Note 3 to Chapter 6 of the author's Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter which Clarendon Press published in 1972. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author and of the Clarendon Press, which retains copyright.
That the novel is really about the development of selfhood rather than simply selfishness is argued at length by Miller, pp. 98-142. Interesting complementary readings are given by Marcus, pp 213-68, and by R. A. Horsman, pp. 9-11.
Last modified: 3 May 2001