Published like Charles Dickens’s other works, first as a serial from May 1864 through November 1865, Our Mutual Friend reflects the author’s traditional multiple plots. It would be Dickens’s final completed work, and some critics see it as the culmination of the author’s dark vision of his own culture, corrupted by greed and materialism. Others disagree, noting that those of questionable character who are redeemed by love in the novel are allowed a chance to enjoy a new life, unlike other Dickens characters, such as Sydney Carton in Dickens’s previous novel, A Tale of Two Cities (1859).

Additional disagreement focuses on the lack of any grand scheme to the story, or any overriding theme. That criticism is countered by Jane Smiley’s observation that the book represents “one of the greatest examples of sustained perfection of style in the English language.”

The novel focuses on John Harmon, heir to an English family fortune made in “dust” trade—an English euphemism for the sale of bat guano—but believed suspiciously drowned. Harmon returns to England following a long absence, doing nothing to discredit the story of his demise, as he wishes to observe incognito Bella Wilfer, the woman his father’s will demands that he marry before he may take possession of his inheritance.

He uses two aliases, Julius Handford and John Rokesmith, and as Rokesmith is secretary for Mr. Boffin. The well-to-do Boffin also possesses aliases, including Noddy and the Golden Dustman, as he also is a dust merchant. Rokesmith will inherit Harmon’s property should the young heir choose not to wed Bella. Boffin and his wife serve as Bella’s guardians of sorts, as Boffin orders a lawyer named Mortimer Lightwood to sponsor a reward for information regarding Harmon’s supposed death.

As Boffin’s employee, Harmon/Rokesmith falls in love with Bella, but she refuses his proposal of marriage. Hoping to change her mind, Boffin implicates Harmon as untrustworthy and discharges him, upsetting Bella, who decides to return to her parents’ home and accept her common lot in life. She eventually also accepts Harmon’s bid for marriage and quickly learns his true identity as heir to a fortune.

In a subplot allowing Dickens to present his usual moral tale, Lizzie Hexam is loved by Bradley Headstone, who serves as master of the school attended by her brother Charley. Their father, Gaffer Hexam, supports his family by pulling dead bodies from the Thames, and he is accused of murdering Harmon. Lizzie does not love Headstone, instead fixing her affections on the unethical barrister Eugene Wrayburn, an undesirable friend of Mortimer Lightwood.

Headstone lives up to the symbolism of his surname when he attempts to kill Wrayburn in order to remove competition for Lizzie’s affection. Lizzie cares for Wrayburn, curing his evil with her kindness, and she wins his love. They are married, while the would-be murderer Headstone is blackmailed by a villain appropriately named Rogue Riderhood. The two engage in physical combat that leads to both of their deaths, while Hexam is cleared of murder charges and Harmon’s identity is revealed.

Bibliography
Cotsell, Michael. Companion to Our Mutual Friend. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1986.
Fulweiler, Howard W. “‘A Dismal Swamp’: Darwin, Design, and Evolution in Our Mutual Friend.” Nineteenth-Century Literature 49, no. 1 (June 1994): 50–73.
Smiley, Jane. Charles Dickens. New York: Penguin Putnam, 2002.

Categories: British Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis

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