Dickensians! discussion

DOMBEY AND SON: THREAD 2:





Little Paul and Floy, listening to the waves - Jessie Wilcox Smith - 1912

What a lovely illustration.

This is a list of all the chapters in this thread, beginning with Dombey and Son's chapter 11, which is the first chapter in Charles Dickens's original monthly installment 4. Clicking on each chapter will automatically link you to the summary for that chapter:

IV – January 1847 (chapters 11–13)
Chapter 11 (Message 5)
Chapter 12 (Message 38)
Chapter 13 (Message 80)

V – February 1847 (chapters 14–16)
Chapter 14 (Message 101)
Chapter 15 (Message 128)
Chapter 16 (Message 167)

VI – March 1847 (chapters 17–19)
Chapter 17 (Message 231)
Chapter 18 (Message 260)
Chapter 19 (Message 290)

Thank you so much Nisa :) You're doing a fantastic job here. It is indeed Michael!

Chapter 11:

At the beginning of the fourth installment, we follow little Paul’s progress, as he leaves Mrs. Pipchin’s charge, and starts at Dr. Blimber’s establishment.

Mrs. Pipchin’s niece Berry still slaves away for her aunt. A local grocer makes an offer of marriage for her, but Mrs. Pipchin, speaking for Berry, scornfully rejects him, which makes Berry cry for 6 weeks, and then give up on the prospect of ever escaping by marriage.

Paul is now 6 years old, is as devoted to Florence as ever, and has been with Mrs. Pipchin for nearly a year:

“By little and little Paul had grown stronger, and had become able to dispense with his carriage; though he still looked thin and delicate; and still remained the same old, quiet, dreamy child that he had been when first consigned to Mrs Pipchin’s care.”

Mr. Dombey visits Mrs. Pipchin to tell her that now Paul is stronger, it is time he began to attend school:

“instead of being behind his peers, my son ought to be before them; far before them. There is an eminence ready for him to mount upon … His way in life was clear and prepared, and marked out before he existed. The education of such a young gentleman must not be delayed.”

Yet again we see that Paul’s destiny is not his own, but his father’s. Mr. Dombey plans to send him to Doctor Blimber’s school, nearby in Brighton. They agree that it is very strictly conducted, and very expensive, facts of which they both thoroughly approve. Mr. Dombey announces to “the ogress”, that Paul will be a weekly boarder at Doctor Blimber’s school for the first half year, during which time Florence will remain at “the Castle”, so that Paul can visit on Saturdays.

Dr. Blimber’s school is a sort of hot-house of learning. He force-feeds as many facts as possible to a select few—about ten—boys, who attend his establishment in Brighton, and takes this responsibility very seriously. However, not all the boys cope well with this never-ending monotonous diet of facts. One young gentleman, Toots, seems to have had some kind of mental breakdown under the constant demands of acquiring knowledge:

“when he began to have whiskers, he left off having brains”.

The house is large, and on the sea front, but is very dull, grave, and oppressive. The only sounds to be heard are the slow ticking of the great clock in the hall, and the murmuring of boys at their incessant studies.

“The Doctor was a portly gentleman in a suit of black, with strings at his knees, and stockings below them. He had a bald head, highly polished; a deep voice; and a chin so very double, that it was a wonder how he ever managed to shave into the creases. He had likewise a pair of little eyes that were always half shut up, and a mouth that was always half expanded into a grin, as if he had, that moment, posed a boy, and were waiting to convict him from his own lips.”



Dombey and Son: The Blimbers and Mr. Feeder - Sol Eytinge - 1867

He has a wife and daughter, and an assistant, who all help in the school:

“Mrs Blimber …was not learned herself, but she pretended to be, and that did quite as well.”

His daughter Cornelia, bespectacled and serious, teaches the Classics:

“None of your live languages for Miss Blimber. They must be dead—stone dead—and then Miss Blimber dug them up like a Ghoul.”

Doctor Blimber’s assistant, Mr. Feeder, B.A., is “a kind of human barrel-organ, with a little list of tunes at which he was continually working, over and over again, without any variation”.

We are told that the school does a good job of taking any joy out of learning:

“a young gentleman usually took leave of his spirits in three weeks. He had all the cares of the world on his head in three months.”

Little Paul arrives at his new school, holding his father’s hand, but his other hand:

“was locked in that of Florence. How tight the tiny pressure of that one; and how loose and cold the other!”

Mr. Dombey states that little Paul is almost a man already, and little Paul gives him one of his strange “sly and quaint yet touching” looks.

The door is opened by a weak-minded boy. Unfortunately, because of his permanent expression, Mrs. Pipchin takes umbrage, quite sure that he is mocking her.



Paul introduced to Dr. Blimber - Harry Furniss - 1910

Little Paul is still so small that he has to be seated on a table, so that he is visible to all. Dr. Blimber introduces his wife, Mrs. Blimber, who begins to eulogise about her husband and “Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Terence, Plautus, Cicero”. He also introduces his daughter Cornelia “that fair Sexton in spectacles”, and another boy comes in. This is Toots, who is introduced by Dr. Blimber as the “head boy at the academy”. Mr. Dombey is shown upstairs, leaving little Paul watching Dr. Blimber reading, or perhaps making a pretence of reading, at arm’s length:

“There was something very awful in this manner of reading. It was such a determined, unimpassioned, inflexible, cold-blooded way of going to work. It left the Doctor’s countenance exposed to view”.



"Don’t tell me, Sir; I know better" — Fred Barnard - 1877

On his return, Mr. Dombey says he is satisfied with the arrangements, and tells Dr. Blimber that Mrs. Pipchin will visit Paul occasionally. He takes little Paul by the hand to say goodbye:

“’Good-bye, Papa’ …But it was not addressed to him. No, no. To Florence—all to Florence”.

Paul is distressed to be parted from Florence, and this makes Mr. Dombey hurt and jealous, trying once more to engage his son in conversation:

“Once more the old, old look passed rapidly across his features like a strange light. It fell on Mrs Pipchin, and extinguished itself in her black dress. That excellent ogress stepped forward to take leave and to bear off Florence, which she had long been thirsting to do.”

Florence runs back to throw her arms around her brother, with a smile of encouragement. But little Paul is again conscious of Dr. Blimber’s great clock:

“inquiring ‘how, is, my, lit, tle, friend? how, is, my, lit, tle, friend?’ as it had done before.” And so Paul wearily sits and listens to the clock. We are told with a feeling of foreboding:

“Paul sat as if he had taken life unfurnished, and the upholsterer were never coming.”

No less than six new characters today! Plus a few odd boys here and there :)

I'm glad little Paul is away from that hard-faced, pinch-faced Mrs. Pipchin. I loved him saying, in all innocence “I’m glad of that” when Mrs. Pipchin informed him that “there’s nobody like me”!

But I'm not so sure I would like to be a pupil at Dr. Blimber's hothouse with Mr. (Force)feeder! And now he is all alone, slowly being separated from his dear Floy.

It doesn't seem to me as if either of these schools will prepare their pupils for the industrial age. With their concentration on the Ancients, rote learning and and fact-stuffing, Dr. Blimber just wants to produce a crop of scholars en masse. It is yet another of Charles Dickens's schools, cramming facts, and figures; institutions which seem firmly rooted in the past.

I love Paul and Mrs. Pipchins banter! I'm going to have to re read parts of this chapter, as I found some of the phrases confusing!

This sounds like a horrid school. I'm guessing it's not unusual for that time? But it's horrid. "No matter what a young gentleman was intended to bear, Doctor Blimber made him bear to pattern, somehow or other." It sounds very cookie cutter, with no regard for the individuality of each boy.

"Shall we make a man of him?" repeated the Doctor.
"I had rather be a child," replied Paul. This breaks my heart, surely with Mr Dombey's money he could employ a private tutor for little Paul. That way he and Florence could be together at their home, with Spitfire who shows some affection to the children. I'd think Paul could get as good an education from a private tutor, and his physical and emotional health would benefit as well.

I'm still holding out hope for a big thaw of Mr Dombey's cold heart, because when it was time to leave Paul at the Blimbers' -
"He bent down over his boy and kissed him. If his sight were dimmed as he did so, by something that for a moment blurred the little face, and made it indistinct to him, his mental vision may have been, for that short time, the clearer perhaps."

Poor little Paul, all alone in that school. First a year at the awful Pipchin place, now shuffled off somewhere else. Breaks my heart.

I love the 1912 color illustration of Paul and Florence at the seaside, it's so beautiful!

I'm sad for and worried about Paul. The new school with the the "dead" languages does not seem like a place where he can thrive. We saw from the first 10 chapters that being stuck in the past does not bode well. I think he did okay at Mrs. Pipchins because Florence was there with him. But he'll only see her once a week now. She's his lifeline (or part of the "upholstery" and there isn't a kind woman at the new school to replace her.

Dickens is so clever in how he writes about Paul's life of emotional deprivation:

“Paul sat as if he had taken life unfurnished, and the upholsterer were never coming.”

Sounds ominous.

Cozy_Pug wrote: "I love the 1912 color illustration of Paul and Florence at the seaside, it's so beautiful!"

Yes, I'm sure I've never seen it before but I immediately knew it was by Jessie Wilcox Smith. It reminds me of a number of beautifully illustrated classics I read as a child that must have been her work.

"I love the 1912 color illustration of Paul and Florence at the seaside, it's so beautiful! "

It is very beautiful. It also shows how young Paul is. The little boy in that illustration doesn't belong in Mr. Blimber's school.

Michael, Cozy_Pug, Robin and Anne - The top illustration is from Dickens's Children by Jessie Willcox Smith, which was published in 1912.

The book contains 10 illustrations, from various works of Charles Dickens. We looked at the one of "Little Emily" when we were reading David Copperfield.

LINK HERE to see it on Gutenberg.

I also love the illustration at the seaside, but Florence as a blonde sort of threw me. I had her as a dark-haired girl.

The separation of the children is the most poignant part of this chapter. Not one of the adults seems to be the right kind to have so much influence on the lives of children, but perhaps Paul will thrive among the boys and find a friend. I focused in on Miss Blimber as a character who might have potential for kindness.

I too visualise Florence as dark-haired. Perhaps it is because of other illustrators, though.

Yes, Paul's entrance into the Blimber house does not bode well. Why, when Mr. Dombey and Paul awaited Doctor Blimber at the door:

'Doctor Blimber is at home, I believe?' said Mr. Dombey.
The man said yes; and as they passed in, looked at Paul as if he were a little mouse, and the house were a trap.

Mrs. Pipchin didn't like his expression either and they had a little rabble between them. That's quite the welcome! And how long will Paul be stuck in the trap?

I really hate for Paul that his father doesn't want to enjoy his growing up nor interact with him in a warm way at all. At the beginning of this chapter we see Mr. Dombey changing the verbiage of Paul from a child to a youth. And then telling Paul that he was almost a man.

Is Dickens showing Dombey's character here or is he showing us the ways of the gentry in this period? Or both?

I pictured Florence and Paul both as blonde. Not sure where I got that idea.

Lori, I'm curious about that, too - is Mr Dombey viewing Paul as almost a man because that's how it is in the Dombey family, or because that's how his class saw sons, or both.

I found the Jessie Wilcox Smith book that Jean linked above on Amazon, for the kindle. It was $1.99 and I had credits so I bought it. Beautiful illustrations - you can enlarge them on the kindle and really study all the details.

Fantastic, Cozy_Pug! I've been trying to decide which edition to get. One reviewer said their edition of it had black and white reproductions - and they were grainy too :(

Bionic Jean wrote: "Fantastic, Cozy_Pug! I've been trying to decide which edition to get. One reviewer said their edition of it had black and white reproductions - and they were grainy too :("

I would have preferred a hard copy of the book, but the kindle version is good for right now. My copy has the illustrations in color, maybe a little grainy but perfectly acceptable for free :D

Chapter 11:

I must admit I take a liking to Miss Blimber. She is well educated and intelligent. Sort of a shame all the illustrations go to the stereotype of well educated women wearing spectacles are ugly ducklings.

Dickens likes to go to this theme of how the English education system still stuck with the idea a learned person needs to read the Classics and learn Latin and Greek ill preparing many of the students for real life.

I think of Richard Carstone from "Bleak House" who had this type of education and well it was useless when he embarked on his attempt to find a career.

Many Victorian reformers recognized this and worked to reform the system to incorporate much more science and engineering.

Sara wrote: "I also love the illustration at the seaside, but Florence as a blonde sort of threw me. I had her as a dark-haired girl.
..."

The blond hair rather threw me, too. I also see Florence as a dark haired girl. LOL.
It's a lovely picture of the two of them, regardless of hair colour.

Poor Paul's story keeps getting more dismal. The poor child.
I wonder if many boys had it this harsh in Victorian times. Schools did (do?) tend to separate children from their homes and throw them to the mercy of the establishment.

I hope Paul finds a friend or two in the household.

I was cheered by the fact that Dombey leaves Florence next door. He could have taken her back home and truly separated the siblings.
I also wonder why Paul couldn't have gone to school at the Blimber's as a day student. It's just next door, after all.

I feel a bit sorry for Dombey. He has moments of jealousy and sadness, which indicate to me that he realizes that he's missing out on something. He may not be aware of what that something is but it's an inkling of a loss.
Mrs. Chick is a harder person. She hasn't had these moments; not one that I recall. She's truly hard. Of these two Dombey siblings, Dombey is the one with more feeling.

I shudder to think how these two were brought up. I wonder if we'll find out more of their history later in this read.

Anne wrote: "I'm sad for and worried about Paul. The new school with the the "dead" languages does not seem like a place where he can thrive. We saw from the first 10 chapters that being stuck in the past does ..."

Anne - I was struck by how ominous this new school feels as well and I think it has much to do with the ever present, eerie clock. Like when Dickens is first describing the Doctor's House:

"there was no sound through all the house but the ticking of a great clock in the hall, which made itself audible in the very garrets;"

Its a bit chilling I think.

And then when the Doctor finally sees Paul, the clock is part of their conversation:

‘Ha!’ said the Doctor, leaning back in his chair with his hand in his breast. ‘Now I see my little friend. How do you do, my little friend?’
The clock in the hall wouldn’t subscribe to this alteration in the form of words, but continued to repeat how, is, my, lit, tle, friend? how, is, my, lit, tle, friend?
‘Very well, I thank you, Sir,’ returned Paul, answering the clock quite as much as the Doctor.

Previously we saw Paul conversing with the sea and now with this clock. I worry this does not bode well for Paul. I know Dickens is fond of using time pieces in his works. In this scene I take the clock to signify a school that is not keeping up with the "times". Perhaps Paul too is out of step with the times.

"I know Dickens is fond of using time pieces in his works. In this scene I take the clock to signify a school that is not keeping up with the "times". Perhaps Paul too is out of step with the times."

Bridget, I completely agree about the clocks being an important sign, I just wasn't sure what the clock was telling us. But I love your line that "the school is not keeping up with the times" which means any student at that school isn't keeping up with the times. Not a good thing in this novel. The only thing that confuses me is that the clock is keeping time. But clocks can. never be ahead of time, which seems to be essential for the future of the characters.

Mr. Dombey wants the children to be separated, the only reason he lets them have a day together a week is that he feels guilty about how abruptly Mrs. Toodles disappeared from Paul’s life:

“This would wean him by degrees, Mr Dombey said; possibly with a recollection of his not having been weaned by degrees on a former occasion.”

I think Mr. Dombey wants to kill any “silly” affection Paul has, he wants a man just like him as a son.

The clock is very ominous, that is something I did remember from my first reading.

I love the last line of the chapter, “Paul sat as if he had taken life unfurnished, and the upholsterer were never coming.” Although it is rather depressing and does not bode well for Paul, it so perfectly describes a feeling of emptiness, with no hope of things getting better. Mr. Dombey's efforts to push Paul into adulthood are causing Paul to want to remain a child forever.

In this chapter Mr. Dombey shows something of his human side when he says goodbye to Paul. Unfortunately for Paul, this is not a side of himself that Mr. Dombey values.

I think Mr. Dombey wants to separate Paul from Florence because she is like a mother to Paul and he does not want his son to be a "momma's boy". He may also be a little jealous of Florence because Paul is so attached to her, but I think he would not admit that, even to himself.

Lori - (and others) "telling Paul that he was almost a man ... Is Dickens showing Dombey's character here or is he showing us the ways of the gentry in this period? Or both?"

It makes us wince, doesn't it, from our modern point of view. Of course we tell children how tall they are now, and how much they are growing up, and they love it! It makes them proud ... but we do it with love, not to instill duty, as the Victorians did.

Mr. Dombey's other, more subtle possible motivations are also picked up by France-Andrée and Katy.

Petra - "Mrs. Chick is a harder person. She hasn't had these moments; not one that I recall. She's truly hard. Of these two Dombey siblings, Dombey is the one with more feeling." Yes, I too hope it is there, deep down. We have seen no chink in Mrs. Chick's armour!

But wealthy aristocratic boys have always had a rather hard time of it, I'm afraid, as far as schooling is concerned. Mr. Dombey is not an aristocrat, but he emulates them, just as much as any of his rank would.

Desirable Schooling for Victorians:

Victorian wealthy families did not feel it was ideal to educate their children at home. Actually, it never has been a sought after choice in England. "Home schooling" is quite rare here.

A private tutor may seem the obvious choice, for those with money, from our 21st century view, but even now the aristocracy will send their male children to a public school such as Eton, or Harrow, where their peer group will only be the "cream of society", judged by class and money. The boys will then be expected to go on to Oxford or Cambridge University or join the Army if they don't make the grade academically. (This is not intended to be slur on the Army, of course, which also has many university graduates!)

The condition in prep and public schools were harsh - but this is what the Victorians thought correct! We were told that Mr. Dombey might have got a little misty-eyed when he said goodbye to little Paul, but he would have thought of this as weakness, and would have absolutely hated for it to be observed.

As Michael said, Charles Dickens often stressed the emphasis on Classicism and dead languages, in such institutions, which does not prepare them for life. This happens now too, to a certain extent, (although I wish I had learned Latin when I had the option!) but what it did do, was to admit them to a small select circle, who were the same sort of people. It's all to do with training them to be leaders of society, and ultimately leaders of the British Empire. Mr. Dombey was not being unkind to little Paul in this. He was behaving as an upright and proper English gentleman.

If we see tutors in Victorian novels, they will be for young children, before they are old enough to go to public school, (or even preparatory (prep) school, which might start as early as 4 or 5). Girls may stay at home with a tutor, but not boys, unless they are ill or very delicate. Girls may go to a ladies college later, and would then be "finished" abroad, before being debutantes (being presented to the Queen and then "coming out" into society). This started in the late 17th century and carried on, incredibly until 1958!

It's great that Bridget and Anne, and so many are picking up on Charles Dickens's inclusion of time and clocks, and giving us examples :) He really hammers it home in this novel, as if he is distilling all his concerns about the developing Industrial Age into this one small motif.

Jean, when you say prep school, do you mean college prep school?Or more for high school? The school systems confuse me sometimes!

Traditionally, English preparatory schools begin at age 7 or 8, and pre-preps take children from age 3 or 4. The main aim of English prep schools is to prepare pupils for entry to English public school (private secondary schools) at either 11 or 13.

I don't know what a "college prep school" is - we don't have those!

Oxford Colleges are part of the University. I used to live in Oxford, and once had to explain to a couple of tourists who asked where the university was, that it was all round them! All the ancient buildings they could see were different colleges, but part of the university.

Ok, that makes sense Jean! A college prep school is a alternative high school, that prepares a student for college, or university, I suppose you would call it. Thanks for your explanation, it cleared it up for me!

Thanks Jenny.

Bionic Jean wrote: "
Desirable Schooling for Victorians:


Victorian wealthy families did not feel it was ideal to educate their children at home. Actually, it never has been a sought after choice in England. "Home ..."

This is very helpful. Thank you!

Thank you for the explanation of Victorian schooling, Jean. Now it makes sense why little Paul wouldn't have studied in the Dombey home with a private tutor. Even though he is delicate/iffy health, I guess Mr Dombey would never consider a private tutor because he's kind of blind to little Paul's health issues. Or at least he's choosing not to focus on it. Having a private tutor would be openly admitting that little Paul has a weakness, which I don't think Mr Dombey can admit.

I think that's exactly right Cozy_Pug. It explains why Mr. Dombey is staying so comparatively close to Little Paul. Many parents would not see their children until the end of the school term - and not always even then. Plus they sent them a very long way away - to the other end of the country, or even Scotland. The Queen sent Prince Charles to Gordonstoun School, in Scotland (and he once referred to it as like "Colditz in kilts".)

But Mr. Dombey has chosen somewhere far enough away to be apart from home, but where he can easily get word of how things are going; a logical continuation of Mrs. Pipchin's place. Hers was like a Dame school which we talked about in Little Dorrit.

Jean and Cozy_Pug,

I seem to remember that the reason Paul was sent to Miss Pipchin's school was because the doctor (or a friend of someone?) said that what he needed for his health was to be by the ocean. The fact that the place suggested happened to be a school was by chance or at most, secondary. Or is my memory failing me?

It seems to me that even for Victorian times Paul, a 6 year old., is too young for what is expected of him. The level and amount of the coursework is too high, and there are no teachers - students have to study on their own.

Chapter 12:

This chapter follows straight on from chapter 11. Little Paul, who is now to be called “Dombey” at this strict and rigorous school, is lifted off the table. He is handed over to Blimber’s daughter, to “bring on”. The three Blimbers survey their new pupil. Miss Blimber immediately asks him:

“How much do you know of your Latin grammar?”

and is shocked to discover that at the age of six, he has been taught nothing of this. They ask who Paul’s former teacher was, and Paul tells them all about old Glubb ”a very nice old man,” who used to push his carriage, and how his teaching was all about the deep sea and sea monsters. He very much hopes that he will be able to see old Glubb again, but this meets with their disapproval.

Little Paul is uneasy with Miss Blimber, as he cannot see her eyes behind her glistening glasses. She leads him through where Mr. Feeder is droning on to a group of boys, who all seem oddly lethargic in various ways. “Dombey” is introduced to them in turn, and is alarmed at the amount of yawning that Mr. Feeder does. Miss Blimber then leads him upstairs to the top of the house, which takes quite a long time, as little Paul find it hard to mount each step. He is shown his room, which he will share with two boys, Briggs and Tozer. Paul’s bed is near a window which looks out upon the sea.



"Your father's regularly rich, ain't he?" inquired Mr. Toots - Fred Barnard - 1877

The boy called Toots seems to be kind to Paul, trying to make conversation with him. Toots is allowed to write business letters (to himself) all day, as he cannot cope any more with the forced learning. The day is marked out in passages of time. There is the great clock in the hall, which seems to keep asking how he is, and the tintinnabulation of the gong, and ends with a gong announcing dinner, and another sounding its end.

Dinner is a formal affair, although the boys are fed considerably better than they had been at Mrs. Pipchin’s. Afterwards the boy are allowed to walk for half an hour outside, on a small piece of ground behind the house:

“but nothing happened so vulgar as play”.



"Doctor Blimber's Young Gentlemen as they appeared when enjoying themselves" - Phiz (Hablot K. Browne) - 1847

Tea proves to be as polite an affair as lunch is, and afterwards:

“Paul sat in a corner wondering whether Florence was thinking of him, and what they were all about at Mrs Pipchin’s.

But there were Saturdays:

“happy Saturdays, when Florence always came at noon, and never would, in any weather, stay away, though Mrs Pipchin snarled and growled, and worried her bitterly …

It was Florence. That was all he thought of. “

Otherwise the torture of forced learning continues:

“the students went round like a mighty wheel, and the young gentlemen were always stretched upon it.”

Miss Nipper has come down from London to be with Florence. The narrator notes that Mrs. Pipchin has finally met her match with Susan Nipper! Florence wants to help Paul with his studies, and has made a note of all the books he uses at Dr. Blimber’s school. She asks Susan Nipper to buy a copy for her, of all these books which Paul uses at Blimber’s. Susan is reluctant, saying that Florence has so many books already, but is finally talked round. She is as good as her word at tracking them down.

Florence is quicker to pick things up than Paul:

“With these treasures then, after her own daily lessons were over, Florence sat down at night to track Paul’s footsteps through the thorny ways of learning; and being possessed of a naturally quick and sound capacity, and taught by that most wonderful of masters, love, it was not long before she gained upon Paul’s heels, and caught and passed him.”



"Paul's exercises" - Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)

Naturally, this is all kept a strict secret from Mrs. Pipchin. But when they see each other the next Saturday, and Florence is able to explain things in his studies to Paul that he had found puzzling, he is startled, and then delighted and grateful:

“‘Oh, Floy!’ cried her brother, ‘how I love you! How I love you, Floy!’
‘And I you, dear!’
‘Oh! I am sure of that, Floy.’“

It becomes a regular occurrence. Little Paul, as all the boys do, loses his “spirits”, and becomes even more “strange, and old, and thoughtful” than ever. He daydreams, imagining all sort of things, and is generally thought to be “odd”:

“He loved to be alone; and in those short intervals when he was not occupied with his books, liked nothing so well as wandering about the house by himself, or sitting on the stairs, listening to the great clock in the hall.

Even Toots, now his friend, finds Paul’s imaginative observations perplexing:

“Don’t you think you would rather die on a moonlight night, when the sky was quite clear, and the wind blowing, as it did last night? … what do you think it seemed to do as it moved with the waves?’… ‘It seemed to beckon,’ said the child, ‘to beckon me to come!—There she is! There she is!’””

Now Paul creeps up to his window every evening, to look for Florence. And what of Mr. Dombey? Does Paul look for him, too. Does he perhaps feel slighted?:

“Often after dark, one other figure walked alone before the Doctor’s house. He rarely joined them on the Saturdays now. He could not bear it. He would rather come unrecognised, and look up at the windows where his son was qualifying for a man; and wait, and watch, and plan, and hope.”

Once again the narrator ends the chapter by heavily portentous suggestions, about:

“the slight spare boy above, watching the waves and clouds at twilight … [at] the window of his solitary cage when birds flew by, as if he would have emulated them, and soared away!”

Paul seems like he is fading away, but thank goodness Florence is there to help with his work and especially to give him all her love.
I am so glad the Nipper is there-she should be able to handle Pipchin. Toots seems to be a good room-mate for Paul-he has nothing to prove by bossing Paul around, as is the case in other books I've read set in schools.

This chapter brought tears to my eyes. It starts out more or less okay but gets more ominous towards the end. First Paul "loses his “spirits”. then he daydreams about dying and thinks a boat on the sea is calling to him to come. We know from Jean that, for Dickens, the sea represents death.

"“Don’t you think you would rather die on a moonlight night, when the sky was quite clear, and the wind blowing, as it did last night? …

"There was a boat over there, in the full light of the moon; a boat with a sail... ‘in the full light of the moon. It went away into the distance, and what do you think it seemed to do as it moved with the waves?’.... ‘It seemed to beckon,’ ... ‘to beckon me to come!—There she is! There she is!’"

Anne wrote: "I seem to remember that the reason Paul was sent to Miss Pipchin's school was because the doctor (or a friend of someone?) said that what he needed for his health was to be by t..."

Yes, if you remember Miss Tox suggested Mrs. Pipchin's, because she had been a pupil there herself. Doctors Blimber's school is just round the corner. So for Mr. Dombey, it "ticks all the boxes", as it is time for little Paul to be sent to school.

Mr. Dombey wouldn't have countenanced either of these places, had they not been expensive establishments, and Dr. Blimber's have a reputation for producing scholars.

"It seems to me that even for Victorian times Paul, a 6 year old., is too young for what is expected of him. The level and amount of the coursework is too high, and there are no teachers - students have to study on their own."

Do you remember the list of books which Charles Dickens had read by the age of 8? It includes The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Don Quixote and quite a few more. I have seen examples of samplers stitched by 5 years olds, which many adults would find hard to complete.

The Victorians expected far more from themselves and their children than we ever do, and got exceptional results which we find hard to believe - but they paid for it in emotional terms. Toots is a case in point. He seems to have had some sort of nervous breakdown. It feels inhuman to us now.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Anne wrote: "I seem to remember that the reason Paul was sent to Miss Pipchin's school was because the doctor (or a friend of someone?) said that what he needed for his health was to be by t..."

What I meant is that the initial idea was to get Paul to the ocean and then Miss Tox said she knew of a school by the ocean. But prior to that conversation there was no discussion about Paul going away for school. But you're saying that the school ticked all the boxes for Dombey so he approved.

Anne wrote: "But you're saying that the school ticked all the boxes for Dombey so he approved ..."

Yes. Mr. Dombey was planning Paul's proper education ever since he was born. Chapter One tells us "Dombey and Son had often dealt in hides, but never in hearts. They left that fancy ware to boys and girls, and boarding-schools and books." He will have wanted to send his son to boarding school as soon as he was of an age to be accepted - and he did.

Miss Tox suggested the "ideal" one in terms of location, because as you say, of what the doctor had said, and it is suitable in inculcating the right values for the sort of gentleman Mr. Dombey requires little Paul to become.

Thank you, Jean. I forgot about that. But it makes perfect sense for Dombey to send a 6 year old boy away to school.

This was a hard chapter to read, the weight of the world is on little Paul's shoulders, and all the while the sea is beckoning to him. I feel like little Paul is going to be crushed under the weight of all this learning, and wither and be blown out to sea like a dead, dry leaf. That's gloomy, but this chapter feels gloomy to me.

"...old Glubb don't know why the sea should make me think of my Mamma that's dead...."

So we have the sea and his deceased mother on Paul's mind. And his dear sister when they were together on the weekends - "It was Florence. That was all he thought of."

"...the Doctor, in some partial confusion of his ideas, regarded the young gentlemen as if they were all Doctors, and were born grown up.". Well I can see why this school appealed to Mr Dombey, as he already views little Paul as a grown man - the Son of Dombey and Son.

"When Doctor Blimber said that he made great progress, and was naturally clever, Mr Dombey was more bent than ever on his being forced and crammed." The better Paul does in his studies, the harder they drive him. It seems as though Mr Dombey is equally responsible for little Paul's depression (?), withdrawal from the group at the school. "The solitary child lived on, surrounded by this arabesque work of his musing fancy, and no one understood him."

The only one who understands Paul is Florence - he needs to be with her all the time, not withering away alone at this school! Grrrrrrrr!

Why can't Mr Dombey bear to visit with Paul? Why does he walk past the school and gaze up at the windows? "He could not bear it." What can he not bear - that it's taking so long for Paul to become a man or that he's separated from his son? I so wish I thought Mr Dombey was genuinely missing Paul, but I'm afraid he's wishing away his childhood and ultimately his life. :(

Cozy_Pug wrote: "What can he not bear - that it's taking so long for Paul to become a man or that he's separated from his son? ..."

Oh I do hope it's not the former! I would like to think it is because he finds it difficult to contain his emotions, and remain stiff and upright ... but I fear you may be right.

I think, being from the US, I have a hard time comprehending boarding schools. It's not done much here except by the wealthy. One of my daughter's high school teachers went to boarding school. My daughter also had a friend in 6th grade, and this girl was to start 7th grade at a boarding school. The girl was so upset, she didn't want to go at all, and my daughter couldn't understand why her parents would do that. I couldn't explain it because I don't understand either. I can't imagine missing out on my child's life, growth, and experiences all those years. I still treasure the after school hours when my daughter would tell me about her day - the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly.

So I'm struggling with little Paul being sent to boarding school at the age of 6 (6!) because it's hard to relate to that Victorian mindset and because of the American culture I'm used to.

I love/hate the illustration of "Doctor Blimber's Young Gentlemen as they appeared when enjoying themselves. " I love the ironic title.

The boys are so squished together that none of them can move let alone exercise.

"He rarely joined them on the Saturdays now. He could not bear it. He would rather come unrecognised, and look up at the windows where his son was qualifying for a man; and wait, and watch, and plan, and hope.:

Dombey doesn't even visit his son anymore on Saturdays. I think the telling phrase about Dombey's feelings and why he wants to disguise himself and walk under the windows is : he would "look up at the windows where his son was qualifying for a man.; watch, plan and hope." My feeling is that he is impatient for his son to grow up and can't bear the anxiety and impatience.

Anne wrote: "I love/hate the illustration of "Doctor Blimber's Young Gentlemen as they appeared when enjoying themselves. " I love the ironic title ..."

I know! I particularly like the "rough" boys on the other side of the fence, who seem to be having much more fun :)

Dr. Blimber's young gentlemen seem to number more than 10 though. Perhaps Hablot Knight Browne did not pay close attention to the text.