Discussion Topic
The application of "toadies and humbugs" to the Pockets in Great Expectations
Summary:
In Great Expectations, the terms "toadies and humbugs" describe the sycophantic and deceitful behavior of the Pockets. They flatter and manipulate those around them for personal gain, highlighting their insincerity and opportunism within the social hierarchy.
Who are the "toadies and humbugs" in Chapter 11 of Great Expectations?
Like so many relatives of wealthy people, Camilla, Cousin Raymond, and Sarah Pocket appear on Miss Havisham's birthday under the guise of wishing her well. Miss Havisham has Pip support her as she walks with her cane around a great table with a decaying wedding cake upon it. The "toadies" and "humbugs" tell Miss Havisham that she "looks well." After Miss Pocket is rebuffed by Miss Havisham's "I do not," Camilla complacently smiles, indicating her enjoyment of Miss Havisham's negative treatment of Sarah. For, this may mean that Camilla might stand in better stead and inherit more when Miss Havisham dies.
That they are flatterers because they hope that Miss Havisham will bequeath money and property to them is the reason these "toadies" even come each year. To Miss Havisham their words ring as insincere. When Camilla says that Matthew is remiss for never coming, her desired reaction from Miss Havisham is thrawted:
Matthew will come and see me at last," said Miss Havisham sternly, "when I am laid on that table. That will be his place--there,"...at my head! And yours will be there! And your husband's there! And Sarah Pocket's there! And Georgiana's there!
Once they all know where they will stand and sit, Miss Havisham tells them to go. Then, she reveals that not only is this day her birthday, but it was also her wedding day. Matthew Pocket, father of Herbert, the pale young gentleman, does not come because he is the only one who is not hypocritical. In fact, he has accused the others of "feasting on their relations." He disapproved of her marrying Arthur, who jilted her, telling her he was a swindler, but Miss Havisham rejected the honest Matthew.
These people are relatives of the Pocket family, with whom Pip will soon become acquainted. They are distant relatives of Miss Havisham – Camilla, Raymond and Sarah. Matthew Pocket, who is NOT in this group (he is an honorable man, not a toadie) will soon become Pip’s tutor and Herbert Pocket will become Pip’s roommate and friend. At this point in the story, though, these three Pockets are having around Miss Havisham’s house, sucking up to her and being insincere. That is what “toadies” and “humbugs” are – flatterers and insincere people.
They are all pretending they are NOT toadies and humbugs , as Pip remarks, but each of them is, because each is trying to flatter Miss Havisham. She, however, is not fooled by them. She later tells Pip that they visit her once a year, on her birthday. On his way out, Pip encounters a “pale young gentlemen” with whom he fights. Later, Pip will will encounter him again. This gentlemen is Herbert Pocket, who will appear in the second part of the novel.
Read the chapter here on Enotes.
Explain how "toadies and humbugs" applies to the Pockets in Great Expectations chapter 11.
With typical Dickensian humor the Pockets are described by Pip:
Before I had been standing at the window five minutes, they somehow conveyed to me that they were all toadies and humbugs, but that each of them pretended not to know that the others were toadies and humbugs: because the admission that she or he did know it, would have made him or her out to be a today or a humbug.
A toady, being a British word for a flatterer, the Pockets discuss Tom's wife, who has died without leaving "the trimmings" to the children, and Matthew who is not present, but is much like Tom. Raymond continues the disparagement of Matthew. These impostors then move to the next room where Miss Havisham moves around the table holding the moldy wedding cake of her youth.
A humbug, or impostor who hopes to deceive for ulterior reasons, Miss Sarah Pocket, tells Miss Havisham how well she looks. "I do not," retorts Miss Havisham. "I am yellow skin and bone." Camilla is thrilled by Miss Havisham's rebuff and tell Miss Havisham that she has been so anxious about her that she herself has been ill: "Oh, it is a weakness to be so affectionate, but I can't help it." After much histrionics in which she feigns such love and concern for Miss Havisham, Camilla, then, attempts disparagement of Matthew Pocket who does not visit his rich relative. But, Miss Havisham declares that he will take his place at the head of the table when she dies; she, then, points to all the toadies' stations.
As the impostors depart, "Sarah Pocket and Georgiana contended upon who should remain last" in the vain hope of becoming memorable to Miss Havisham when she makes her will. They vie for the position and move around each other with Sarah winning and saying, "Bless you, Miss Havisham, dear!" The false obsequiousness endures to the last, proving the Pockets "toadies and humbugs."
How does the term "toadies and humbugs" apply to the Pockets in Great Expectations?
The Pockets are Miss Havisham's relatives. Every year on her birthday they rock up at Satis House, ostensibly to wish the old girl many happy returns, but in actual fact to suck up to her so she doesn't forget them in her will. As well as being somewhat eccentric, Miss Havisham is also incredibly rich, so it makes sense for the Pockets to get on her good side.
Now she may be a little odd, but Miss Havisham's nobody's fool; she can see right through the Pockets and their little game. She knows they only suck up to her because they want to get their greedy, grasping hands on her cash. And she knows that their professions of concern for her wellbeing are just so much humbug, that is to say false talk. It's the same word used in the same context by another of Dickens's unforgettable characters, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
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