto something in just how widespread the significance of the Jo character is becoming. Vonyke asked us to think about his ever-increasing relevance this week. Certainly he becomes involved with more and more characters each installment and Dickens links him to the metaphors of connection/contamination with his muddiness/street sweeping and how he is always "moving on."
ReplyDeleteLady Dedlock is the most interesting character to me because she is the most mysterious one. I think it was her who went to go see Jo, because I really believe that Lady Dedlock and Nemo were lovers. She wanted to find out from Jo what places Nemo went to or lived because she probably wanted to know how and what caused her "old lover's" death.
ReplyDeleteI dont think Richard likes Esther and that is why he wants her to move in with him and Ada when thet get married. I think its because he wants Esther to be a free maid service. I dont like Richard at all because of his indecisiveness and I do agree that he might leave Ada in the future because he will probably find someone else and start showing interest to the other woman and forget all about Ada.
Lady Dedlock's role in the novel is interesting. I think her trying to find out so much about Nemo implies her trying to escape her past. The class and family she was born into is a world of a difference from the class which she occupies now and the which she married into. Perhaps in order to repress her past and repress her old identity she sees it as necessary to make sure her past remains hidden.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason Richard offers Esther the position to move in with he and Ada after they are married is to promise that she will have a financially stable future. It would be highly unlikely for Esther, having no clear sense of her origins and being born out of wedlock, to find a partner like Sir Leicester Dedlock. Her chances of marrying a man who will guarantee her with financial security "till death do them part" is very slim. Esther's best bet is to become a governess and Richard's offer assures that she will have a permanent career in his home if Richard does, in fact, inherit a profit from the Jarndyce v. Jarndyce case.
ReplyDeleteIt would be really funny if JO ends up being the Dickensian narrator, I will look forward to that. And Munasiba I agree with you about Richard. I don't like him either, he is a gold-digger.
ReplyDeletehmmmph.... The characters are not ment to be confusing, well at least i think, because i believe that dickens is trying to convine the mechanical way of how society works as a whole. We all know the rhetoric about how "one hand washes the other..." I believe each character compliments the other and how they all serve the pupose of coming into one central idea which is the narrative to Esther's life...
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