74 pages • 2-hour read
Dombey and Son
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Chapters 31-41Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: The section of the guide references emotional abuse, gender discrimination, illness and death, including death of a child.
Chapter 31 Summary: “The Wedding”
The narrator describes how dawn peers into the cold, dark church where Dombey is to be married and recounts the preparations that the beadle and Mrs. Miff, the pew opener, are making. The narrator then describes the preparations at Dombey’s house and at Brook Street. The Dombey servants attend the wedding, along with Mr. Toots, Miss Tox, and Cousin Feenix, who has come home from Baden-Baden to give the bride away. The Major congratulates Dombey on his marriage, though Dombey thinks he is doing Edith the honor. Mr. Carker stands up with Mr. Dombey. Edith is beautiful and cold, while Florence is gentle and lovely.
The marriage takes place and there are congratulations all around, but the narrator asks, “Does Edith feel still, as on the night when she knew that Mr. Dombey would return to offer his alliance, that Carker knows her thoroughly, and reads her right, and that she is more degraded by his knowledge of her, than by aught else?” (424). Miss Tox weeps during the ceremony. Captain Cuttle, who also came as a witness, visits the memorial to Paul. The wedding party goes to Brook Street for the wedding breakfast, where Cousin Feenix makes a garbled toast. Edith shudders as Florence hugs her goodbye. Mrs. Skewton withdraws to her rooms; the servants feast. Florence returns to her home and thinks of her brother and Walter, both lost. The chapter concludes with the observation that “Night, like a giant, fills the church, from pavement to roof, and holds dominion through the silent hours” (431).
Chapter 32 Summary: “The Wooden Midshipman Goes to Pieces”
Captain Cuttle continues to worry that Mrs. MacStinger will find him and compel him to return to Brig Place. He misses Walter and polishes the status of the wooden midshipman. Toots knocks on the door and confuses the Captain for Solomon, so begins calling him Captain Gills. Toots, who has been calling on Florence, has been asked by Susan to come to the shop and find out whether the newspaper report is true that the Son and Heir, Walter’s ship, was wrecked and all souls lost. The Captain says it must be true and grieves for Walter. The Captain feels uneasy and calls at Dombey’s office to ask if Walter was sent away as a punishment, as he feared. Carker the manager is rude and dismissive. The Captain mourns.
Chapter 33 Summary: “Contrasts”
The narrator describes two homes. The first is Carker the manager’s home near Norwood. It is small, comfortable, and well-kept, but “there is something in the general air that is not well” (449). Carker has a parrot and a painting of a woman who looks like Edith.
The second home is the small but tidy cottage on the edge of town where Harriet Carker lives with her brother. Before he leaves for work, John talks with Harriet of Walter, who is on his mind. Harriet receives a visit from a gentleman who does not reveal his name but knows of John’s history. He tells Harriet he wishes to help them. The gentleman reflects on how very much of human behavior is habit. Harriet watches him walk away and thinks how many people on this road are swallowed up by London: “Food for the hospitals, the churchyards, the prisons, the river, fever, madness, vice, and death,—they passed on to the monster, roaring in the distance, and were lost” (458).
Harriet sees a woman walking on the road. She is weary and footsore. Harriet perceives that she was once beautiful but has had difficulties and invites her inside to rest. The woman has long, beautiful black hair. The woman says she was sent away as a convict but is now returning. Harriet gives her some money.
Chapter 34 Summary: “Another Mother and Daughter”
Mrs. Brown sits in a poor room with a small fire. The woman who passed by Harriet’s house comes to her door, and it takes Mrs. Brown a moment to recognize her daughter, Alice Marwood. Mrs. Brown notes that Alice is still handsome, but harder than she was before. Alice says she was treated hard as a child, was “taught too late, and taught all wrong,” and came to ruin (466). She became a criminal, was sentenced and transported, and has seen even more wickedness. But, she says, there are thousands like her to keep the law courts occupied. The narrator describes Alice as still beautiful, with “the departed radiance of the fallen angel” (467). Mrs. Brown mentions that she has seen Mr. Dombey, and she has also seen him, and cursed him. She asks Alice if she has any money and wants to spend what she got from Harriet. Alice asks about him and Mrs. Brown says he has a brother and sister. Alice realizes that Harriet is Carker the manager’s sister. She returns to the house and throws the money back at Harriet, cursing her.
Chapter 35 Summary: “The Happy Pair”
The Dombey servants anticipate the return of the newlyweds from their wedding trip. Mrs. Skewton has moved into the Dombey house. Florence hopes she will learn to win her father’s love through her new and beautiful mama. The newlyweds return. Dombey is pleased with the house and notes “all that money could do, has been done, I believe” (477). Mrs. Skewton wonders what money cannot do. Edith is scornful of all the richness, feeling that she has been bought, and that “made the blight and waste within her more complete” (478).
After dinner, Mrs. Skewton and Edith withdraw. Florence joins her father in the parlor. Without her knowing, her father watches Florence. Her gentleness reminds him of his son, and he begins to soften toward her. Then Edith comes in, looking for Florence, and Edith is completely different with Florence: soft, smiling, loving. The two women withdraw upstairs, and Dombey sits alone in the dark room. Florence and Edith talk, and Florence shares that Walter has drowned. Florence begs for Edith to teach her how to win over her father, and Edith swears that while she will love Florence and be her devoted friend, there is no one who is less qualified than she is to help her win affection from Dombey, and she never wants to speak of this again. Florence has nightmares of being lost and searching for her father, and Edith soothes her.
Chapter 36 Summary: “Housewarming”
Life in the Dombey house commences. Florence rarely speaks with her father, and Edith is cool to everyone but Florence. Florence wonders if the grand house will ever feel like a home. Dombey and Mrs. Skewton plan a party, where the guests are mainly acquaintances of Mrs. Sketwon or business associates of Dombey’s. The dining table is described as glittering and loaded with riches, but Edith is cool and completely indifferent to Dombey, and the two sets of guests have little in common. Cousin Feenix blunders by telling an uncomfortable anecdote about a rich man who bought a bride.
Additional guests arrive after the dinner. Florence tries to avoid Carker the manager. Mrs. Chick is insulted that she was not invited to the dinner and complains to her husband. She is upset that she is being “taken no notice of” (493). When everyone departs, Carker remains, and he is witness when Mr. Dombey reprimands Edith for not being more deferential to his friends. Dombey insists that she correct her conduct. Edith is astonished and humiliated that he would scold her in front of Carker. Mrs., Skewton pretends this is a small disagreement between two people in perfect accord. The shadow that fell on Dombey the night of their return seems to deepen.
Chapter 37 Summary: “More Warnings Than One”
Carker visits the next day and insists on seeing Edith. She perceives he feels a sense of superiority over her even as he insists it was painful for him to witness the exchange of the prior evening. Carker warns Edith that Florence has been neglected by her father and says that Dombey will resent if Edith shows favoritism to Florence. As he rides off, the footman notes how widely Mr. Carker is smiling. That night, Mrs. Skewton has a stroke. As she begins to recover, she demands Edith’s attention; she is especially “laudatory of herself as a most inestimable parent, and very jealous of having any rival in Edith’s regard” (505). Mrs. Skewton insists that Edith has her to thank for all her good fortune and Edith is an ungrateful child.
Chapter 38 Summary: “Miss Tox Improves an Old Acquaintance”
Miss Tox feels lonely and at a loss, so she calls on Polly Toodle, who was once connected to the family. Mr. Toodle is there, enjoying spending time with his children, when Rob visits. Rob objects that his father is suspicious of whether Rob is behaving himself. Miss Tox offers to help teach the younger Toodles and gives Rob some money, which he promises her he will save and then immediately spends, having been taught hypocrisy by his education with the Grinders.
Chapter 39 Summary: “Further Adventures of Captain Edward Cuttle, Mariner”
The year has passed since Solomon left, and Captain Cuttle contemplates opening the packet. Mr. Toots visits regularly. He wants to talk about his love for Miss Dombey, but the Captain forbids it. Rob declares he is going to work for someone else, and the Captain feels “as lonely as Robinson Crusoe” (524). Feeling he ought to open the packet with a witness, the Captain invites Bunsby to the shop. Solomon’s letter reveals that he left for the West Indies to try to get news of Walter. While they are talking, Mrs. MacStinger appears suddenly in the shop, accompanied by her offspring. She demands to know why the Captain ran away and when he is coming home. The Captain feels helpless to resist her, but Bunsby says he will take Mrs. MacStinger home. The next day, the chest the Captain left at Brig Place is delivered to him. The Captain wonders where Solomon could be now, and if he is still alive.
Chapter 40 Summary: “Domestic Relations”
Mr. Dombey ruled over his first wife as if he were a loftier being, and she allowed this. The new Mrs. Dombey, however, is as proud as Dombey, and in reaction to her defiance, he becomes even more distant and cold, unable to be moved by tenderness or humility. Her refusal to bend is humiliating for him, and he thinks, “It seemed his fate to be ever proud and powerful; ever humbled and powerless where he would be most strong” (534). He resents that Florence should win his wife’s affection when he cannot, and he still resents that Florence survived while Paul did not. Meanwhile, he grows angry toward Edith; “Her cold supreme indifference —his own unquestioned attitude usurped—stung him more than any other kind of treatment could have done; and he determined to bed her to his magnificent and stately will” (535).
One night, when Edith returns home for the evening, Dombey reproaches her for her conduct. He claims he honors her with being his wife and insists that he be deferred to and obeyed. Perceiving that she dislikes Mr. Carker, Dombey says that he will ask Carker to convey any future reprimands he deems necessary. Edith replies that she will never show him homage, nor does she intend to show him tenderness; she believes he would not value it if she did. She asks that they behave civilly to one another for the sake of Florence. Dombey, irked by this, replies that he has given her an ultimatum and expects to be obeyed.
Mrs. Skewton, Edith, and Florence go to Brighton. Mrs. Skewton continues to ail, and the Major warns that she is dying. As Edith and her mother are walking one day, they meet Mrs. Brown and Alice, whom Edith perceives as a distorted reflection of themselves. When Mrs. Brown tells Mrs. Skewton she is a good mother, Mrs. Skewton is pleased. Mrs. Brown complains of her handsome but undutiful daughter.
Chapter 41 Summary: “New Voices in the Waves”
Toots follows Florence to Brighton. One day, they call at Doctor Blimber’s house. Bitherstone, a boy who was at Mrs. Pipchin’s when Paul was there, is now at Doctor Blimber’s, but he wishes to join his parents, who live in India. Toots attempts to ask Florence if he might court her. Florence says gently that she considers him a good friend. Toots talks with Mr. Feeder, who to take over the school from Dr. Blimber one day soon, so Mr. Feeder might marry Miss Blimber. Mrs. Skewton continues to decline, and on her deathbed, Edith forgives her for her failures as a mother. Dombey and Cousin Feenix travel to Brighton to conduct the funeral. Edith is described as listening to the waves that Paul once heard, “standing there alone […] upon the margin of the unknown sea” (558).
Chapters 31-41 Analysis
These chapters emphasize and deepen the contrasts that have been set up to convey the novel’s moral and dramatic arguments. The largest emphasis is on The Alienating Effects of Pride and Ambition as Dombey and Edith demonstrate the consequences of two proud people entering into an intimate relationship. Dickens’s earlier chapters hinted that Edith and Dombey possess an equal sense of pride and indifference to the feelings of others—a similarity that attracts Dombey to Edith and forms the basis for their connection. However, the chief difference between them is that Dombey desires, indeed requires, admiration and submission from others, and Edith does not. In her refusal to show deference to him, Edith challenges Dombey’s sense of his own power, which has already been injured by his inability to prevent the death of his son. The frequent use of imagery, describing Edith as cold and hard—much like the jewels she wears—confirms her as the foil to her husband.
The coldness of the church where Edith and Dombey’s marriage takes place serves as metaphor for the lack of affection or true amity in their relationship. Dickens chooses to describe this event not through the eyes of the principal actors, but through a withdrawn, omniscient perspective that begins and closes the chapter with observations about the passage of time and the progression of light. As the dawn might indicate hope and possibility, the closure of night suggests endings and darkness. In older English churches, pews were tall, enclosed boxes with doors, and it was the pew opener’s function to unlock these pew doors, for which she could expect a tip. While the other spectators have their own concerns, the indifference of the pew opener and the rest of the church staff provides a thematic parallel to the fundamental indifference Dombey and his new wife feel for one another.
In contrast, Dickens portrays Carker’s pride as a private satisfaction in the power he holds over others. Carker has proven that he also is not a man moved by affection or sympathy—his goal is influence. Edith’s pride is hurt to think that Carker recognizes the lack of love in her marriage and despises her for it. Her resentment signals the contempt she feels for herself in accepting a loveless marriage devoid of The Redemptive Power of Affection. Alice’s subplot provides a parallel portrait of pride and contempt. Though her background has been very different from Edith’s, Alice sees herself as ruined but her pride makes her loathe to accept pity or help. Alice’s entrance into the story, which at first seems entirely coincidental, offers several connections. She reintroduces Mrs. Brown, the woman who stole Florence’s clothing the day Florence was lost in the City. She hints at past wrongdoing by Carker the manager, confirming him as an antagonist. Not least, Alice and Mrs. Brown provide a foil to Mrs. Skewton and Edith in the novel’s exploration of mother-daughter relationships, a skewed portrait that Edith recognizes when the four of them encounter one another in Brighton. The duty of a daughter to a mother, themes Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Skewton both remark on, recalls the dashed hopes of Mr. Dombey in having a son to inherit his empire.
Florence remains the embodiment of the virtues that Victorian moralists admired: selfless affection, a cheerful nature, and kindness to others. She provides the novel’s moral compass in her unwavering hope for affection. It proves a bitter irony that Florence’s hopes for a home should be dashed and she herself becomes a source of contention between her father and his new wife. Edith proves she has a soft and maternal side, evidenced in her affection to Florence, but Dombey resents Edith’s devotion to Florence as a reproach to him, underscoring his pride and narcissism. The shadow the narrator refers to as falling on Dombey foreshadows his eventual fall but also provides a metaphor for Dombey’s implacable pride, contrasting with the bright imagery by which Florence is often described.
Dickens uses contrast throughout the novel to position the characters and their environments as moral opposites. The setting of the Wooden Midshipman stands in sharp contrast to the Dombey house. Captain Cuttle offers a foil to Dombey, the head of a household becoming emptier as Walter is confirmed lost at sea and Rob leaves his post. The Captain’s fear and submission to Mrs. MacStinger provide a humorous contrast to Dombey’s need to rule supreme in his relationship. The various mysteries explored in this section—the whereabouts of Solomon; the history of Alice; why Carker the manager has a portrait of a woman who looks like Edith; and the identity of the mysterious gentleman who offers to help Harriet Carker—heightens dramatic tension as the novel progresses. The motif of the whispering waves and the sea that leads to an unknown land, expressed at the death of Mrs. Skewton, returns to the imagery used to describe the tragic death of young Paul, conveying the enormous sense of loss experienced by the bereaved.
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