Reading the Chunksters discussion

This section covers the three chapters of the Second scene, which covers Magdalen's adventures in York.

Chapter summaries (beware spoilers):
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1. Skeldergate is a narrow street by the river at York. At its end is Rosemary Lane, where there are cheap lodging houses. Wragge emerges from one of them and walks aimlessly towards the station. He sees a disturbance and a man trying to pick up printed bills offering a £50 reward. Wragge helps to pick them up and keeps some of them. The bill explains that Magdalen has disappeared and is believed to be in York. Wragge decides to look for her and walks along the walls. He eventually finds her and reminds her that they have met. Magdalen attempts to excuse herself, but Wragge stops her and shows her the bill. Magdalen things he wants the reward, but he asks her to think again. She proposes to go her own way, but he asks her where she can sleep in York without being recognised, then offers her a room in his lodgings. Magdalen tells him she has heard he is a rogue, and he says a rogue is exactly what she needs.

2. Wragge takes Magdalen to his lodgings and introduces her to the landlady, asking of Mrs Wragge is upstairs. They go upstairs and find a tall woman, who asks Wragge if he wants tea. He introduces Magdalen and tells his wife to show her to her room. She leads Magdalen into another room, and explains that her head has been buzzing since she was at Darch’s Dining Room in London. She tries Magdalen’s bonnet on, saying she had a similar one when she met Wragge at the Dining Rooms. She says he married her for money, and complains about how much Wragge asks her to do. Magdalen tells her that whenever Wragge asks she should say she has done what he requested. Magdalen takes herself upstairs. The room is small and barely furnished. She comes down and they offer her an omelette and bread. Wragge says he has been thinking about her position. He tells her he is a swindler, a moral agriculturalist who cultivates sympathy. He says he is needy and is making people do their Christian duty by helping him. He hopes that one day his “profession” will be valued. He says he has become too well known in York and other Northern towns. He goes off and returns with a box containing his account books. He says he never asks for help directly and never targets the rich, who lack generosity. He explains his methods, and advises Magdalen to leave York without collecting her belongings. She tells him she has another object which she will not divulge it. She goes to bed.

3. Early the next morning the light wakes Magdalen, She looks at the room and vows to leave it. She takes a bag from her bosom containing the £200 she got by selling her clothes. She considers her position and decides to ask for Wragge’s help in finding out more about Michael Vanstone. Wragge asks if she will do his bidding, and she proposes to tell him more. He is surprised when she talks of earning her living. She tells him what has happened and says she needs to make inquiries but can’t do it herself without attracting suspicion. She wants to know where Michael lives and whether he has a housekeeper. Wragge thinks about what she has said and offers to help. He proposes that they leave York the next day. She tells him of her experience of the stage. He asks her to perform a scene, and she tries, but breaks down in tears. Her second attempt goes better and impresses him. Wragge proposes a deal and explains how they can leave York undetected. He says he needs money to pay his bills. Magdalen pays him what he asks for and he writes the details in his account book. He goes out. Mrs Wragge asks about Magdalen’s things and asks if she can have them – he tells her she can buy what she needs. The next morning they leave York by chaise.
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I somewhat liked yet somewhat disliked the developments during this section.

1. Initially, I very much enjoyed Captain Wagge’s reentry into the storyline along with Mrs. Wagge. They seem to me the most Dickensian of any of Collins’ characters I’ve run into and getting to know the Mrs. and Captain better was fun.
2. However, by the end of this section’s reading, I was beginning to tire of both characters. Although I generally prefer Collins’ writing to Dickens’ when Dickens has these over the top, creepy but entertaining characters, he usually has sufficient other characters and plotlines to minimize the tendency of these types of characters to grow tiresome. Collins seems to use less characters and plotlines in his 800-page novels so we have 70 pages straight of the Wagge’s which resulted in them becoming tiresome. By the end of this section, I was hoping Wagge’s role would become more limited than it appears it will become.
3. Part of my being tired of Wagge may also be the result of my dislike of the plot development of Magdalen’s complete overreliance upon Wagge. From the story events so far, everyone knows she should stay completely away from Wagge. Absent that, though, I can understand her agreeing to use Wagge’s services in return for having him help look for her Uncle. Wagge, if scummy, will still serve a useful purpose for Magdalen and do a job she really had no other candidates for. But I saw no sufficient reason to hire him on his terms as an acting coach. That choice just helped Wagge get his claws into her without a compensating return. The deal for his assistance to look for the Uncle had already been made. Magdalen’s choice to hire Wagge as her ‘coach’ bothered me as a choice not consistent with Magdalen’s personality and was a gratuitous and unrealistic event that was intended to increase the melodrama. On reflection, It is silly for this plot choice to bother me as it is typical of sensation novels, and this is a sensation novel.

I agree with Brian - there were parts that I liked and disliked about this section.

I am interested in seeing what happens when Wragge and Magdalen find out about Michael Vanstone's living situation, and what Magdalen will do in order to extract her inheritance from him. I do think that Wragge and Magdalen suit each other well in their way of manipulation and being able to act their part, so it'll be interesting to see how they play off of one another. However, I also did a double-take when Wragge asked to be Magdalen's acting coach in return for half of her acting proceeds. My first thought was to wonder what he knew of acting in the first place, what credentials did he have? So on that same note, it seemed to me that Magdalen would have thought the same thing and would have been more cautious than to have joined up with him in that regard so suddenly. Perhaps she was caught up in the emotion of someone, once again, laying on thick praise for her acting abilities so that she was a bit flattered into accepting.

I also immediately thought of Dickens' larger than life comic characters when Wragge and Mrs Wragge entered the picture. I got the same feeling as Brian, though, in that if they are too much dominant in the book, it might well prove to be a detriment overall. It was for this reason I lowered my rating for David Copperfield, because the character Mr Micawbre took up too many pages in the book and I started to cringe every time he appears.

I enjoyed this section and I'm beginning to like the book a lot more now that the story has evolved beyond just privileged children with an idyllic lifestyle. I really wish we would have seen Magdalen try to solve her own problems rather than observe the almost preposterously unlikely event of Wragge just sweeping in and offering to solve all of her problems. He certainly seems to come across as less of a scoundrel than I had anticipated so it will be interesting to see if he does have her interests at heart at all. I agree that the Wragges certainly seem to be rather one dimensional. I also agree that the offer of serving as acting coach was just preposterous! I could Wragge helping out in other ways but did he really have experience in acting? I doubt it. I found it amusing that Magdalen acted like she had complete control of the situation and her decisions but if it weren't for Wragge, she would be returned already. Of course, she did have some level of awareness that her star had fallen so it will be interesting to see if her personality evolves.