OH dear - colored lines - shoot which one to pick up first - trying to remember how I started to see this because since I have an entire schismatic in my head of many colored lines that is affecting how I am seeing characterizations and life lessons from the story.
It hit me back when I noticed John Jarndyce was generous however, he surrounded himself with the people he helps like an art collector or collector of trophies - this is NOT said to be judgmental but is a characteristic that as an element of a story is called the "exposition" and therefore, if that characteristic was interrupted or put to the test it could be the "conflict" that leads to a "climax" or one of the many climaxes that the author brings to "resolution". So far with the understanding of charity at this time in history Richard could be teetering but John Jarndyce seems to accept much behavior different than his own just as long as the person he is helping remains in his life.
Then a bunch of character pairings in the story plus many of you acknowledged the reason for many children was to provide security for their parents in their old age - not mentioned but, along those lines is how farmers needed hands for the fields with the promise the farm would be theirs one day.
OK two divergent thoughts here - like Frost's Walk in the Woods - OK first this one - a quick reference to a sociology text that compares the children of the world.
"If the fate of the majority of babies is in doubt, it follows that the community into which a child is born would be reluctant to make a deep emotional investment until the child's viability was confirmed. Our survey revealed that most societies do not automatically confer personhood upon the newborn."
This chapter continues to talk about how swaddling and cradle boarding is explained by moms that children are made strong with these practices and without swaddling or cradle boarding when they are older they will drift into deviant behavior.
And so, for Esther and many other moms, we substitute swaddling with nurturing that matches a certain expectation of "look" - clean, neat, no potty mouth, patched in a nice way, educated, regular hours, helpful, socially acceptable behavior, if not a pride to the family at least not an embarrassment etc. etc. We are as concerned as Esther is for Caddy, Peppy, all the Jellyby Children - we put white hats on the nurturers in the story and question anyone who seems distant that we interpret as uncaring especially, someone who "brags" about their uncaring with what we think is a lame excuse.
OK we could go deeper and deeper into this characteristic as it applies to characters in the story and to ourselves and life today. Now the other bit - that has often, many times, helped me and is carried to extremes in the story but it does have validity. I see this concept as opposed to those who put greater emphasis on trophy taking especially in business, marketing, what we expect from ministers sermons and in the story not only Skimpole but the difference between Caddy and Peppy.
Every time Jonathan posts about Peppy he sees the independent, adventurous, free little boy that is anything but swaddled or cradle-boarded. Compare Peppy to Mrs. Pardiggle's children.
Did you know a dandelion can have up to 2000 seeds in each flower head? Can you imagine a dandelion holding on to its seeds and not letting go? And who doesn’t love to blow the seeds off a dandelion! Wind and children seem to be the best at it.
I see how the internet has blown all sorts of information into the wind - wishes we are told should be let go into the wind - we have no idea where or when they may sprout like seeds. Certain business practices only give information if they have a way to capture you as a client - taking trophies - marketers want to measure the affect on profit if they blow information into the wind - but we do want our ministers to preach blowing their seeds of wisdom for us to accept or reject or at times not even hear rather than as a source for a bigger collection or to direct our attitudes about others in the world.
Mrs. Jellyby blows her children in the wind and Peppy thrives but Caddy had expectations placed on her - and that is what I think she is chaffing under just as any child whose principle role after birth is to take care of the parents that brought him or her into life or to receive a gift and the message is clear we must use the gift in a certain way and make it a part of our life - how many of us stored gifts in the attic to be brought out when the giver came to visit and finally used it in an elephant sale - another example of a gift given to secure a connection to your own values rather than as a seed blown by us as in blowing a dandelion.
John Jarndyce sees the wind and if there is trouble, someone who does not measure up to what he can accept the east wind is mentioned however Skimpole is a child and epitomizes blowing his children to the wind.
On one side there is - “Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.” and then there is, "The Answer My Friend is Blowing in the Wind", "Let it be", "la beauté est un voyage"
The age old question do we help the poor expecting them to use the help and the leg-up as we think or do we allow the poor to have the freedom that the help temporarily provides. This to me is one of the questions that Dickens is exploring in Bleak House - the courts, the law like the government cares less about those who are within their jurisdiction and have blown them to the wind - and by making Skimpole a character that is not to be admired it is easy to see when in all scenes so far he is a foil to John Jarndyce.
Like Miss Flite we can cage up our values till the courts that control stop controlling words and documents paying attention to people, common sense that we see as justice however, the story says those caged values will be supper for those who have been flexing their aggressive behavior -
Is the caged Lady Dedlock supper to the likes of Tulkinghorn - Caddy is breaking free of her cage and Peppy never stepped into the cage - Richard and Ada are in the cage built by the courts and so forth - so I see...
the difference between blowing a Dandelion and collecting Trophies - Business wants to count Trophies - Marketing wants to count and collect Trophies - Good Will can either blow itself in the wind or be a Spider Web - did Dickens allow his boys freedom or did he hold them to his expectations - is their moving away interpreted by another as an example of control over freedom - hmmm we can look at it both ways because he sure did not stop their journeys on the wind.
