Tuesday, January 20, 2004
In the first book of Our Mutual Friend, Dickens introduces a massive cast of characters. With so many personalities to keep track of, it is unsurprising that Dickens uses a number of techniques to reduce each character to an easy-to-remember series of traits, and that he reinforces these traits at every turn, to remind us which character is which (for example, the constant references to Mrs. Podsnap as a rocking-horse). Another, slightly more subtle technique which he often employs is giving a name to the character that is evocative of their personality. Two examples of this highlighted in the endnotes of our text are the characters of Noddy Boffin, whose name “may connote a fool or simpleton” (808) and John Rokesmith, whose last name includes a “dialect word for a smoky mist or fog” (807) and who, of course, is a somewhat shady and mysterious character.
Another fairly obvious case of Dickens using the names of characters to reinforce the personalities of the characters is the Veneerings. The Veneerings live in a house in which everything (including their baby) is “bran-new”(17). People that Mr. Veneering has just met immediately become dear old family friends, and the two of them delight in the show of putting on dinners much more than the substance of gathering people they actually know together for food and fellowship. The name Veneering reflects these tendencies very well. The term “veneer” from which it is drawn describes an “outward show to give a fair appearance” or “superficial ornamentation” according to the New American Webster Handy College Dictionary. In his descriptions of the aptly named Veneerings, Dickens very cleverly gives his readers the impression that they are so shallow, so full of “superficial ornamentation”, that if they were scratched, the reader wouldn’t even find the plain wood that lies underneath the veneer of a table, but rather nothing at all.
A more extreme example of this technique being used by Dickens is in the identification of some of the Veneerings’ dinner guests merely as “two other stuffed Buffers” (21). Later, at the wedding of Sophronia and Alfred, the “two other Buffers” (123) make another appearance, still without names of their own. The Buffers are not characters of importance or note, and so Dickens has made it even easier on himself and on his reader to remember who they are and what purpose they serve in the narrative than usual. The identification of Buffer not only describes their original purpose of being interposed “between the rest of the company and possible accidents” (21) at the Veneerings’ dinner table, but also makes for an interesting pun. A buffer, in addition to being “anything that serves to deaden the shock of striking forces” can also be “a polisher” (New American Webster Handy College Dictionary: “buffer”). This second sense of the word seems to relate directly to the Veneerings themselves. The Buffers serve to hold a place at the Veneering dinner table, and also to polish the shallow surfaces of their hosts through their actions. The continuing use of Buffers in place of a name shows that these actions are so inconsequential (the better to polish veneer with) that the characters are not worth the effort of Dickens assigning them individual names. And this is fortunate, because Buffer describes them so well, and so neatly, that the reader is never at a loss to remember who they are amidst the numerous other characters.
Another fairly obvious case of Dickens using the names of characters to reinforce the personalities of the characters is the Veneerings. The Veneerings live in a house in which everything (including their baby) is “bran-new”(17). People that Mr. Veneering has just met immediately become dear old family friends, and the two of them delight in the show of putting on dinners much more than the substance of gathering people they actually know together for food and fellowship. The name Veneering reflects these tendencies very well. The term “veneer” from which it is drawn describes an “outward show to give a fair appearance” or “superficial ornamentation” according to the New American Webster Handy College Dictionary. In his descriptions of the aptly named Veneerings, Dickens very cleverly gives his readers the impression that they are so shallow, so full of “superficial ornamentation”, that if they were scratched, the reader wouldn’t even find the plain wood that lies underneath the veneer of a table, but rather nothing at all.
A more extreme example of this technique being used by Dickens is in the identification of some of the Veneerings’ dinner guests merely as “two other stuffed Buffers” (21). Later, at the wedding of Sophronia and Alfred, the “two other Buffers” (123) make another appearance, still without names of their own. The Buffers are not characters of importance or note, and so Dickens has made it even easier on himself and on his reader to remember who they are and what purpose they serve in the narrative than usual. The identification of Buffer not only describes their original purpose of being interposed “between the rest of the company and possible accidents” (21) at the Veneerings’ dinner table, but also makes for an interesting pun. A buffer, in addition to being “anything that serves to deaden the shock of striking forces” can also be “a polisher” (New American Webster Handy College Dictionary: “buffer”). This second sense of the word seems to relate directly to the Veneerings themselves. The Buffers serve to hold a place at the Veneering dinner table, and also to polish the shallow surfaces of their hosts through their actions. The continuing use of Buffers in place of a name shows that these actions are so inconsequential (the better to polish veneer with) that the characters are not worth the effort of Dickens assigning them individual names. And this is fortunate, because Buffer describes them so well, and so neatly, that the reader is never at a loss to remember who they are amidst the numerous other characters.
