Dombey and Son: Difference between revisions

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The story begins with Paul Dombey, a wealthy middle-aged businessman, exulting over the birth of his newborn son. Wrapped up in his ambitious plans for this future heir to the family business, he nearly fails to notice that the baby's mother is dying, with only their daughter Florence, to comfort her. By the time he does notice, it's too late, and Florence - seven years old and already a better human being than her father will ever be - begins to make him uncomfortable, since he misreads her shyness as fear and disgust with his emotionally stunted condition. As Paul Jr. grows into a frail, eccentric child who bonds more closely with his older sister and their lower-class nurse than with his father, {{spoiler|then dies as a child without ever having realized his potential as the heir to Dombey and Son}}, Mr. Dombey enters into a strange one-sided competition with Florence over Paul's love, and later, the attention of his new wife Edith. The more he "loses", at least in his own view, the more twisted he becomes. Only after losing everything he valued will he begin to understand that all he really needed has been right there all along.

==== Tropes: ====

* [[Affectionate Nickname]]: Captain Cuttle has a rich collection of them for Florence: "Heart's Delight", "Lady-lass", "Beauty", "Diamond" etc.

* [[Armor-Piercing Question]]: Paul to Mr. Dombey; it continues to haunt him throughout the book.

{{quote| "Papa, what is money?"}}

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: James Carker "the Manager". John Carker "the Junior", his brother, used to be one until he was caught; now he is [[The Atoner]].

* [[The Dandy]]: Mr. Toots praises his tailors, Burgess & Co, at every opportunity.

* [[Dragon-in-Chief]]: James Carker holds the real power in the firm.

* [[Dude, Not Funny]]: In-universe. At Edith's and Mr. Dombey's wedding reception, her cousin Feenix tells a joke about a "bargain" of a marriage between a rich man and a beautiful emotionless woman. Cue the awkward silence.

* [[Heir Club for Men]]: Mr. Dombey has ignored Florence since her birth because she's not the male heir he wanted; what little time and affection he can spare goes exclusively to Paul.

* [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]]: Mrs. Mac Stinger's son. It's a [[Running Gag]] for her to spank him until he's blue in the face and carry him into the street to cool off his bottom on the pavement.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: "We should all be more natural!" exclaims Mrs. Skewton - slathered in makeup, dressed fifty years younger than she is, and languishing in a wheelchair when she's perfectly capable of walking.

* [[I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship]]: {{spoiler|Walter's reason for hesitating to tell Florence how he feels. He only admits because his uneasiness is making Florence worry that he no longer likes her.}}

* [[Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated]]: {{spoiler|Walter is presumed dead at sea, but comes back toward the end of the novel.}}

* [[Shadow Archetype]]: Mrs. Skewton and Edith have their heavily lampshaded counterparts in Mrs. Marwood (alias Good Mrs. Brown, in a shout-out to ''[[Fanny Hill]]'') and her daughter Alice.

* [[Society Is to Blame]]: In one of his long [[Author Tract|Author Tracts]], Dickens argues that you might as well expect "figs to grow from nettles" as virtuous people in a physically and spiritually polluted environment like the slums of Victorian London.

** Specifically, an abusive and inept charity school is blamed for turning Rob Toodle into a juvenile delinquent.

* [["Take That!" Kiss]]: {{spoiler|One of these from Mr. Dombey on their wedding anniversary finally pushes Edith into leaving him.}}

* [[Third Person Person]]: Major Joseph Bagstock constantly refers to himself as "Josh", "old Joe", "Joey B." etc.