Our Mutual Friend · Chapter
On the Look Out explained
The novel opens on the Thames at dusk, where Gaffer Hexam and his daughter Lizzie are out in a small boat.
What happens
The novel opens on the Thames at dusk, where Gaffer Hexam and his daughter Lizzie are out in a small boat. Gaffer, a scavenger of the dead, searches the river for bodies and valuables. He retrieves money from a corpse, which horrifies Lizzie. They encounter Rogue Riderhood, who tries to claim partnership, but Gaffer rebuffs him, asserting moral superiority over robbing the living. Lizzie rows them home, haunted by the grimness of their trade.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Mortality
The chapter opens with a grim depiction of death on the river, as Gaffer Hexam retrieves a corpse and its money, treating death as a source of livelihood.
The River as Symbol
The Thames is portrayed as a murky, life-giving yet death-dealing force, providing sustenance and danger, and reflecting the moral ambiguity of the characters.
Charity and Hypocrisy
Gaffer Hexam's self-righteous indignation at Riderhood's thievery from the living, while he himself profits from the dead, highlights a twisted sense of morality.
Characters to notice
- Gaffer Hexam
A rough, bird-of-prey-like man who scavenges corpses from the Thames for money. He rebuffs Riderhood's claim of partnership, asserting a twisted moral code.
- Lizzie Hexam
Gaffer's daughter, who rows the boat with dread and horror at their gruesome work. She is pale and shivers at the sight of a blood-like stain and the corpse in tow.
- Roger Riderhood
A squinting, opportunistic river scavenger who tries to ingratiate himself with Gaffer as a 'pardner,' but is angrily dismissed.
Key passages
“In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.”
One autumn evening, a grimy, suspicious-looking boat with two people aboard drifted on the Thames between Southwark Bridge (made of iron) and London Bridge (made of stone).
Sets the scene and establishes the river as a central, atmospheric setting.
“He had no net, hook, or line, and he could not be a fisherman; his boat had no cushion for a sitter, no paint, no inscription, no appliance beyond a rusty boat-hook and a coil of rope, and he could not be a waterman; his boat was too crazy and too small to take in cargo for delivery, and he could not be a lighterman or river-carrier; there was no clue to what he looked for, but he looked for something, with a most intent and searching gaze.”
The man wasn't a fisherman, waterman, or cargo carrier; his boat was bare except for a rusty hook and rope, and he stared intently at the water, searching for something unknown.
Highlights the mystery of Gaffer's occupation, which is later revealed to be corpse-scavenging.
“But, it happened now, that a slant of light from the setting sun glanced into the bottom of the boat, and, touching a rotten stain there which bore some resemblance to the outline of a muffled human form, coloured it as though with diluted blood.”
A ray of sunset light fell on a decayed stain in the boat that looked like a shrouded body, turning it the color of diluted blood.
Foreshadows the corpse and the violent, bloody nature of their work.
“In his right hand he held something, and he washed that in the river too. It was money. He chinked it once, and he blew upon it once, and he spat upon it once—'for luck,' he hoarsely said—before he put it in his pocket.”
He washed a handful of money in the river, then jingled it, blew on it, and spat on it for luck before pocketing it.
Reveals Gaffer's superstitious and callous attitude toward the money taken from the dead.
“Since you was accused of robbing a man. Accused of robbing a live man! said Gaffer, with great indignation. And what if I had been accused of robbing a dead man, Gaffer? You couldn't do it. Couldn't you, Gaffer? No. Has a dead man any use for money? Is it possible for a dead man to have money? What world does a dead man belong to? T'other world. What world does money belong to? This world. How can money be a corpse's? Can a corpse own it, want it, spend it, claim it, miss it?”
Gaffer angrily rejects Riderhood's claim of partnership because Riderhood was accused of robbing a living man, arguing that robbing the dead is not a crime since the dead have no use for money.
Exposes Gaffer's twisted moral logic, justifying his own scavenging from corpses while condemning theft from the living.
