Summary
The novel opens in London on an autumn evening. Gaffer Hexam and his daughter Lizzie are sailing aboard a small, run-down boat on the River Thames. Lizzie seems distressed by their task, but helps to sail and steer the boat as her father completes his task: retrieving a corpse from the river and pocketing the money found on the body. They are approached by a man in another boat, who seems to have a tense relationship with Gaffer. Gaffer mentions that this other man has been accused of theft, making sure to distinguish this crime from what he does: he argues that corpses have no use for money, and therefore there is nothing wrong with taking it.
Meanwhile, in a very different neighborhood, readers are introduced to the Veneerings, a wealthy couple who have only recently acquired their fortune. They rely on their friend Twemlow to help introduce them to members of good society. That evening, they are joined by several guests, including Mr. and Mrs. Podsnap, and a lawyer named Mortimer Lightwood. To the interested guests, Mortimer tells the story of John Harmon. Harmon was the son of a man who made an enormous fortune out of a dust heap. After his father mistreated his mother and sister, Harmon became estranged from him and went to live abroad. His father recently died, and was discovered to have left an unusual condition in his will: John Harmon can only claim his large inheritance if he marries a woman his father has selected for him. If Harmon refuses the marriage, or dies, the inheritance reverts to an elderly servant.
Before the end of the dinner, Mortimer is shocked to receive a note informing him that John Harmon has drowned. He locates the messenger, who identifies himself as Charley Hexam, the son of the man who found the body. As they prepare to leave, Mortimer comments on Charley’s surprising level of education, who explains that his sister has ensured he received schooling, even though it was the subject of argument. Eugene Wrayburn, another lawyer who is also a dinner guest, offers to go with them. As the three of them travel, Mortimer explains that his practice is solely devoted to his work for the Harmon family, and Mortimer and Eugene complain about their dissatisfaction with the law.
Charley and the two lawyers arrive at the rundown Hexam home. Gaffer Hexam explains that he has followed all legal procedures after finding the body, and does not respond to probing questions about whether or not there was any money on the body. Another man appears at the cottage, responding to the poster advertising that a body has been found. The stranger accompanies Eugene, Mortimer, and the Hexams to the police station to inspect the body. He seems distressed by the sight but says that the body is not the person he was seeking. He won’t give much information, but he gives his name as Julius Handford before leaving the police station. The police inspector does not give much information, but will not rule out foul play related to the body.
Everyone leaves the station: the lawyers go off together, Gaffer goes to a pub, and Charley goes home alone. He speaks with Lizzie, who avoided interacting with the men because she was ashamed of her family’s secret. They discuss how Lizzie struggles to ensure that Charley gets an education even though their father does not approve. She tries her best to help her father, and has hopes that someday Charley will have a better life, even if it means losing contact with his family.
The next morning, Hexam attends the inquest, along with Mortimer Lightwood and the police inspector. During the inquest, testimony reveals that John Harmon had recently arrived in England with about seven hundred pounds in cash, ready to claim his inheritance. The inquest rules that John Harmon died under suspicious circumstances but that the body was too decayed to learn more. A reward is set for anyone who can provide information about the death.
Reginald Wilfer is a modest clerk who works for the firm owned by Veneerings. His daughter Bella was betrothed to John Harmon, even though she never met him, and is now annoyed at the disruption caused in her life by his death. It is unclear why old Mr. Harmon selected her for his future daughter-in-law, since he barely knew the family, and met her briefly as a child. She is treated as a kind of widow and now has no hope of the fortune she would have received upon her marriage. With the family’s economic problems showing no signs of turning around, they have rented out a floor of their house to a man named John Rokesmith, who arrives and provides little information about himself, which raises the suspicions of the Wilfer daughters. The narrator notes that John Rokesmith and Julius Handford are identical in appearance.
Analysis
The opening chapters create a somewhat grim view of London in both its upper and lower class ranks. Life is difficult for Lizzie, who seems surrounded by the physical hardships of enduring cold, damp, and often foul smelling conditions, as well as the deeper moral hardships of knowing that her father engages in ethically reprehensible behavior, and might even be insinuated in some sort of criminal underworld.
While the river scenes introduce the possibility of criminal secrets, and the dark mysteries of how bodies come to find their final resting place in the water, the scenes at the Veneering house show a different sort of deceit and falsehood. As their name suggests, the Veneerings are all about maintaining outward appearances of wealth and high social position, but no one in their social circle ever seems to be genuine or honest with their supposed friends. They aim to profit by these acquaintances in a way not very different from how Gaffer Hexam strips cash and valuables from lifeless bodies.
From the beginning, the novel also frames a critical view on the domestic world, challenging common beliefs about both marriages, and relationships between parents and children. Although his practice of robbing corpses allows him to support his family, Gaffer Hexam taints his children by exposing them to his criminal lifestyle. In the Victorian era, a young woman’s innocence was expected to be safeguarded by her family, especially her male relatives, yet Gaffer exposes Lizzie to a seedy criminal underworld. Perhaps in response to her father’s lack of responsibility, Lizzie has to take on a role as a parental surrogate for her brother. She is able to see that education holds the key to Charley’s upwards social mobility, and might be able to save him from falling into a life of crime like his father.
The backstory of the Harmon family also suggests that parents do not always offer a loving and supportive environment to their children. Old Mr. Harmon was focused on controlling the romantic lives of his children; when he failed to successfully control his daughter’s choice of partner, he put a seemingly random clause in his will in order to control who his son married. Since Bella Wilfer does not come from a wealthy or aristocratic family, there is no clear advantage to the marriage, and it seems to function simply as a way for old John Harmon to assert his control and dominance over his son.
The use of money as a tool for power and dominating others reflects the dark view of money and capitalism presented as the novel opens. Gaffer Hexam literally scavenges off of corpses that have become dehumanized as they circulate amidst a flow of water that seems to mirror how money, influence, and power flow between individuals. Old John Harmon has made his fortune by scavenging through dust heaps: heaps of garbage and refuse. He then uses the processes of capitalism and the legitimizing powers of business to appear as a wealthy, esteemed man, but the roots of his wealth lie in things usually considered dirty and disgusting. The Veneerings are also able to cultivate power and privilege because of the way they visibly display their wealth, attracting others to them in hope of profit.
