The Old Curiosity Shop · Chapter
Chapter XXXIV explained
Mr.
What happens
Mr. Swiveller settles into his new role as clerk to Sampson Brass, grappling with his reduced circumstances and taunting his fate. After Miss Sally Brass departs, he explores the office and assumes a careless demeanor. A mysterious single gentleman arrives to rent lodgings, and the small servant girl fetches Swiveller to show the rooms. The gentleman pays ten pounds down, takes the lodgings for two years, and immediately goes to bed, leaving Swiveller bewildered by the strangeness of the household.
Themes in this chapter
Class and Social Hierarchy
Swiveller's fall from gentleman to clerk highlights the precariousness of social status, while the small servant's lowly position underscores class divisions.
Greed and Exploitation
The small servant's exploitation—doing all the work for minimal reward—reflects the greed of her employers, and Swiveller's own financial desperation is exploited by Quilp and Brass.
Characters to notice
- Richard Swiveller
Accepts his clerkship under Brass with ironic resignation, explores the office, and deals with the arrival of the single gentleman.
- Sally Brass
Finishes her work, takes snuff, and leaves the office, instructing Swiveller to take messages.
- Daniel Quilp
Mentioned as having offered Swiveller the clerkship and backed by Fred Trent.
- Sampson Brass
The master of the house; Swiveller reflects on being his clerk.
- The Small Servant
A small slipshod girl who does all the housework and fetches Swiveller to show the lodgings.
Key passages
“So I'm Brass's clerk, am I? ... Brass's clerk, eh? And the clerk of Brass's sister—clerk to a female Dragon.”
Swiveller bitterly acknowledges his new position as clerk to both Sampson Brass and his sister Sally, whom he calls a female dragon.
Swiveller's ironic self-reflection on his diminished circumstances.
“No man knocks himself down; if his destiny knocks him down, his destiny must pick him up again.”
Swiveller rationalizes his situation by claiming that since fate has brought him low, fate must also restore him.
Swiveller's philosophical resignation to his misfortunes.
“This is a most remarkable and supernatural sort of house! ... She-dragons in the business, conducting themselves like professional gentlemen; plain cooks of three feet high appearing mysteriously from under ground; strangers walking in and going to bed without leave or licence in the middle of the day!”
Swiveller marvels at the bizarre household, with its dragon-like female clerk, a tiny cook who seems to appear from nowhere, and a stranger who rents a room and immediately goes to sleep.
Swiveller's astonished summary of the strange events in Brass's house.