The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club Study Guide

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is a humorous and satirical novel by Charles Dickens. Originally published as a serial, The Pickwick Papers features a collection of adventures around England. A wealthy gentleman named Samuel Pickwick proposes to his Pickwick Club that the members travel away from London and return to tell of their travels. The adventures consist of humorous adventures, comedies of misunderstanding and satirical caricatures of the members and English country life.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club Characters

Central characters

  • Samuel Pickwick— the main protagonist and founder of the Pickwick Club. Following his description in the text, Pickwick is usually portrayed by illustrators as a round-faced, clean-shaven, portly gentleman wearing spectacles.
  • Nathaniel Winkle— a young friend of Pickwick's and his travelling companion; he considers himself a sportsman, though he turns out to be dangerously inept when handling horses and guns.
  • Augustus Snodgrass— another young friend and companion; he considers himself a poet, though there is no mention of any of his own poetry in the novel.
  • Tracy Tupman— the third travelling companion, a fat and elderly man who nevertheless considers himself a romantic lover.
  • Sam Weller— Mr Pickwick's valet, and a source of idiosyncratic proverbs and advice.
  • Tony Weller— Sam's father, a loquacious coachman.
  • Alfred Jingle— a strolling actor and charlatan, noted for telling bizarre anecdotes in a distinctively extravagant, disjointed style.

Supporting characters

  • Joe— the "fat boy" who consumes great quantities of food and constantly falls asleep in any situation at any time of day; Joe's sleep problem is the origin of the medical term Pickwickian syndrome which ultimately led to the subsequent description of Obesity hypoventilation syndrome.
  • Job Trotter— Mr Jingle's wily servant, whose true slyness is only ever seen in the first few lines of a scene, before he adopts his usual pretence of meekness.
  • Mr Wardle— owner of a farm in Dingley Dell. Mr Pickwick's friend, they meet at the military review in Rochester. Joe is his servant.
  • Rachael Wardle— Mr. Wardle's spinster sister, who tries in vain to elope with the unscrupulous Jingle.
  • Mr Perker— an attorney of Mr Wardle, and later of Mr Pickwick.
  • Mary— "a well-shaped female servant" and Sam Weller's "Valentine".
  • Mrs Martha Bardell— Mr Pickwick's widowed landlady who brings a case against him for breach of promise.
  • Emily Wardle— one of Mr Wardle's daughters, very fond of Mr Snodgrass.
  • Arabella Allen— a friend of Emily Wardle and sister of Ben Allen. She later elopes with Mr. Winkle and marries him.
  • Benjamin "Ben" Allen— Arabella's brother, a dissipated medical student.
  • Robert "Bob" Sawyer— Ben Allen's friend and fellow student.

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