Mr. Jones (Character)

As the title suggests Mr. Jones is a character that is present throughout the whole story. The first time he is mentioned is when Lady Jane Lynke is declined entry into Bells on account of Mr. Jones. She is later told that he is the great uncle of Mrs. Clemm who had worked his way up from being a pantry boy to being the butler of the household and even the caretaker. He was liked by the old owner of the house, who was away most of the time and communicated with him through letters. Whenever it comes to meeting Mr. Jones in person, the answer Mrs. Clemm gives her is that “he’s more dead than living [...]” (p. 600) and that he is in no condition to meet anyone. Without other information the reader is led to believe that he has a severe illness. The impressions intensifies when she adds that “he’s never once been away that I know of.” The reason for that inability to leave is understood by Jane as the side effect of the illness. During the course of the story there are other statements that lead to the same conclusion, like “He’s between life and death” (p. 601).

The more the story progresses, the more the image of the character changes. After inviting guests over, Lady Jane sees something that looks like an old man with bent shoulders in the blue parlour room. But “almost before she had received the impression there was no one there” (p. 603). This is the first time Lady Jane starts to doubt the things she is told. But even though Lady Jane is the only one who saw the old man, it is Stramer who starts to believe that “There is no Mr. Jones” (p.608) after failing to pinpoint the location of the old man’s room in the house. The next encounter with the image of the old man comes shortly after, when Lady Jane enters the blue parlour room alone and sees the apparition of the old man standing next to the citron wood desk again. This is when she recognizes him (p. 611).

Edward Stramer and Jane Lynke find even more information about him after they found the lost pages of the family’s history. There they discover that the person Mr. Jones had already been alive over a hundred years ago living at Bells. Started by the discovery Stramer comes to the conclusion that the now ruling Mr. Jones had to be already dead (p. 614). The revelation to that question comes when Georgianna tells them that Mr. Jones had already died a long time ago and that it was his ghost giving orders from the grave in the churchyard (p. 616) [1].

The name Jones comes from the Hebrew word Jonah, which is interpreted in the biblical sense as “destroyer” and “suppressor”. Both of these terms fit very well looking at the character. Mr. Jones first suppresses Peregrine Vincent Theobald Lynkes wife and keeps her a prisoner in Bells and later he does the same thing with his relatives Mrs. Clemm and Georgiana, who he forces to work for him. The meaning “destroyer” can be seen when he punishes them for failing him and in a sense destroys them [2].

[1] Lewis, Richard Warrington Baldwin (1968): The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton – Volume 2. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

[2]: “Jones”, Vorname.com.

https://www.vorname.com/name,Jones.html (12.05.2019)