Barnaby Rudge serves as a symbol of the innocent victims of the time of the Gordon Riots, the main event of the novel. He is a “simpleton” (mentally challenged), symbolic of the uneducated poor of London. He is caught up in the events of the riots, not sure what the meaning or intention of them is. He is imprisoned but eventually set free. His constant companion is Grip, a raven who can talk.

Dickens named the novel after Barnaby Rudge not because of his centrality in the novel, but because of his symbolism. As is often the case with many of Dickens’s novels, innocent people become victims through no fault of their own. Grip, the raven, often speaks uncomfortable and awkward words. He functions as something of a voice of truth (like medieval jesters in the royal courts of Europe). Together, Barnaby and Grip stand in the background but represent the message that Dickens is trying to portray, that innocence will not protect a person from the evil of others.