# Charley Hexam — Our Mutual Friend character guide

> Charley Hexam in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Charley, young Charley Hexam, Charley Hexam, Charles Hexam

**First appearance:** 0001-i-on-the-look-out

## Snapshot

Lizzie's ambitious brother, clawing his way up through Headstone's schoolroom, ashamed of the river and the sister who kept him afloat.

## Who they are

Charley is the waterman's son who has been lifted into respectability by education and now wants to keep climbing, even at the cost of the family he came from. His flaw is a self-serving shame that Jenny Wren names outright—selfish, thinks only of himself—and it sets him against Lizzie's loyalty and Headstone's increasingly dangerous fixation. He matters because his upward striving pulls the plot's respectable and criminal worlds into the same room.

## In the story

### [Another Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/iii-another-man)

Son of Jesse Hexam; delivers the note to Mortimer and shows literacy and curiosity about books.

### [Cut Adrift](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/vi-cut-adrift)

Resists leaving at first but ultimately accepts his sister's plan to go to school and better himself.

### [I: Of an Educational Character](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/i-of-an-educational-character)

A sharp boy who rose through the poor school and now attends a better one; he is conflicted about his sister Lizzie's lack of education and its potential impact on his own prospects.

### [A Riddle Without an Answer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/vi-a-riddle-without-an-answer)

Aggressively demands that Eugene Wrayburn end his acquaintance with his sister Lizzie; insists on controlling her prospects.

### [XI: Some Affairs of the Heart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xi-some-affairs-of-the-heart)

Mentioned as having gone to get books and as being displeased with his sister Lizzie.

### [More Birds of Prey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xii-more-birds-of-prey)

Mentioned as Gaffer Hexam's son; the visitor wants to prevent stigma attaching to him.

### [XV: The Whole Case So Far](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xv-the-whole-case-so-far)

Pressures Lizzie to accept Bradley, then angrily disowns her when she refuses, accusing her of preferring Eugene Wrayburn.

### [Better to Be Abel Than Cain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/vii-better-to-be-abel-than-cain)

Confronts Bradley Headstone, severing ties and blaming him for compromising his respectability through his obsession with Lizzie.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/charley_hexam
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters