Some OMF Thoughts
Where I’m at
So, I am finally beginning to feel like everything is coming together. Coming together in the sense that the novel is finally beginning to move in, what seems to be, a forward direction. The Harmon / Rokesmith connection is finally out there, which I think has a lot to do with the shift in my perception. Although, I was kind of surprised that this was revealed when it was. Either way, I am finding the going much easier. I don’t feel so lost, and I have found the story much easier to get back into over these past two weeks. So I guess, I am (at long last) invested and anxious to see what will happen next.
Who and what I love
For one, I really love Mr. Riah. I hate all the antisemitic jokes made at his expense, but I love the way he fulfills his Moses-like role. Riah being “one of the Patriarchs” with his “staff in hand” has led Lizzie to freedom, as it were (429,421). He is also a mediator/text-bearer like Moses: he bears Fledgeby’s accounts and Lizzie’s note to Miss Potterson. He most definitely fits an archetypal mold and brings Joseph Campbell to mind once more.
I also love Mr. Boffin’s new bibliophilia…. a bibliophilia based solely around the biographies of misers. This is hilarious. I love that he even goes book hunting on a regular basis, one of my favorite pass-times. More texts in the text!
Who and what I hate
Although I really enjoyed Mr. Boffin’s bibliophilia, the man has crept his way onto my “hate” list. I cannot stand the way he talks to Rokesmith. What is worse, Boffin thinks he is being helpful via tough love (or something), and Mrs. Boffin keeps making excuses for him. “Oh, but he really is so very wonderful.” Of course, of course. I know that this sudden change in Mr. Boffin’s attitude is intended to be humorous, but I am having a hard time finding it funny. The irony here almost makes it worse… I am really hoping to see Mr. Boffin eat crow when he learns to whom he has been so condescending
Dickens Done Write 
I must say that I am greatly impressed by the depth and insight to be found in your blog. You must really be spiritually attuned with Chuck D(ickens), or at the very least one of his greatest supporters. Without readers like you I am sure we would be stuck reading drivel composed by the neighbors to America’s north, a parliamentary mistake that you thankfully prevent with each magnificent post. Please, keep up the good work!
I agree with the Rokesmith/ Harmon revelation. While I’m glad it’s out there ( it makes things easier to follow for me), I think the timing was a little off. Also, the Boffins made my hate list as well. I knew the money would get to his head, it was only a matter of time.
Do you think readers are supposed to feel sorry for Boffin? Can a man like him ward off the corrupting power of wealth?
I was really hoping he could. Maybe there will be a big turn around. Dicken seems to love his character twists.
They definitely need to lay of poor Mr. Riah. I want SLAP that Fledgeby twirp square in the face.