Essay Questions

Who is the real killer of Reuben Haredale and how does he get away with it for so long?

The real killer of Reuben Haredale is Barnaby Rudge Senior. He was the steward at The Warren, working for Reuben, and had previously been suspected of the murder because he had disappeared almost immediately after it happened. However, when the body of the steward was found a couple of days later, it became clear that the murderer was the gardener, who had vanished, never to be seen again.

It is only when Rudge Senior himself returns and reveals the truth that the mystery is solved; as suspected, it was the steward who murdered Reuben, but he got away with it by taking the clothes from the gardener's corpse and putting them on, dressing the deceased gardener is his own steward uniform.

What does the narrative reveal about Dickens's own opinion of the Gordon Rioters and their objectives?

The narrative often reveals Dickens's own opinions and political views; for example, the fact that he brings together a couple who are both Catholic and Church of England demonstrates that he does not believe religion to be something that should be divisive. He also seems willing to believe that the original purpose of the demonstration was hijacked in that the peaceful protestors, who believed strongly in their cause, were overrun by criminals and people who did not care at all about the issues at stake, but saw an opportunity for looting and theft that they did not want to pass up.

The narrative also shows that Dickens believed the penal system to be broken. This is a common thread in his writing, showing a sort of "underclass" that runs roughshod around the streets of London picking pockets and causing damage relatively unchallenged. He believes in penal reform, prisons that work and a better police force because at the time of his writing he appears to view the police as far to similar to the people they are arresting.

Dickens always viewed himself as a social commentator first, and a writer second, so it is not at all surprising to see him pepper his novels with the kind of social observation that he feels is most important in bringing about change.