Characters
Carey's novel intertwines elements from Great Expectations with events from Charles Dickens's life, blending fact and fiction. As he mentions in his epigraph, "The author willingly admits to having once or twice stretched history to suit his own fictional ends." The novel's central character, who was merely a minor figure causing Philip Pirrip's fortune in the nineteenth-century text, is now brought to the forefront in this late twentieth-century adaptation. Maggs, unlike the bland British characters around him, is a dynamic and robust protagonist representing—perhaps unknowingly—the opportunities available in Britain's penal colonies. While others wear unremarkable clothing, Maggs stands out in a bright red waistcoat. His imposing physical presence starkly contrasts with the stunted growth that exacerbates Tobias Oates's feelings of inadequacy. A self-made man, Maggs is hardworking and resourceful, having transformed the barren land he received with his ticket-of-leave into a thriving brick-works. Despite lacking social graces, he shows deep compassion for his deceased first love, Sophina, and the fatherless Mercy Larkins.
Carey seems to have transferred Dickens's well-known empathy and kindness to Maggs, as the author's textual counterpart is almost entirely devoid of these qualities. This transference is mirrored in the surname Maggs, derived from Thomas Mag, who was initially considered the hero of Mag's Diversions, one of the titles Dickens contemplated for his semi-autobiographical work, David Copperfield. By renaming Charles Dickens as Tobias (to bias) Oates, Carey highlights his awareness of authorial subjectivity and how all narratives reflect their creators' biases. By removing Dickens from his position of omniscient author and placing him within the narrative as a character, Carey challenges the literary canon, demonstrating that no narrative, not even history, is fixed. Furthermore, Oates's name carries connotations of unfulfilled potential, as it mirrors the name of one of Pip's deceased brothers in Great Expectations. In a novel so focused on fabrication, the resemblance to the infamous perjurer Titus Oates is unlikely to be coincidental.
Carey portrays the author as an exaggerated Dickens figure, obsessed with the Victorian underworld. Oates, unscrupulous and ambitious, lives beyond his means and exploits Maggs's painful tic doloureux, a facial convulsion, to hypnotize him. This allows Oates to extract Maggs's life story and claim it as his own, implying that the novelist lacks imagination and resorts to stealing stories. Carey's reimagining of Dickens—often hailed as the greatest English novelist—as a hypocritical and libidinous figure seems to reflect a desire to redefine his artistic relationship with the English literary tradition. This hostile depiction likely stems from the creative limitations imposed by the literary canon, from which Carey seeks to free himself by challenging the "master narrative" and the authority of its creator.
Mary, Oates's wife, is a relatively minor character, yet the narrator shows significant sympathy for her plight. Her husband's financial recklessness and personal neglect have left her extremely vulnerable, overshadowed by his vibrant and dominant personality. Unlike Dickens's wife, Catherine, often portrayed by biographers as passive and dull, Mary is given depth and a degree of autonomy not typically afforded to a middle-class woman in the nineteenth century. When Mary suspects her sister is expecting Tobias's child, she doesn't ignore her husband's indiscretions as a model Victorian wife might. Instead, she takes the unusual step of obtaining abortion pills from Ma Britten. Just as Carey liberates Maggs/Magwitch from the margins, he also frees Catherine Dickens/Mary Oates from social and spatial constraints, allowing her to traverse London. Her journey parallels Dickens/Oates's "slumming expeditions" into the East End to observe the lives of the underclass, but it is significant because it permits her to enter areas that would have been off-limits...
(This entire section contains 1288 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
to her nineteenth-century counterpart.
Mary truly comes into her own following Lizzie's death. Contrary to the view of her as "slow and famously dim-witted," Mary proves to be resourceful and strong. Stricken with guilt, believing she caused her sister's death, she takes charge of the situation, managing to frame the death as a tragedy, thereby protecting both her and her husband's reputations.
Lizzie Warriner stands in stark contrast to the young and innocent Mary Hogarth, the character she is modeled after. Lizzie, seemingly more attractive and intelligent than her sister, commits an indiscretion with her brother-in-law, challenging the moral propriety often (though mistakenly) attributed to the Victorians. Her death scene, while entirely believable, sharply diverges from the fates of Dickensian heroines like Little Nell. Instead of accepting death as just punishment for her sins or as a transition to a better place, Lizzie vacillates between remorse and aggression, at one point rejecting her sister's care with the outburst, "No, damn you!"
Ma Britten, the seller of the concoctions that kill Lizzie and Jack Maggs's foster mother, serves as a significant catalyst in the narrative. Her rise to wealth at the expense of others' misfortunes mirrors Britain's own economic and industrial growth in the nineteenth century. Her selfish neglect of Jack parallels the mother country's disregard for the poor and colonial exiles. Apart from the opening scenes, where Jack returns to visit her, and the moment when Mary acquires the tablets, Ma Britten, along with her conniving son Tom, the criminal Silas Smith, and Maggs's first love, Sophina, is depicted through Jack's perspective. This makes it challenging to gain an unbiased view of her character, which is crucial in a novel that delves deeply into the subjectivity of the narrator.
Equally unappealing as Ma Britten is Percy Buckle. Initially portrayed as a philanthropic figure, Buckle saves Mercy Larkins from a life of prostitution, which her mother had forced upon her. A former grocer and fried fish vendor, Percy inherits a fortune and an extremely chaotic household. His physical appearance is somewhat comical, and he waddles like a duck. At first, he appears to be a harmless character: bookish, kind, and completely out of his depth with the social graces that should accompany his newfound wealth. However, instead of fitting the Dickensian mold of the slightly eccentric gentleman with a heart of gold, Percy becomes jealous of Jack Maggs once he realizes Mercy is attracted to the convict. Buckle quickly transforms into a malevolent schemer, willing to manipulate other characters, such as Henry Phipps, to eliminate Maggs.
The English characters are generally depicted as deeply flawed and selfish. After receiving money from Maggs, Henry Phipps abandons his benefactor due to his criminal past and lack of refinement. Notably, none of the English relationships are productive, highlighting a fundamental sterility and lack of creative drive in the mother country. Phipps and the footman Constable are both homosexual, making reproduction impossible. Oates's child with Mary is frail, while the child conceived by Lizzie is unwanted and must be eliminated at all costs. Furthermore, the relationship between Mercy and Buckle does not result in any offspring.
Among all the English characters, Mercy stands out as the only one with charisma and vitality. She is also the sole character willing to speak the truth. She risks her future by incurring Buckle's anger to help Maggs. She cares enough about Maggs's well-being to offer him some hard truths and to suggest that his future does not lie in England. Consequently, it is inevitable that she returns to Australia with Maggs to care for his children and, in a new and more stimulating environment, to have children of her own.
Since there is no mercy in Carey's depiction of Victorian England, Mercy must be relocated overseas where she can reinvent herself as "a disciplinarian." In Australia, she can build a strong, prosperous, and loving family, which is identified not only as a "clan," but also, importantly, as a "Race." This move allows her to put her practicality to good use in a land that offers opportunities to those with skill and energy.
