董贝父子 (1848)

《董贝父子》（Dombey and Son），是狄更斯的作品，1846年开始创作，1848年完成，是他写作生涯的代表作，与他前期作品中存在着结构松散的缺点有很大不同，代表他的作品已达到成熟境界。

内容简介

这部小说描绘了19世纪英国工业社会中各个相互联系的侧面，有富可敌国的大资本家，有被资本家排挤的小商家，也有在生存线边缘苟活的乞丐。主角董贝先生是英国伦敦一个从事批发、零售和出口事业的公司的老板，他拥有巨大的财富，成了一位骄傲的人物，但他却无法跟自己的子女相处，无法了解子女们想要的是什么，造成了家庭悲剧，只有在他破产的时候，才得到了宝贵的父女之爱。

Dombey and Son is a novel by English author Charles Dickens. It follows the fortunes of a shipping firm owner, who is frustrated at the lack of a son to follow him in his footsteps; he initially rejects his daughter's love before eventually becoming reconciled with her.

The story features many Dickensian themes, such as arranged marriages, child cruelty, betrayal, deceit, and relations between people from different British social classes. The novel was first published in monthly parts between 1846 and 1848, with illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz").

Development

Dickens started writing the book in Lausanne, Switzerland, before returning to England, via Paris, to complete it.

The full title is Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation.

Plot summary

The story concerns Paul Dombey, the wealthy owner of the shipping company of the book's title, whose dream is to have a son to continue his business. The book begins when his son is born and Dombey's wife dies shortly after giving birth. Following the advice of Mrs Louisa Chick, his sister, Dombey employs a wet nurse named Mrs Richards (Toodle). Dombey already has a six-year-old daughter, Florence, but, bitter at her not having been the desired boy, he neglects her; following her mother's death, her main source of love is her young attendant, Susan Nipper. About six months later, the two servants take their charges on an unauthorised visit to the home of Mrs Richards, so that she can see her children briefly. On the long walk home, Florence becomes separated from them and is kidnapped for a short time by Good Mrs Brown before being returned to the streets. She makes her way to Dombey and Son's offices in the City and there is found and brought home by Walter Gay, a junior employee of Mr Dombey, who first introduces her to his uncle and guardian, the navigation instrument maker Solomon Gills, at his shop, The Wooden Midshipman.

Dombey’s son, named Paul after his father, is a weak and sickly child who does not socialise normally with others; adults call him "old fashioned". He is intensely fond of his sister, Florence, who is deliberately neglected by her father as a supposedly irrelevant distraction. Paul is sent to the seaside at Brighton for his health, where he and Florence lodge with the ancient and acidic Mrs Pipchin. Finding his health beginning to improve there, Mr Dombey keeps him at Brighton and has him educated at Dr and Mrs Blimber's school, where he and the other boys undergo an intense and arduous education under the tutelage of Mr Feeder, B.A. and Cornelia Blimber. It is here that Paul is befriended by a much older fellow pupil, the amiable but weak-minded Mr Toots.

Here Paul's health declines even further in this "great hothouse" and he finally dies. Dombey pushes his daughter away from him after the death of his son while she futilely tries to earn his love. In the meantime young Walter is sent off to fill a junior position in the firm's counting house in Barbados through the manipulations of Mr Dombey's confidential manager, Mr James Carker, "with his white teeth", who sees him as a potential rival through his association with Florence. The ship, The Son and Heir, is reported lost; Walter is presumed drowned. Solomon Gills departs London in search of his nephew, leaving his great friend Captain Edward Cuttle in charge of The Wooden Midshipman. Meanwhile Florence is left alone with few friends to keep her company.