Mr. Clennam's watch (Symbol)
At the start of the novel, Arthur returns his late father's watch to his mother, who seems to have strong feelings about it. It is later revealed that the watch is engraved with the initials D.N.F (Do Not Forget) and that when Mrs. Clennam first found out about her husband's affair and the existence of an illegitimate child, it was the watch that tipped her off and led her to search out Arthur's birth mother. The watch is a symbol of how the past always has consequences and impacts that carry forward for years. Even though Arthur's parentage is kept secret, the sense that something is wrong has haunted him his entire life. Trying to cover up and renounce the past only leads to people being hurt and alienated, as the Dorrit family also discovers when they try to cover up their past after becoming rich.
Little Dorrit's Fairytale (Symbol)
At one point, Amy tells Maggy a fairytale about a rich king who lived in a big castle and had a very beautiful daughter. Near the castle lived a young and tiny woman who kept hidden a shadow in her hut. The characters in the fairytale can be considered as being correspondent to various characters in the novel. The king, for example, can be Casby and the beautiful daughter Pet while the tiny woman is Little Dorrit. The shadow can be interpreted as Little Dorrit's hidden and unrequited love for Arthur. The presence of the fairytale symbolizes how Amy takes on a parental role since she tells the story to Maggy like a parent telling a child a bedtime story. It also symbolizes Amy's patient acceptance of her life circumstances: unlike most of the other characters, she does not believe she can change her life, and thinks she should just accept her fate.
Mrs. Clennam's Wheelchair (Symbol)
For most of the novel, Mrs. Clennam uses a wheelchair anytime she is not in her bed. It promotes her image as a frail and elderly woman. However, when Mrs. Clennam is desperate to get to the Marshalsea and prevent Arthur from learning her secret, she springs up out of the chair and runs to the prison on foot. The wheelchair symbolizes deception, secrets, and the gap between appearance and reality. Mrs. Clennam lied about being Arthur's mother, and she also lied about her physical capability. She is willing to maintain facades and illusions to manipulate others and get what she wants.
The collapse of the Clennam house (symbol)
At the end of the novel, the Clennam house spontaneously collapses, killing Blandois by crushing him in the rubble. The collapse of the mansion symbolizes that all the illusions and lies Mrs. Clennam has carefully maintained are now falling away. It also symbolizes the end of the family business which is now bankrupt, and the end of a family legacy of coldness, secrets, and dishonesty. Arthur might be in prison, but he is symbolically freed by the collapse of the mansion, since the dark family secret has been atoned for. He can now choose to run an honest business with Doyce, and live a happy domestic life with Amy by his side.
Twins and doubles (motif)
The idea of twins and doubles is a recurring motif in the novel. Affery believes she is having nightmares when she sees a man who seems to be a double of Jeremiah Flintwinch, but it is later revealed that Jeremiah actually does have an identical twin who helped him with the plot to steal documents from Mrs. Clennam. Pet had a twin sister who died as a young child, and her parents never fully recovered, which is part of the reason they adopted Tattycoram. Blandois's various pseudonyms and identities create a sense of doubling, although they all refer to the same man. This motif creates a sense that the identities of characters are not clear-cut but are intermingled with their past and connections to others. In a novel where seemingly distinct characters are all mixed up in each other's storylines, twins and doubles allow for the plot to become even more complex.
