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Book 2, Chapter 1
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
Jenny and Lizzie talk when they’re alone again. Jenny (whose real name was Fanny Cleaver but who chose Jenny Wren as her new name) doesn’t like Charley but thought Headstone seemed like a gentleman. Jenny talks about one day having a husband who can do the things for her that Lizzie currently does, like helping with her work, but Lizzie promises she has no immediate plans to leave Jenny.
“Cleave” can mean to stick to something, and so “Cleaver” reflects Jenny’s unwavering loyalty to people like Lizzie who treat her well, which as this passage notes, is almost on par with the loyalty a spouse would give. Her chosen name “Wren,” however, suggests yearning for independence and freedom, ideas commonly associated with birds and flight.
Themes
Just then, Eugene comes by to visit Lizzie and Jenny. He tells Lizzie that he’s had someone watching Roger, as he promised he would, but that he has no news beyond that. He asks if Lizzie has considered his offer to act as a tutor, but Lizzie rejects him. Eugene accuses her of “false pride.” Eugene gives up and begins to talk to Jenny about her work. Jenny mentions how she always listens to birds and smells flowers when she works (seemingly imagining them, because there aren’t many birds or flowers around where she lives). Jenny eventually starts hinting that Eugene should leave because her “child” is arriving soon. Lizzie secretly mouths to Eugene that the “child” is actually Jenny’s father.
Both Headstone and Eugene offered to be Lizzie’s tutor, although Eugene’s offer has not been previously mentioned. It seems clear, based on how negatively he reacts to rejection, that Eugene’s offer also comes from a place of selfishness, although his ability later in this passage to communicate on equal terms with Jenny shows that Eugene is not just a copy of the arrogant Headstone. The birds and flowers that Jenny sees and smells probably aren’t real but reflect her optimistic personality and active imagination.
Themes
Literary Devices
Jenny’s father, a pitiful-looking drunk man, comes back and greets Jenny as his beautiful child. Jenny scolds him, saying she knows what he’s been up to. She demands for him to show her the money in his pockets, but his pockets are mostly empty. An angry Jenny takes the little money there is, then tells him to go to bed. Lizzie feels pity seeing Jenny’s situation.
Jenny is more responsible with money than her own father, showing how her father’s irresponsibility has forced her to act like an adult well before her time. Jenny’s father’s failings as a parent resemble the same failings of Gaffer and Roger as parents. These men are all to some extent victims of bad luck with the circumstances they were born into, but they also make things worse through their decisions.
Themes
