"Jiniral Fladdock!" (1872). — Fred Barnard's twenty-third regular illustration for Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (Chapter XVII), page 145. [Martin meets "the cream" of New York society, including the ridiculous general(in American dialect, "Jiniral"), who is a great friend of the snobbish Norrises.] 10.6 cm x 13.8 cm, or 3 ¾ high by 5 ½ inches, framed. Running head: "A Man and A Brother," 145. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: An Evening of American "Culture"
Martin felt his reason going: and as a means of saving himself, besought the other sister (seeing a piano in the room) to sing. With this request she willingly complied; and a bravura concert, solely sustained by the Misses Noriss, presently began. They sang in all languages — except their own. German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swiss; but nothing native; nothing so low as native. For, in this respect, languages are like many other travellers; ordinary and commonplace enough at home, but specially genteel abroad.
p>There is little doubt that in course of time the Misses Norris would have come to Hebrew, if they had not been interrupted by an announcement from the Irishman, who flinging open the door, cried in a loud voice:"Jiniral Fladdock!"
"My!"cried the sisters, desisting suddenly. "The general come back!"
As they made the exclamation, the general, attired in full uniform for a ball, came darting in with such precipitancy that, hitching his boot in the carpet, and getting his sword between his legs, he came down headlong, and presented a curious little bald place on the crown of his head to the eyes of the astonished company. Nor was this the worst of it: for being rather corpulent and very tight, the general being down, could not get up again, but lay there writing and doing such things with his boots, as there is no other instance of in military history.
Of course there was an immediate rush to his assistance; and the general was promptly raised. But his uniform was so fearfully and wonderfully made, that he came up stiff and without a bend in him like a dead clown, and had no command whatever of himself until he was put quite flat upon the soles of his feet, when he became animated as by a miracle, and moving edgewise that he might go in a narrower compass and be in less danger of fraying the gold lace on his epaulettes by brushing them against anything, advanced with a smiling visage to salute the lady of the house.[Chapter XVII, "Martin enlarges his circle of acquaintance; increases his stock of wisdom; and has an excellent opportunity of comparing his own experiences with those of Lummy Ned of the Light Salisbury, as related by his friend Mr. William Simmons," 148]
Commentary: Dickens's Satire of American Society Begins
The text juxtaposes the Humpty-Dumpty figure of the operetta general, Fladdock, with the Americans of no title or rank, both pro-abolitionists, the snobbish Mr. Norris, and the genuine Mr. Bevan, both of whom are critical of their society and appraise it with the cool skepticism of Martin Chuzzlewit, the outsider and observer of American morals and mores. Although Barnard foregrounds the awkward military man, he includes the fashionably dressed Miss Norrisses, singing at the upright piano, and, beside them, the ever-observant Martin. It is noteworthy that Mr. Bevan from Massachusetts is one of the few White Americans Martin encounters who has not given himself a title and a military or professional persona.
Undoubtedly upset by American attitudes towards copyright, thirty-year-old British author Charles Dickens availed himself of every opportunity to satirize American society, beginning with the hyperbolic rhetoric of the editor of The New York Rowdy Journal, Colonel Diver. Neither frowning nor leering, but perhaps both at the same time, the yellow journalist is Dickens's particular target for the general send-up of American hypocrisy. The Dickens Index notes Dickens likely named the plagiarist after John Gay's Jenny Diver in the three-act Beggar's Opera (1728). The reference is pertinent in that, like the American chapters of Martin Chuzzlewit, Gay's libretto ridicules powerful politicians, the corrupt wealthy, and social injustice in general. A particular target for Dickens's send-up of American jingoism and exclusivity is the ridiculous General Fladdock, for he dares to criticize the class system of "that a-mazing Europe," and yet is affronted by Martin's being presented to him as a fellow passenger aboard The Screw when the young Englishman was a mere steerage traveller unworthy of his notice. Dickens also singles out for humorous ridicule the husband of the proprietress of the rooming-house, the pompous speculator (and swindler) Major Pawkins from Pennsylvania.
Barnard includes among the twenty diners the comic butt, General Fladdock, in the foreground, tripping over his sword and losing his comic-opera hat; Martin (rear, right of centre); the comic Irish butler (left); the snobbish Mr. Norris (left of centre, rear); and the fatuous Misses Norris at the piano.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Dickens, Charles. The Dickens Souvenir Book. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1871-1880. The copy of The Dickens Souvenir Book from which these pictures were scanned is in the collection of the Main Library of The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B. C.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman and Hall, 1844.
_____. Martin Chuzzlewit. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 55 vols. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. New York: Sheldon and Co., 1863. Vol. 2 of 4.
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. 2.
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated Sterling Edition. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne and Frederick Barnard. Boston: Dana Estes, n. d. [1890s]
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 7.
Steig, Michael. "From Caricature to Progress: Master Humphrey's Clock and Martin Chuzzlewit." Ch. 3, Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978. Pp. 51-85. [See e-text in Victorian Web.]
Steig, Michael. "Martin Chuzzlewit's Progress by Dickens and Phiz." Dickens Studies Annual 2 (1972): 119-149.
Last modified 22 July 2016
Last updated 20 November 2024