Reading the Chunksters discussion

Sorry - just realised that week 6 should have started a few days ago, so I'll kick off week 7 too so that we are ahead of schedule again. This covers chapters 9 to 12 of Book Two.

My chapter summaries:
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9. Sloppy comes to see Rokesmith saying that the orphan boy is ill. Mrs Boffin, Bella and Rokesmith go to Brentford and buy toys for young Johnny. They take him to the Children’s Hospital, where the doctor tells Rokesmith that they came too late. They leave, and Rokesmith returns at night. Johnny sees his toy horse given to a boy in the next bed, and dies happy.
10. Milvey writes a farewell address for Johnny. Rokesmith consoles Mrs Boffin. She summons her husband and Bella to discuss Milvey’s offer to find them another orphan. Sloppy returns in a new suit provided by Mrs Boffin, and she offers to feed him every day.
11. Mrs Peecher watches over Headstone. He talks to her before going to see Lizzie. He is detained by Jenny, but Lizzie eventually returns. He attempts to warn her off Wrayburn and allow Charley to help her. He leaves, and Jenny and Lizzie discuss him. Jenny persuades Lizzie to do some fortune telling.
12. We are told about Riderhood’s home in Limehouse Hole, where we meet his daughter Pleasant, who runs an unlicensed pawnshop and a sailors’ boarding house. A mysterious sailor calls on her, Pleasant suspects from his hands that he has not sailed recently. He says he has seen the shop before and is looking for her father. He describes how he was assaulted and left for dead. Riderhood returns, telling them to stop “Poll Parroting”. The sailor buys a bottle and they share it. Riderhood recognises his knife and coat as those of a sailor, George Radfoot, who he believes to be dead. He tells Riderhood that he knows that his story about the Harmon murder is not true. He demands that Riderhood signs a statement retracting his affidavit and offers to share the reward money when he claims it.
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Thanks Hugh. I had been holding off finishing the Week 6 chapters until you opened the thread so having this extra week's chapters to discuss will help me get back in the groove of OMF.

Boy, I thought we had enough characters and now we get another young woman character in Pleasant Riderhood and the mysterious sailor. However, I did like the dialogue in that chapter, and it made me feel anxious to read on, something I hadn't felt before.
I also have a better handle on the Sloppy character - Dickens and his names! The handling of young Johnny's death was a bit odd to me as Johnny never seemed like a real child just a replaceable object. But that could have been Dickens' intent.
Finally, while I sometimes either miss or don't appreciate Dickens humor, as a lawyer, I still smile every time I read about Alfred David.

I don't really have much to say about these chapters. Apart from the tragic death of Johnny (Dickens sure knows how to pull on the heart strings with his child characters) not much really happened and they were quite short.

I do enjoy the term "poll parroting"

I chose the division points in the reading schedule before starting the book, and in retrospect it would have been much neater to have the related chapters 12 and 13 in the same section. It does mean that this section ends with a lot of unresolved questions!

Hugh, I thought the split was perfect as the unresolved questions left this section with a mysterious cliffhanger type feel and that Chapter 13 was a great way to start the next phase of the story.

I just finished chapter 11, and as far as I'm concerned Headstone can go to an early grave. I exited the chapter wondering whether he is more presumptuous than creepy or the reverse. I'm surprised no one has yet punched him in the nose. No wonder Charley has changed. How could he not with him as a mentor?

And then there is Jenny Wren with her dire warning: he's not one to take no for answer. In other words he's a stalker. Okay, that makes him more creepy than presumptuous. I've answered my own question.

I just finished chapters 9 and 10. I read in the footnotes that this installment was published just before Christmas, so everyone had little Johnny's death fresh in their minds as Christmas approached.

I laughed a bit at Mrs. Boffin's reasoning in choosing her next orphan. And then in walks Sloppy. And at the end when the footman comes in because he thought he heard a Cat. ha ha.

Jess wrote: "Dickens sure knows how to pull on the heart strings with his child characters"

Yes, I think so too. There is a particular child death in another book that when I read it I couldn't believe he (Dickens) would do that to me. Lol. It was so sad.

Chapter 11: "He [Headstone] leaves, and Jenny and Lizzie discuss him. Jenny persuades Lizzie to do some fortune telling."

I had no idea who Lizzie and Jenny were talking about at the end of this chapter, if it were Wrayburn or Headstone, so thanks again for the summary, Hugh. Also, I had no idea what "lady" they were talking about either. It never occurred to me they were talking about a fortune teller? That went right over my head.

Linda wrote: "I had no idea who Lizzie and Jenny were talking about at the end of this c..."

I got the impression they were talking about Wrayburn as he is presented as upper middle class whereas Headstone is lower middle class. So the assumption would be he should be looking for a 'lady' of his station. It's why I think Wrayburn is reticent to admit his feelings for Lizzie to Lightwood.

The fortune telling is a callback to the fortune telling Lizzie did with Charley at their home but she's also considering whether it would be possible that Wrayburn would have intentions towards someone of her class.

Jess wrote: "I got the impression they were talking about Wrayburn as he is presented as upper middle class whereas Headstone is lower middle class."

Thanks for this! I suspected the same thing, but then for some reason the way it was written (a lot of "he's"), I wasn't quite sure if they were talking about Wrayburn or Headstone.