The Way of All Flesh Illustration edition

The story is narrated by Dr Overton, Ernest Pontifax's godfather. We first meet Ernest as Dr Overton is trying to trace his heritage from the earlier generations of the Pontifax family. He begins the story in the late eighteenth century, as Ernest's relationship with his parents, Christina and Theobald Pontifax, is deteriorating. Theobald is a minister, not because he feels that it is his calling, but because he was pressured into it by Christina's father, who is a minister himself and therefore views it as the only profession that is acceptable for the husband of his beloved daughter.