Jude and
Jonathan, what interesting posts about the other great minds that were likely influenced by Dickens....Freud, Dostoyevsky, Engels.
I found a list of authors who were contemporaries of Dickens at
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_authors_were_contemporaries_of_Charles_Dickens:
* Louisa May Alcott
* Edward Bulwer-Lytton
* Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle
* Wilkie Collins
* George Eliot
* Ralph Waldo Emerson
* Thomas Hardy
* Leigh Hunt
* Henry James
* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
* William T. Sherman
* William Makepeace Thackeray
* Leo Tolstoy
* Anthony Trollope
* Mark Twain
PatH, you say, "Inspector Bucket is certainly willing to go to great lengths to get his man. He is described as stout and middle-aged, but he climbs on the roof of the shooting gallery to peer through the skylight and find Gridley." LOL, yes, it must have been precarious to be on the rool peeking through the skylight! He is like a dog with a bone, following up on a case, but he has a very human side as he shows when trying to buck up Gridley when he sees how sick he really is.
JoanP, you ask, " he wasn't really trying to rally him, was he? He knew he was dying...wasn't he just trying to help him in his last moments." I don't know, perhaps Bucket did think that having a cause to fight for might rally Gridley. In either case, he showed a caring side. He isn't ALL business.
Babi, you say "The scene of Gridley's death is a sad one. It really seems, though, to be a release he might have been grateful for.." I think you are right. Gridley finally gave up. Fighting the Courts seemed to become too much for him. I think that Dickens has really brought to life the extreme effects the legal system had on many people.
JoanP, you may be right in looking for more from Jarndyce. I think that I've been fairly satisfied with what we;ve seen so far. We've been shown a person who has been affected deeply by the court case. He's seen relatives ruined...to the point of committing suicide...over the case. He feels that he has to stay far away from it and do his best to warn Richard to keep away. He is someone who seems to provide for others in secret, when that is possible. His main stance is to avoid thanks, or even mention of his good deeds. He seems not to want anyone to be beholding to him. He is a somewhat reticent person and hides his feelings. He tries to avoid negative thoughts about anyone (he hides in the growlry when there is an "east wind"). How do the rest of you see Jarndyce so far?