The Pickwick Papers

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Tracy Tupman, Nathaniel Winkle, Samuel Pickwick and Augustus Snodgrass. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Title: The Pickwick Papers

Author: Charles Dickens

Main characters: Mr. Samuel Pickwick, Alfred Jingle, Mr. Wardle, Mr. Nathaniel Winkle, Mr. Tony Weller, Samuel Weller, Mr. Tracy Tupman, Mr. Snodgrass, Arabella Allen, Emily Wardle, Isabella Wardle, Rachael Wardle.

Description of one of the main characters: 

Mr. Samuel Pickwick is a retired businessman. He is the founder of the Pickwick Club. He travels around with his friends Mr. Tupman, Mr. Snodgrass and Mr. Winkle to the interiors of England. He gets to meet different kinds of people and also understands their behavior. He makes new friends while travelling around. Then, when his friends slowly get married and get other jobs, he dissolves the club and start living peacefully.

Whom I like and why: I like Mr. Wardle very much. He is hearty. He is the hospitable owner of Manor Farm in Dingley Dell. His elderly mother lives with him. He has two daughters – Emily Wardle and Isabella Wardle. He also has a spinster sister named Rachael Wardle. He is a very fun-loving person and is always ready to help.

Whom I dislike and why: I dislike Alfred Jingle. He is an itinerant actor. He refuses to tell his name in the beginning to Mr.Pickwick, Mr. Snodgrerss, Mr.Tupman and Mr.Winkle. He speaks in broken sentences with abrupt pauses. He is a very strange man.

Setting/theme of the story: Mr. Samuel Pickwick, the founder of the Pickwick club travels around with the "Pickwikians" – Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Winkle and Mr. Tupman to explore the rural areas of England. They first meet Alfred Jingle who is an itinerant actor. They have a few adventures with him. Then they meet Mr. Wardle, his elderly mother Mrs. Wardle, his two daughters Emily Wardle and Isabella Wardle and Rachael Wardle. They dine and stay with them for a few days. They have do partying and the Pickwikians thoroughly enjoy themselves. They meet Allen, Benjamin Allen and his sister Arabella Allen. Miss Allen is Arabella Allen’s aunt. Nathaniel Winkle marries Arabella Allen. Mr. Pickwick finds a servant for himself named Sam Weller. Sam Weller is very loyal to Mr. Pickwick. So, Mr. Pickwick frees him and gives him a houe in the back garden of his house. Then he decides to dissolve the Pickwick Club because of two reasons – one because the Pickwick Club has suffered much from internal dissensions during Mr. Pickwick's long absence; second, because all his friends had settled down and got other jobs. After dissolving The Pickwick Club, Mr. Pickwick says:

“I shall never regret having devoted the greatest part of 2 years to mixing with different varieties and shades of human pursuit of novelty may have appeared to many.”

Part I enjoyed the most: I enjoyed the part when Mr.Pickwick, Mr. Tupman, Mr.Winkle, Mr. Snodgrass, Mr.Wardle, Mrs. Wardle, Rachael Wardle, Emily Wardle and Isabella Wardle come in fancy dresses and costumes to the dinner, dressing up as someone else. Mr. Pickwick alone doesn’t dress as someone else as the others say he is a man of character himself and does not have a need to dress up as someone else.