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Joyce Scarbrough
Unity Member
Post Number:
1301
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 - 01:15 pm: |   |
My 19-year-old daughter and I attend a Classics Revisited book discussion group at our local library every month, and our last selection was GREAT EXPECTATIONS, which we both loved. (It had so much subtle humor!) However, there was something both my daughter and I wondered about that no one in the group could explain. In chapter 15, when the character of Orlick is introduced, Pip writes this passage:
"He pretended that his christian name was Dolge--a clear impossibility--but he was a fellow of that obstinate disposition that I believe him to have been the prey of no delusion in this particular, but wilfully to have imposed that name upon the village as an affront to its understanding."
Why was it "a clear impossibility" for Dolge to be Orlick's christian name? I've attempted a search of various Dickens sites and Googled the name "Dolge" but have yet to find any explanation. Obviously, it's not a big deal, but my daughter and I tend to obsess over little mysteries like this and hope someone can help us solve it!
~Joyce Sterling Scarbrough
True Blue Forever
ISBN 0-9722385-9-X
Different Roads
ISBN 0-9722385-3-0
Authors Ink Books
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com
Read the first chapters: http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Waste time on Joyce's Blog: http://joycescarbrough.blogspot.com
Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kztz5e3XZeo |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2534
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 - 02:09 pm: | |
Was there ever a "SAINT" Dolge? In the Catholic Church, parents are expected to name their children after saints and those are called their "christian" names.
Dennis Collins
Moderator
www.theunrealmccoy.com
http://theunrealmccoy.blogspot.com |
Joyce Scarbrough
Unity Member
Post Number:
1303
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 - 05:26 pm: | |
Nothing came up when I Googled "Saint Dolge" but that was a good guess, Dennis. Thanks!
~Joyce Sterling Scarbrough
True Blue Forever
ISBN 0-9722385-9-X
Different Roads
ISBN 0-9722385-3-0
Authors Ink Books
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com
Read the first chapters: http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Waste time on Joyce's Blog: http://joycescarbrough.blogspot.com
Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kztz5e3XZeo |
Joyce Scarbrough
Unity Member
Post Number:
1308
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 08:16 am: | |
You were right, Dennis! I e-mailed a professor at Purdue University whose name came up in a Google search for "Dickens scholar" and he said Dolge could not have been his "christian" name because there was no saint named Dolge.
When I first read your response, I thought you meant maybe there was a Saint Dolge and there was some reason he couldn't have been named after that particular saint. I just had a blonde moment I guess! (Shut up, Bill!)
~Joyce Sterling Scarbrough
True Blue Forever
ISBN 0-9722385-9-X
Different Roads
ISBN 0-9722385-3-0
Authors Ink Books
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com
Read the first chapters: http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Waste time on Joyce's Blog: http://joycescarbrough.blogspot.com
Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kztz5e3XZeo |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2536
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 08:31 am: | |
Dennis Collins
Moderator
www.theunrealmccoy.com
http://theunrealmccoy.blogspot.com |
Nancy Mehl
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2729
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 08:47 am: | |
I absolutely love Dickens. Read everything he wrote when I was a teenager.
Nancy
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
"The Ivy Towers Mystery Series" Barbour Books - 2008
www.nancymehl.com
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