Summary Of Her Dealings With The Jellyby Family

In her dealings with the Jellyby family, Esther observes what could be written off as simply a dysfunctional family. With a mother figure who has her eyes firmly and narrowly set upon the distant shores of Africa and her charity work there, Dickens creates a vital representation of the problems of telescopic philanthropy. Mrs. Jellyby’s husband and children are all but ignored. While he could have entrusted the Jellyby family fully to his third-person narrator, Dickens instead uses Esther as the vessel through which their story is primarily told. When Esther and Caddy Jellyby visit Mrs. Jellyby, after gaining Mr. Turveydrop’s blessing for Caddy’s engagement to Prince, Esther wishes an absent Mr. Jellyby well. In reply, Mrs. Jellyby says,†¦show more content†¦This is not the first time she does this, nor is it the last. In Chapter Six, â€Å"Quiet at Home,† Dickens gives us another example of her more important purpose in the novel: [Jarndyce] asked me what I thought of Mrs. Jellyby. She exerts herself very much for Africa, sir, I said. Nobly! returned Mr. Jarndyce. But you answer like Ada. Whom I had not heard. You all think something else, I see. We rather thought, said I, glancing at Richard and Ada, who entreated me with their eyes to speak, that perhaps she was a little unmindful of her home. Floored! cried Mr. Jarndyce. I was rather alarmed again. Well! I want to know your real thoughts, my dear. I may have sent you there on purpose. We thought that, perhaps, said I, hesitating, it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them. (Norton 60-61). It would be difficult to find a more direct statement regarding Dickens’ personal opinions about foreign policy and domestic charity in relation to misguided overseas philanthropy. While he presents situations surrounding Mrs. Jellyby and Mrs. Pardiggle to convey this thematic message, as relayed through both his omniscient narrator and Esther’s observations, this is the only time he uses a character to make such an