Selected Writings of Charles Dickens
Dombey sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great arm-chair by the bedside, and Son lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, carefully disposed on a low settee immediately in front of the fire and close to it, as if his constitution were analogous to that of a muffin, and it was essential to toast him brown while he was very new.
Dombey was about eight-and-forty years of age. Son about eight-and-forty minutes. Dombey was rather bald, rather red, and though a handsome well-made man, too stern and pompous in appearance, to be prepossessing. Son was very bald, and very red, and though (of course) an undeniably fine infant, somewhat crushed and spotty in his general effect, as yet. On the brow of Dombey, Time and his brother Care had set some marks, as on a tree that was to come down in good time--remorseless twins they are for striding through their human forests, notching as they go--while the countenance of Son was crossed and recrossed with a thousand little creases, which the same deceitful Time would take delight in smoothing out and wearing away with the flat part of his scythe, as a preparation of the surface for his deeper operations.
Dombey, exulting in the long-looked-for event, jingled and jingled the heavy gold watch-chain that depended from below his trim blue coat, whereof the buttons sparkled phosphorescently in the feeble rays of the distant fire. Son, with his little fists curled up and clenched, seemed, in his feeble way, to be squaring at existence for having come upon him so unexpectedly.
`The house will once again, Mrs. Dombey,' said Mr. Dombey, `be not only in name but in fact Dombey and Son; Dom-bey and Son!'
The words had such a softening influence, that he appended a term of endearment to Mrs. Dombey's name (though not without some hesitation, as being a man but little used to that form of address): and said, `Mrs. Dombey, my--my dear.'
A transient flush of faint surprise overspread the sick lady's face as she raised her eyes towards him.
`He will be christened Paul, my--Mrs. Dombey--of course.'
She feebly echoed, `Of course,' or rather expressed it by the motion of her lips, and closed her eyes again.
`His father's name, Mrs. Dombey, and his grandfather's! I wish his grandfather were alive this day!' And again he said `Dom-bey and Son,' in exactly the same tone as before.
Those three words conveyed the one idea of Mr. Dombey's life. The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships; rainbows gave them promise of fair weather; winds blew for or against their enterprises; stars and planets circled in their orbits, to preserve inviolate a system of which they were the centre. Common abbreviations took new meanings in his eyes, and had sole reference to them: A.D. had no concern with anno Domini, but stood for anno Dombei--and Son.
Questions for Discussion
1. The passage is probably taken from
A) a journal
B) an epistolary novel
C) a Victorian novel
D) a stream-of-consciousness novel
E) an essay
2. In lines 19–25 of the second paragraph, which of the following are compared?
I. Time is compared to a forester.
II. The brow is compared to a tree.
III. The lines on a face are compared to marks on a tree to be felled.
A) II only
B) I and II only
C) I and III only
D) II and III only
E) I, II, and III
3. In line 42, the “house” is
A) Parliament
B) a business firm
C) a place of residence
D) a family
E) a social unit
4. Dombey and Son is evidently a
A) trading company
B) law firm
C) retailer of domestic goods
D) religious denomination
E) ship-building company
5. In the lines dealing with Mrs. Dombey,
she is characterized as all the following
EXCEPT
A. passive
B. accustomed to her husband’s stern
demeanor
C. frail
D. loving
E. reticent
22. In lines 53–55, Mrs. Dombey is
surprised because
A. she has not yet recovered from her
labor
B. Mr. Dombey has spoken
affectionately
C. she has misunderstood Mr.
Dombey’s words
D. Mr. Dombey has called her “Mrs.
Dombey”
E. Mr. Dombey is delighted that the
child is a son rather than a daughter
23. The central concern of Mr. Dombey’s
life is his
A. wife
B. child
C. riches
D. company
E. sense of well-being
24. In lines 74–76 (“stars and
planets...centre”), the antecedent of the
pronoun “they” is
A. “stars”
B. “planets”
C. both “stars” and “planets”
D. “orbits”
E. “Dombey and Son”