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Book 3, Chapter 16
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
Alfred and Sophronia’s friends are shocked to hear about their financial problems, particularly the Veneerings. At a dinner, Sophronia takes Twemlow aside and tells him that, although she asked him to interfere before, she now wants him to maintain “neutrality” if he notices the Lammles getting up to any new schemes. Sophronia learns that Twemlow is in a similar situation to her: he also owes a lot of money. Although Twemlow believes his debt is to Riah and that Fledgeby advocated for leniency for him, Sophronia tells him the truth: that Fledgeby owns the debt.
This dinner party suggests that as much as many characters have their own private financial problems, they are still surprised to learn that others are often in a similar position. This draws attention to how artificial life is among the London upper class, where people buy into the surface trappings of wealth, not realizing the more precarious financial situation underneath. Continuing with this theme of accepting the superficial, Twemlow buys Fledgeby’s act of generosity, not realizing that in fact, Fledgeby is the one who betrayed him.
Themes
Meanwhile at the dinner, the others like the Veneerings, Mr. Podsnap, Mrs. Podsnap, and Lady Tippins all marvel at how much debt the Lammles racked up. They blame the Lammles for living beyond their means. Eugene is one of the few people there who seems skeptical of what everyone else is saying. Just then, he gets a message that someone is waiting to meet him. It turns out to be Mr. Dolls, Jenny’s father. He claims to know where to find Lizzie.
Eugene’s skepticism of the conversations he hears around him shows that he has begun to see through the superficial exterior of upper-class London life. He realizes that, while the Lammles weren’t perfect people, they nevertheless did not fully bring their collapse on themselves—it was a result of bad luck and Fledgeby’s greed.
Themes
