At The Capitol

It has been very hard, these past few weeks, to think of anything without also thinking of the events in Madison and particularly at the capitol. Everyone is talking about it. In fact, it is often all that anyone does talk about. So it is not surprising that a cold, but cheerful Sunday morning would bring about a discussion of Our Mutual Friend and The Capitol.

In fact, the topic of conversation was in fact 'What would they be doing at the capitol?'

It all start with a connection between Podsnappery and certain government types. Then Veneering was brought into it on their side. After some time, it was decided that Rokesmith was the 14 Democrat senators. There was a strong, strong connection between pretending to be dead and running off to Illinois, we thought. (We being Melissa, your truly, and Zoe)

So, now that the government was all figured out-what was everyone else up to?

Some people were easy. Eugene and Mortimer are camped out in the capitol, sleeping bags, and maybe even a tent. Jenny Wren and Lizzie are sitting on a wall somewhere outside. Eugene keeps running back and forth between Mortimer and Lizzie because he wants to be inside, protesting, but he wants to make sure Lizzie is okay-and back and forth and back and forth.

Mortimer has a ukulele.

Blight is sitting near Mortimer, going over a printed-out copy of The Bill with several highlighters and a pencil, trying to figure out exactly what is in it.

Bradley Headstone is really supposed to be protesting, but he's hovering *coughstalkingcough* around Lizzie, in the crowd just a little ways away. Eugene is perfectly aware of this and gives him a cheeky wave every now and then. Charley Hexam isn't bothering with this business, and is nowhere to be found. But Miss Peecher and all her students are there, in a little group, and each of them has a very neatly handwritten sign of protestation-and with very lovely penmanship on the B in 'Bill'.

Since there isn't a poorhouse around right now to worry about, Betty Higden is protesting with all her might for workers rights. She is constantly at the megaphone, giving inspirational speeches.

As for the shadier characters, Silas Wegg is sitting on a bench somewhere, glaring at people, with no real purpose but glaring. Rogue Riderhood is skulking about, but Pleasant has set up shop, selling pre-made signs and lots of t-shirts.

The Boffins are strolling around, perhaps a little ways away from the crowds, but very certainly supporting them. Mrs. Wilfer is protesting. Loudly. She has dragged Lavinia and George Sampson there with her. But Bella and R. Wilfer are sitting at a little cafe on state street, chatting, and calling in to Ian's pizza every now and then to buy pizza for protesters. Mr. Boffin has given Bella spending money for this very purpose.

Speaking of pizza, Venus is delivering it, somberly, and hoping to catch a glimpse of Pleasant.

If we have forgotten any characters, we apologize. There are a few smaller ones-Lady Tippins is a tea partier, and so is Aunt Medusa-but Aunt Medusa is pretending not to be because she doesn't like Lady Tippins. But they aren't at the protest for very long.

Hoping that this was at the very least, amusing.

Interesting Dickens stuff.

Here is a website that has a few interesting facts about Dickens,

http://www.neatorama.com/2008/05/26/8-odd-facts-about-charles-dickens/

Crossword!

Crossword Puzzle: Fill in the Blank-Lines from acts 1+2

http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2011.02/1718/17182255.600.html

The Dead March in Saul

I have been exceedingly curious these past few weeks, as to find out what tune is so frequently referenced in connection with Mrs. Wilfer in Our Mutual Friend. What sort of music must it be that she lives her life to the tune of?

A quick search on the internet remedied my curiosity. While not quite as ominous as I was hoping for, I can definitely see why Bella and R. Wilfer associate it with Mrs. Wilfer! Slow, steady, and rather depressing. However, the tune is quite defined, and shouldn't be too hard to remember for certain members of the Wilfer family who must hum it.

For your listening convenience I have linked to a nice recording I found on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12tvIp8enpA

It may be just me, but I felt that this would also be an appropriate wedding march for the thankfully averted marriage of Georgiana and Fledgeby. I could also see it playing softly in the background during Mrs. Wilfer's speech at the end of section 17 of Act I.

I hope this is enlightening for anyone wondering about this particular piece of music. Also-I expect you to all be able to hum the general theme by this weekend. Get listening!

Specials this Weekend

If These times don't work for you please call me(Rebecca) and let us know.

SATURDAY 2/12(10, 15, 17, 18, 22, 30)
4-6 Sarah, Jacob, Katie, Alex, Emmaline, Michael Fl, Greer, Zoe, Isabel, Arwen, and Nick

SUNDAY 2/13(4, 6, 7, 27 w/o Nick)
4-5 Melissa, Greer, Ruthanne, Jacob, Alaina

Update from New York

This Saturday, I had the honor to attend The Friends of Dickens New York celebration of "our mutual friend's" (that would be C. D. of course!) 199th birthday.
What an energetic, pleasant, welcoming bunch! Their book of the year is "Tale of Two Cities" so we were treated to a short dramatic reading of the confrontation between Madame Defarge and Miss Pross. I happened to be the youngest person in attendance and most far afield, but everyone at our table was really nice to talk to--the party was a luncheon at an Irish bar. They even forgave my confusion about not having money for the meal--I had read on their website that meetings were 'free and open to the public'--and kindly offered to pay for me and insisted that I join them for lunch. and tea. and strawberry shortcake. so nice!

The highlight was hearing Lillian Nayder talk about her book "The Other Dickens", a biography of Catherine Hogarth, or Charles Dickens' wife. I'll confess I didn't know who she was, but I am very eager to read a copy of her book. She was so enthusiastic, describing the ways in which Charles slighted Catherine (he was not so nice, apparently) and had clearly researched their lives throughly. Nayder described some accounts of dinner parties the Dickens' attended and seemed also as if she had been a guest herself. How does one research such a book? Well Nayder's description makes me envy historic research if it involves traveling to an amazing city like London, spending all day in a historic library, and reading a Victorian diary. Sounds pretty good indeed.

It was great to spend an afternoon in the company of fellow Dickens enthusiasts since I couldn't be at the run through with my usual cohort. Some even dressed up in period clothing! The guy who dressed as Sydney Carton was fantastic, and he even wore a red string around his neck--you know, because of Carton's encounter with a guillotine...awesome.

Where are they going?

While an appropriate answer might be a hearty cry of 'shares!' or 'on the river Thames!', it might be worth it to go a little deeper into this question. You all know many of the characters of Our Mutual Friend, and now that we have a pretty good grounding in what they are like and what they do, the next question to be pondered is where are they going?

Luckily for us, there's a book!

And I am going to enlighten you as to some of the things that end up happening to the characters in this story. Some you will see coming. Some you might already have an idea of from Act II, and you will definitely start to see these things taking shape once we start reading through Act III. But for now, I will try to explain just some of the intriguing endings for some of these characters.

First and foremost is not probably all that surprising. John and Bella get married, quite before the end in fact, and have a baby soon after. However, she still doesn't know he's John Harmon. That is revealed later, which brings me to another thing. It turns out that Mrs. Boffin (and Mr. Boffin soon after) realizes that John Rokesmith is John Harmon very early on, quite as early as the end of Act II or thereabouts (and she had suspicions from even Act I, which explains that whole scene where she feels like she's seeing ghosts)! It is not until very near the end that all is revealed (Bella is shocked. I don't blame her.)

For those of you interested in the whole Lizzie story, I can assure you that it's got quite some developments coming soon! If you thought the end of Act II was crazy, that's nothing to what happens later. Eugene actually gets hit over the head by Bradley Headstone, falls in the river, but is saved by Lizzie (in a boat!), and nearly dies. He marries Lizzie on his deathbed....and then gets better. Happy ending after all, eh?

Speaking of Bradley Headstone, he and Rogue Riderhood have a fight, and fall in the river and drown. Kind of brutal, actually.

Poor Miss Peecher.

There is a lot of death in this play, as you may have noticed. Betty Higden for instance, travels for a time, but then sits down to die and is found by Lizzie, who is with her in her final moments. Mr. Dolls also meets his end during the story.

On a lighter note, it may interest (and perhaps surprise?) some of you to know that Pleasant Riderhood is none other than the lady who does not wish to regard herself in that 'boney' light. However, her and Venus sort it out near the end and settle down.

Georgiana does not marry Fledgeby (thankfully!) because Sophronia actually backs out of the scheme. Wegg attempts to blackmail the Boffins, but is foiled in true Dickensian and Boffinly fashion. Charley 'disowns' Bradley Headstone (probably contributing to the latter's slightly unbalanced state of mind). Jenny Wren and Sloppy hit it off very nicely and probably even get married eventually!

The final thing that I, in particular, think is just brilliant, is the final scene of the book. Society is discussing the marriage of Eugene and Lizzie-in disapproving tones. But Twemlow, wonderful man that he is, bravely defends them. He has come a long way from being confused about whether he is Veneering's newest friend or oldest friend, and now dares to challenge Society's views in a beautifully simplistic and honest way. He is truly a great character.

There are many more fantastic scenes in this book, and you should all really just read it! But I hope this has given you an idea of how things work out and even given you something to think about in relation to your characters.