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Book 2, Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Our Mutual Friend, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Society, Class, and Character
Greed and Corruption
Marriage, Adoption, and Family
Education vs. Real-World Experience
Misfits and Outcasts
Summary
Analysis
Roger spends much of his time in Limehouse Hole, where sailors and boat-makers often dwell and where people are often dishonest. He often thinks of his daughter, Pleasant Riderhood, who is 24 and works as a pawnbroker in the Hole as part of a business that her late mother started.
The relationship between Roger and Pleasant is yet another example in the book where parent and child roles are essentially swapped, with Pleasant running a legitimate business, while Roger scavenges the waters and drinks at the local tavern.
Themes
One day a man comes to visit Pleasant at her shop, asking if Roger is around. At the moment, he’s out, but Pleasant invites the man to wait. The man refuses to give many details about himself, saying that sometimes he’s a sailor, sometimes not. Eventually, Roger returns home and gets angry at Pleasant, assuming when he sees her talking to the stranger that she has been blabbing too much. He gets angrier when the stranger tries to defend Pleasant.
In Roger’s world, it’s difficult to trust strangers—partly because Roger knows how he himself might take advantage of a stranger if given the chance. Pleasant is more open with the stranger, reflecting how her more honest lifestyle allows her to be less paranoid.
Themes
The stranger asks Roger if he recognizes him, but he doesn’t. Roger offers the man some alcohol, and when he takes out a knife to open it, Roger recognizes the stranger’s knife as belonging to a man named George Radfoot. The stranger says he knew George Radfoot well, but someone killed him. When Roger accuses the stranger himself of the murder, the stranger just shrugs.
The stranger seems at first to be a dangerous figure with the knife that he carries. Earlier, a knife was a sign of Gaffer’s potential for violence, and knives suggest the roughness of life by the water. The stranger’s shrugging seems to suggest that he is used to this rough lifestyle—or at least that he wants to give that impression.
Themes
The stranger continues to be confrontational with Roger, calling him a liar for accusing Gaffer of John Harmon’s murder. The stranger wonders whether George Radfoot might have killed John. Roger tells Pleasant to go lock the door to prevent the stranger from leaving. The stranger reveals that he knows Roger and Radfoot worked together on some “dark business,” conspiring to kill an innocent man for money.
It isn’t clear at this point whether the stranger is making a threat or just trying to bring the truth to light. This passage reflects the moral gray areas of life among sailors in Limehouse Hole, where exposing the “dark business” might require some intimidation.
Themes
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The stranger says that Roger’s false accusation against Gaffer has left a stain on Gaffer’s children, Charley and Lizzie. Roger says he stopped repeating his accusation against Gaffer after Gaffer died, but this isn’t enough for the stranger: he wants Roger to sign a form declaring Gaffer’s innocence. Roger agrees. The stranger says that he plans to claim the reward for solving John’s murder and that he will “share” some of it with Roger, but the stranger’s tone of voice is full of clear disdain.
Although the stranger seems to be blackmailing Roger, his goal appears to be clearing Gaffer’s name for Charley and Lizzie’s sakes, suggesting that the stranger is ultimately acting for good reasons. The stranger’s comment about “sharing” some of the reward for John’s murder is deliberately intended to have multiple meanings. While Roger interprets this as getting a share of the money, it’s clear the stranger means that Roger will “share” in something else—perhaps even blame for committing the murder.
Themes
