Our Mutual Friend

The vast Harmon fortune at the center of the plot was made from dust heaps. Dust heaps were giant mountains of dust, debris, garbage, and anything else that people wanted to throw away; they performed a public sanitation function as an improvised dumping ground in the urban environment and thus symbolize the rapid industrialization that has affected London. During the Victorian era, the city of London expanded rapidly. The newly dense urban environment was suddenly populated by a vast number of people who lacked the social institutions and knowledge to deal with all the wasteful byproducts of the modern age. The factories did not know what to do with the waste materials produced during manufacture, while the poor and rich neighborhoods alike lacked a means of disposing of regular household waste. Harmon’s dust heaps are a private, enriching enterprise—a way of capitalizing on the sudden needs of a changing society that has not yet formulated a social response to new demands. Their profitability suggests the way in which the rapidly changing city can make certain individuals very wealthy, but it also raises ethical questions about the societal costs (e.g., pollution) of such endeavors.

In fact, the heaps’ immense value reflects poorly on material wealth in general, suggesting that it too is “dirty”—exploitative and corrupt. However, the symbolism can also be reversed. Dust heaps contained lost items and valuables, but the “junk” itself also had value. The dust and other materials could be sold to manufacturers and factories to produce bricks, building supplies, and other goods. In this sense, the dust heaps serve as a reminder that “wealth” may exist in unexpected places, foreshadowing Bella’s realization that a happy marriage is preferable to a rich one.

Throughout the novel, the dust heaps are slowly cleared away. As the dust heaps disappear, many of the mysteries of the plot are similarly swept away. During one of his late-night literary sessions with Silas, Boffin fetches a bottle from the dust heaps that he once managed as Harmon’s employee. The item is later revealed to be a third will that clarifies the true ownership of the Harmon estate once and for all. The dust heaps here symbolize the filthy detritus of the past, which must be swept away before the future can be clarified. John Harmon’s identities, Boffin’s deceit, and Silas’s blackmail are all resolved once the dust heaps are removed.