Distressing sons, anxious fathers and worries about the empire in Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son

In Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son, almost every father character exhibits some sort of anxiety regarding the growth of the younger generation. Dickens’s private distress over his expanding family not only served as the catalyst for his exploration of anxious fathers but also must have inspired his contemplation of other issues prevalent during the mid-Victorian era. This article delves into the implications of Dickens’s portrayal of these fathers’ anxiety. It argues that, while his depiction of anxious fathers may have been associated with some biographical elements, Dickens shared their concerns about the development of the younger generation, as well as the unease surrounding the future of the Empire. Writing at a time when Victorian society was permeated with worries regarding the future of the Empire, plagued by challenges both at home and abroad, Dickens conveys this mood through his dramatization of the various anxieties experienced by the father characters in the novel.