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Book 3, Chapter 12
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
As Fledgeby’s in his office at Pubsey and Co., he sees Jenny approaching the building. Fledgeby asks her questions about Lizzie’s location, but she avoids them. Jenny has come to see Riah. Fledgeby is also waiting for Riah and offers for Jenny to wait. Fledgeby tries to keep up the charade that he doesn’t actually own Pubsey and Co., but Jenny seems to know the truth. Just then, a new visitor arrives—a “dried gentleman” who is also looking for Riah. It turns out to be Twemlow.
Jenny and Riah get along so well because they are each outcasts in their own way (Jenny because of her poverty and physical impairments, Riah because he is a Jewish man in a Christian country). Fledgeby’s repeated denials of owning Pubsey and Co. is yet another example of a character in the novel not wanting to have to take responsibility for his own actions.
Themes
Twemlow secretly feels guilty because he was the one who intervened to stop Fledgeby from marrying Georgiana. Twemlow explains his problem: Riah has called in the principal on his debt (at Fledgeby’s instructions, although Twemlow doesn’t know that). Fledgeby says that if Twemlow can’t pay the debt, Twemlow will simply have to go to prison.
Principal for a debt is the amount that the borrower initially took out (without any interest). The fact that Twemlow needed to borrow is a sign that for all his good breeding and “old money” credentials, he might not be as wealthy as he acts.
Themes
At last, Mr. Riah returns. He says that he is just back from trying to collect a debt from the Lammles. He stresses that he isn’t the main debt holder but only acting for a superior, but Fledgeby (who is secretly that superior) tells Riah that he has a right to collect debts and doesn’t need to pretend to be working for someone else. Fledgeby pleads for Riah to show mercy on Twemlow, but his eyes signal that Riah should do the opposite, and so Riah doesn’t offer Twemlow any relief on his debt.
Fledgeby is just putting on an act. He pretends to be generous, knowing that because Riah must obey him, Riah will act like the bad guy, taking the blame for his actions. In addition to playing into Fledgeby’s prejudice against Jewish people, this arrangement also seemingly allows Fledgeby to make morally questionable business deals without being held responsible. As the novel so far has shown, however, Fledgeby’s invincibility might not last forever.
Themes
Literary Devices
Fledgeby continues to pretend to be on Twemlow’s side, making Riah look bad. After all this, Jenny gets angry with Riah, saying that he’s not a “godmother” as she thought but instead a “wicked Wolf.” Jenny fears he will sell out Lizzie.
Fledgeby’s attempts to make Riah look bad are so successful that they even scare off Riah’s good friend Jenny. Jenny’s use of fairy tale terms like “godmother” and “wicked Wolf” connects back to her vivid imagination and shows how, as much as she sometimes has to act as an adult, she is still a child.
Themes
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