Previous
Book 4, 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
Alfred and Sophronia Lammle pressure Boffin and Henerietty to invite them for breakfast. Sophronia tries to flatter the Boffins but finds that it’s hard to get Boffin and Henerietty to agree with each other. Boffin pays Alfred a reward for letting him know that Rokesmith was interested in Bella. Sophronia pushes her luck, asking if perhaps she could replace Bella in the Boffins’ affections, but Boffin says this “won’t do.”
Even at his height of being a miser, Boffin doesn’t succumb to Sophronia’s temptation to try to replace Bella. This suggests that unlike Wegg, who has become totally consumed by his greed, a part of the old Boffin still remains inside his miserly self.
Themes
Just then, Georgiana arrives unannounced. She’s crying because she heard that Alfred and Sophronia are ruined. She says she’s come on business. She has a necklace that she wants to sell to help with the Lammles’ debt. After she leaves, however, Boffin says they’ll make sure the necklace is given back to the Podsnaps. Sophronia agrees but asks him not to “undeceive” Georgiana, by which he means that she shouldn’t learn that her necklace has been returned or that the Lammles attempted to scam her.
Georgiana’s extreme sympathy for Alfred and Sophronia, in spite of the fact that they tricked her (although she doesn’t know that), shows her good character. While the worst characters in the novel are the ones who try to take advantage of more vulnerable people, the best ones offer kindness even to people who hurt them (for example, as Lizzie does to Gaffer). When Sophronia says she doesn’t want Boffin to “undeceive” Georgiana, it’s partly about Sophronia wanting to protect her own reputation, but it’s also about wanting to protect Georgiana’s innocence, showing that Sophronia really does care.
Themes
Alfred makes a last attempt to try to convince Boffin to sell the necklace, but it doesn’t work. Alfred and Sophronia leave, arm in arm but without exchanging a word as they walk down the street. This is the last that Boffin and Henerietty ever see of the Lammles.
In contrast to Sophronia, Alfred’s attempt to try to make Boffin sell the necklace shows that he remains shameless in his pursuit of wealth even after everything, having refused to grow like Sophronia.
Themes
