# Riah — Our Mutual Friend character guide

> Riah in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Riah, the Jew, Riah the Jew

**First appearance:** 0036-i-lodgers-in-queer-street

## Snapshot

A kind Jewish moneylender who fronts Fledgeby's business, protects Jenny Wren, and is turned out with a black bag and a staff.

## Who they are

Riah is the gentle old man who keeps Fledgeby's counting-house and is dismissed with a scrawled note calling him an unthankful dog of a Jew. He accepts the blow with dignity, takes his few goods and his staff, and is taken in by Jenny Wren, his goddaughter in spirit. His kindness and his homelessness expose the cruelty of the respectable world that uses him as a screen, and his friendship with Jenny and Lizzie gives the novel its moral center.

## In the story

### [Mercury Prompting](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/v-mercury-prompting)

Fledgeby's elderly Jewish servant, who tends a rooftop garden and hosts Lizzie Hexam and Jenny Wren.

### [Lodgers in Queer Street](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/i-lodgers-in-queer-street)

Riah, the Jewish representative of Pubsey and Co., is treated with contempt by Fledgeby. He presents accounts and a list of debts, enduring Fledgeby's anti-Semitic remarks and maintaining a deferential demeanor.

### [A Respected Friend in a New Aspect](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/ii-a-respected-friend-in-a-new-aspect)

Visits Jenny Wren and accompanies her to the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters to deliver a paper from Lizzie Hexam.

### [The Same Respected Friend in More Aspects Than One](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/iii-the-same-respected-friend-in-more-aspects-than-one)

Referred to as 'the gentle Jew'; waits in the bar with Miss Abbey and Jenny Wren during the rescue.

### [Give a Dog a Bad Name, and Hang Him](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xiii-give-a-dog-a-bad-name-and-hang-him)

Returns to the countinghouse and is immediately accused by Fledgeby of rushing to put in a bill of sale at Lammle's, bearing the burden of his master's schemes.

### [A Few Grains of Pepper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/viii-a-few-grains-of-pepper)

Referenced as the 'child of Israel' and 'Judah'; Jenny believes him hypocritical; Fledgeby suspects he has a dark motive regarding Lizzie.

### [Two Places Vacated](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/ix-two-places-vacated)

Leaves Pubsey and Co. after reflecting on the dishonor he brings to his faith, and goes home with Jenny Wren.

## Links

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