Dickens works his satire of parasitic relatives through the characters of Miss Sarah Pocket, Camilla and Mr. Raymond, and Georgiana. It is particularly telling that Dickens often calls Raymond “Mr. Camilla,” mocking him as a henpecked husband at the mercy of his wife. While the relatives pretend excessive concern and worry for Miss Havisham, none of them can stand each other and Miss Havisham has one of her more normal delights in taunting all of them. They are essentially vultures waiting for her to die so they can collect her money. Dickens’ descriptions are superb in adding to their distasteful personalities. He paints Sarah Pocket as “a little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut-shells, and a large mouth like a cat’s without the whiskers.” Sarah’s character tag becomes the walnut-shell countenance; the phrase repeats throughout the book.
Mrs. Joe feels threatened when Joe is summoned to Satis House without her. Her insecurity and upset at the loss of control is evident in her angry house-cleaning that night. Mrs. Joe derives her power from knowing every detail of the world around her, running everything, and reinforcing to Joe that he could never survive without her. She does this because she fears abandonment and being alone again as she was before Joe married her. If Joe handles his visit to Miss Havisham without her, Mrs. Joe fears he will think he can handle the rest of their life without her. She becomes fierce and angry because her dominance, and hence, her security, is threatened.
