Mr. Sowerberry

Mr. Sowerberry
First appearance	Oliver Twist
Created by	Charles Dickens
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Undertaker
Spouse(s)	Mrs. Sowerberry

Mr. Sowerberry is a fictional character who appears as a weak antagonist in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. He is an undertaker and coffin maker who owns and operates a small dark shop in a small town some 75 miles from London. This shop also serves as a dwelling for himself, his wife, a maidservant named Charlotte, an assistant named Noah Claypole, and, for a short period, as an apprentice, the protagonist of the novel, Master Oliver Twist.

In the novel Sowerberry is described as a "tall gaunt, large jointed man, attired in a suit of threadbare black, with darned cotton stockings of the same colour, and shoes to answer." The various stage and screen adaptations of the novel do their best to interpret this description in the guise of an older male. Funerary practices and social customs of the time add depth to this character sometimes presenting him as a weak, miserly, menacing and unwelcomed dark spectre.

Although portrayed somewhat humorously in the musical adaptation of the novel, particularly in his feigning subservience to Mrs. Sowerberry, Mr. Sowerberry is nonetheless a miser who, despite what wealth he has acquired over the years, does very little to improve the squalid lives of those around him simply because he believes it is the job of others and is therefore none of his concern. In the scene where he visits the home of a destitute family whose mother has died, there is no overt callousness, it is merely a job and nothing more.

Dickens created Sowerberry's name and character from his observation of living examples in the society in which he lived. Dickens had extensive knowledge of London street life; of the 'real' poor and 'false' rich. His novels are full of characters with odd sounding names which in reality assist the reader in visualizing the character itself. For example a 'sour berry' may make the reader grimace or think of something unpalatable, stale or stagnant. In the novel, Dickens creates an image of the undertaker we have come to recognize so well as represented in the modern media: an older tallish, thin man wearing all black, the costume of his trade. But, as a contrast, there are also moments in the novel where he appears benevolent or doting, almost genial.

Dickens includes at least two similar characters in other novels for comparison. In Martin Chuzzlewit the undertaker is known as Mr. Mould, a balding elderly man in a black suit with, "...a face in which a queer attempt at melancholy was at odds with a smirk of satisfaction..." Mr. Omer in David Copperfield is presented as,"...a merry little old man in black, with rusty little bunches of ribbons at the knees of his breeches, black stockings and a broad brimmed hat..."

...
Wikipedia