Quoth the Raven
The novel features a novel character named Grip who happens to be a raven. Literary legends suggest that Grip the raven inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write his famous poem. While one may search in vain for a scene in which the Grip says “Nevermore” one will not be disappointed in his power to speak:
“The speaker—who made the locksmith start as if he had been some supernatural agent—was a large raven…who had perched upon the top of the easy-chair…and listened with a polite attention and a most extraordinary appearance of comprehending every word…turning his head from one to the other, as if his office were to judge between them, and it were of the very last importance that he should not lose a word.”
Narration Explanation
As in many novels written in the 19th century, the third person narrator of the novel lapses into addressing the reader as if written from a first-person point of view. In this particular case, it is to explain how he can know certain things which a first-person narrator would not, strange as that seems today. Keep in mind, however, that the novel as a form of literature was still young and in a state of evolution:
“Chronicler’s are privileged to enter where they list, to come and go through keyholes, to ride upon the wind, to overcome, in their soarings up and down, all obstacles of distance, time, and place. Thrice blessed be this last consideration, since it enables us to follow the disdainful Miggs even into the sanctity of her chamber, and to hold her in sweet companionship through the dreary watches of the night!”
Mr. Chester’s Philosophy of Business
Even before the business of selling motivational posters was invented, men of means were quick with a quip to explain why those without means should work hard. Usually, of course, harder than they ever deigned to work themselves. Dickens often points out in his novels that there are some people born into this world who were just made for spouting philosophical expressions which make up in vagueness what they lack in meaningless:
“Industry,” said Mr Chester, “is the soul of business, and the keystone of prosperity.”
Rioting
The full title of the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty. The riots mentioned in the title are, indeed, significant to the narrative. The author gives a robust perspective of the nature of rioting that also includes the purely metaphorical:
“A mob is usually a creature of very mysterious existence, particularly in a large city. Where it comes from or whither it goes, few men can tell. Assembling and dispersing with equal suddenness, it is as difficult to follow to its various sources as the sea itself; nor does the parallel stop here, for the ocean is not more fickle and uncertain, more terrible when roused, more unreasonable, or more cruel.”
Character Description
Dickens is of course one of the masters of using metaphorical language to put across the central component of personality. Since this novel follows the path of his others, this means he gives himself ample opportunity to wield this literary skill as the population of Barnaby Rudge is stout:
“Mrs. Varden was a lady of what is commonly called an uncertain temper—a phrase which being interpreted signifies a temper tolerably certain to make everybody more or less uncomfortable.”
