Charles Dickens's final completed novel explores how money shapes human identity and social class

Cultures · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Published between 1864 and 1865, Our Mutual Friend is a sophisticated critique of Victorian society. Through a complex web of characters—from the wealthy Golden Dustman to the impoverished dolls' dressmaker—Dickens examines the corrupting influence of inheritance, the struggle for social mobility, and the redemptive power of moral integrity.

At the heart of the narrative lies the fortune of Old Mr Harmon, a man who amassed wealth by scavenging London's rubbish heaps. His inheritance is contingent upon his estranged son, John Harmon, marrying Bella Wilfer. When a body pulled from the Thames is misidentified as John, the fortune passes to his loyal employees, the Boffins. This shift in wealth triggers a series of moral tests for the characters, as they navigate the pressures of status and the allure of greed.

Dickens uses the novel to dissect the Victorian class structure, contrasting the nouveau riche, like the Veneerings and the Boffins, with those trapped in poverty. Characters like Charley Hexam and Bradley Headstone illustrate the alienating effects of education and social climbing, while others, such as Lizzie Hexam and the dolls' dressmaker Jenny Wren, represent moral resilience amidst adversity. The novel is deeply concerned with the 'mask' of respectability, often using characters like the schoolmaster Headstone to reveal the violent, animalistic passions lurking beneath a facade of mechanical decency.

The novel's structure, which some contemporary reviewers found confusing, is now recognized as a deliberate experiment in social analysis. Recurring motifs, such as rebirth from the water and the symbolic significance of dust—representing both waste and the source of the Harmon fortune—underscore the theme of social transformation. By the end, the narrative challenges the reader to look past superficial appearances, ultimately suggesting that true worth is found in self-sacrifice and the ability to defy societal expectations, rather than in the accumulation of wealth.

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