Dombey and Son - the Use of Money and the Influence in Changing Women Dependent on Men - Case Study Example

Dombey and son Introduction Dicken raises various thematic concersns within the fiction novel as different actor portray at different times in the plot. However, this paper focuses on analyzing on the theme of money (wealth) where it intends to understand what the uses of money are as depicted within the paper. Though the novel was written in the first half of the nineteenth century, technological changes were evident and the effects on social class, governance as well as wealth had a direct impact. The novel shows that technological advancement influenced how women were perceived as objects to be deified by men as well as objects that men own. For instance, when Dombey’s marriage fails, the fiction reveals how Edith (his wife) runs away with a close ally to Dombey as driven by money. Another illustration is that of Dickens and David Copperfield, which show how money can be used to make women dependent on male figures. In the illustration, we find a ‘woman’ being manipulated in order to have her self-worth compromised for the sake of financial support by men. The above are just examples that the fiction novel contains among many that illustrate the dependence of women on male figures through the influence of money1. Discussion Dombey, the rich man is portrayed as the main figure in the narration from whom the other characters almost entirely take reference from. Dombey is however very elated by the great riches he posses and the feeling of having an heir; even though the heir later died. Paul’s role as the son to Dombey is critical in the general plot of the novel as it portrays the wide gap in inequality between the genders that existed in the time where the males attracted higher regard as against their female counterparts. Nevertheless, Florence, Dombey’s daughter rises to become unimaginably heroine in the narration after suffering great hatred from her father who would over-esteem a son. Her peril is seen to emanate from the fact that Dombey, the father had great riches and therefore sought to have a son who would be the heir to his riches. In the event that the wife bore a daughter first before a son, things were never again. The un-fateful tragedy happened when during the second delivery; the wife bears to Dombey a son though she dies at delivery. Te joy of having been born an ‘heir’ was overwhelming that Dombey even forgot about the wife’s death and settled down for a new marriage. Fate was against Florence who was hated by the father and the outright dismissal sent her away from home. The riches are here shown to have played a great part in the desire for Dombey (representing the rich) to esteem a male figure over a female figure. In fact, the narration shows how lovingly the son was treated as contrasted with the daughter though fate had it that the son would not survive. A major interesting feature in the plot of the novel is how money transforms Domeby from being the ‘father figure’ he ought to be especially to his daughter Florence to become a partial father in the manner he perceives Paul as being better for the fact of being a man as against his daughter Florence. Moreover, riches lead Dombey to ‘buying’ Edith as a wife to replace the late wife and who was the mother to Florence as well as Paul. Dickens successfully shows how Dombey saw a business partner in his son Paul while low or no esteem was accorded to the female figures around his live (as shown through Florence and Edith). In fact, he deliberately sends Paul away for schooling in preparing him for the great work that awaited him in taking over from his father in business. Dombey’s little concern on Florence as well as her mother who dies during the second birth is equally an illustration to the male centeredness that defined Dombey. The fiction takes special attention on depicting women as mere objects, which would be traded on unlike men. In such an illustration, Dickens shows that after the death of the first wife of Dombey, he settles for remarrying and the fateful person is Edith. Marrying Edith is however shown as ‘buying’ her and conferring the right of ownership to him and this qualifies the perception of having the women being perceived as mere objects whose ownership would depend on money. The affection between Dombey and Edith develop from the simple reason that Edith and mother hailed from a very needy background and hence the wanton of riches contributed to the union. Dombey on the other hand is shown to have been filthy rich though in a state of distress after losing the wife but still needed not only affection but also someone who would care for his son. Money therefore plays the role of medium of exchange where the mother to Edith would be willing to ‘sell’ off her daughter to the rich man while the rich man was ready to ‘buy’ affection from Edith. The result from the transaction was the outright ownership of Edith by Dombey, not by the virtue of love and affection but on the benefit of transaction. The fiction notes that the marriage failed to work as there lacked love in the affair. Edith distrusted Dombey for is pride in wealth while Dombey despised Edith on the virtue of being in wanton (extreme poverty) as well as being valueless (worthless). Moreover, as the novel unfolds, Edith lacks reason of putting up with Dombey and conspires with Mr Carker to run off together and in the process ruin Dombey’s public reputation and image. Besides this episode depicting the ownership of Edith by Dombey, running away with Carker depicts a shift in ownership and Carker therefore adopts the right of owning Edith. Besides, the outright authority that Dombey had over Florence has some aspects of manipulation of females into objects of ownership. Though Edith flees with Carker, the expected happened to have Edith run away from Carker and claim that he (Carker) was no different from Dombey from whom she had ran. This has a possible implication that all men were similar and especially as influenced by money. Carkeris therefore left having lost a lot in financial power as well as personal hopes as would have been developed in the time of their stay with Edith. In a similar manner, Dombey loses his riches and after being, declared bankrupt relocates into the life of misery in which his hopes now turned back to his daughter Florence. Here, some light is being shed on the essence of money in causing pride to the rich and disrespect to the poor. Nevertheless, the turn of events that see the two (Dombey and Carker) sink down to poverty and misery illustrate a phenomena feature of money that it would be in some instances volatile and that having it may not buy all2. The outstanding difference as noted between men and women are therefore clearly depicted. It would be reasoned that the society during the time of writing of this fiction story highly esteemed men over women. Money and riches were shown to be the possession of men, which conferred the other attribute of women as also belonging to men. This is shown by the fact that women were being won to men by riches. This understanding therefore confirms the depiction of women as being weak or inferior to men while at the same time having the attributes of a ‘good’ which would be bought from the market and be accorded the aspect of being owned by men. In answering, the question of what money would do then, this paper postulates that money would buy women to men and would equally empower women to take charge over men as illustrated through Carker and Edith after the later runs from Dombey. The fiction story also has regard and insights on how technology would change women. This is illustrated in the manner that the building of the railway aided in Edith running away with Carker. As a woman, Edith is empowered through money from Dombey and has her eyes ‘opened’ to see the opportunities provided by the new technology in use for transport (the rail) through, which Carker and her runs away. The advancement of technology led to the differentiation of attributes associated to women as well as money where such terms as belonging to the older generation as opposed to modern generation would be used. Stereotype living would be the best phrase to describe the living of then where men would be educated but not women as seen through Paul being sent away for schooling while Florence is not educated by Dombey. A common notion would have been that empowering women through education and the effects of technology would be detrimental in creating the ‘commodity’ woman that the society esteemed. Nevertheless as shown by empowerment of Edith by money and the subsequent breakdown of their marriage with Dombey, money had in fact more opportunities of empowering the woman than would necessarily emanate from education. Technology would also have had effects in perception of money where quantification of wealth was done in terms of property owned by an individual. Owning a fleet of ships as well as managing technology in the industry would define what riches were defined in. This was regularly shown in the fiction through communication by letters as was in use then and which illustrated aspects of advancement from merely oral communication to such written communication3. Government systems, wealth as well as social class had direct relation to money as was depicted in the fiction story. It is to be appreciated generally that quantification of general worth of a person would be interpreted as wealth. Money, though counted in terms of property owned, especially within the age directly influenced leadership and governance. Men through riches, which simply showed the social perception of the people concerning money, won women. Nevertheless, women equally were empowered through money, they would influence men as the case of Carker and Edith would show. This forms a major thematic concern developed through the fiction as Dickens would concurrently involve money and women within the plot of the fiction. Women became ‘owned’ and thus would have to depend on men wholly, a feature that would explain the mistreatment that they would receive from men. Love and affection was not esteemed to the basis of loving and marrying, a feature that is plainly depicted by Dombey marrying Carker for money. When David marries Doria for love nothing comes of it but despair and then death, but David’s second marriage is more better suited and approved because she can provide better care for him- not love as such. Dickens is playing with the rhetoric’s of how money functions within both these novels. Social class of people changed by virtue of being wealthy and this would explain why Edith tricked Carker into the deal of running away as lovers in order to tarnish the reputation of Dombey. Money had the capacity to transform a person from being as known into being proud. Edith hated Dombey for his pride due to his status as being wealthy. Money also influenced technological development as seen through construction of rail. The rail would therefore influence ease and systems of transport by land. It is also though the train that Carker and Edith used to run away that is shown to have been the cause of Carker’s death. Money therefore facilitated such a move as well as the livelihood they adopted having fled from Dombey. Money also influences women and they equally get empowered as seen through the empowerment that Edith got through marriage to Dombey and which would be seen as the basis on which she convinced Carter into her plans to run from the marriage and in the process bring shame on Dombey. Finally, this paper analyzes the use of money and the influence in changing women too become dependent on men4. The capacity of Dombey to influence Edith to marry him through his position of riches shows the dependency nature of women. Riches contributed to the choice of the two to marry by Edith being poor while Dombey being rich. Men would therefore be portrayed as all-powerful concerning women and this would make them susceptible to mistreatment by men and their having low esteem as Florence would show at the point of running away from her father’s mistreatment. Dickens also effectively shows that money/riches have a bigger part to play in explaining the harsh reality of having Dombey mistreat Florence in favor of a man (Paul). Empowerment explains why Carter and Edith run away from Dombey and it is the money that facilitates the movement through train as shown. Another illustration from this fiction is by David Copperfield as well as David’s in which, money ‘transforms’ the mother after the husband dies to yield into marriage with Mr Murdstone for wealth. It is also explained by the decision of the mother to send away her son in order to fit in this marriage, but all driven by money. In conclusion, Dickens effectively and comprehensively indulges into real social issues in depth though indirectly through the fiction. This is because, the main thematic concern, which this paper has evaluated is the use of money in the society. Empowerment on both the genders by money as well as empowerment through technological advancement has been shown to be real features within social set-ups. Though the fiction has dwelt much on the uses of money to empower men to ‘purchase’ women and thus presented women as tradable commodities, money has also been shown to have the capacity to transform women through empowerment as Edith illustrates. Besides, the illustration of David Copperfield as well as David’s in which, money ‘transforms’ the mother after the husband dies to yield into marriage with Mr Murdstone for wealth equally serves as supportive illustration of the effect of money on empowering both men and women. In Dickens fiction, money use reveals many vices that accompany riches in the society where for instance, sincere love may not be, families disintegrate as well as the capacity to make people elated and loose moral sense of fellow people as shown in depth by Dombey’s pride. On the other hand, technological advancement has been shown in the Dickens’ fiction to directly contribute towards creating empowerment opportunities not only for men but also for women as Edith explicitly illustrates this. Works cited Anonymous, “Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens” para 1-5.Nd. Web. 26 January, 2014. Dickens, Charles, “Dombey and son” 2007-2013. 3-912, Print. 26 January, 2014. Howe, Robert M. “Charles Dickens: the first popular media titan” Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 2012. 4(4): 60-69 Kennedy Valerie, “Challenging figures: Three of Charles Dickens Marginal Women” para 1-7. 2000. Web. 26 January, 2014. Read More