Little Dorrit Charles Dickens

Poverty

The novel begins in Marseille "thirty years ago" (c. 1826), with the notorious murderer Rigaud narrating to his prison cellmate John Baptist Cavalletto how he had killed his wife, just prior to being taken to trial. Businessman Arthur Clennam is detained with other travelers in quarantine in Marseilles and becomes friends with the merchants Mr. and Mrs Meagles, their spoiled daughter "Pet", and their maid, an orphan named Harriet Beadle, who the family has nicknamed Tattycoram. Another traveler, Miss Wade, takes an interest in the rebellious Tattycoram. Arthur has spent the last twenty years in China with his father, handling that part of the family business; his father died recently there. Arthur is now returning to London to see his mother, Mrs Clennam.

When Arthur's father was on his deathbed, he gave Arthur a watch to give to his mother with a message inside, murmuring "Your mother," which Arthur delivers to Mrs Clennam. Inside the watch casing is an old silk paper with the initials DNF (do not forget) worked in beads. Arthur asks about the message, but the implacable Mrs Clennam, who now uses a wheelchair, refuses to tell him what it means. Arthur tells her that he will not continue in the family business and will seek new opportunity on his own. Jeremiah Flintwinch then presses Mrs Clennam on her failure to tell Arthur of the past.

In London, William Dorrit, imprisoned as a debtor, has been a resident of Marshalsea debtors' prison for over twenty years. He has three children: Edward (known as Tip), Fanny and Amy. The youngest daughter, Amy, was born in the prison and is affectionately known as Little Dorrit. Their mother died when Amy was eight years old. Tip has recently been imprisoned for his own gambling debts, and the ambitious Fanny lives outside the prison with William's older brother Frederick. She works as a dancing girl in the music hall (where Frederick plays the clarinet) and has attracted the attention of the wealthy but insipid Edmund Sparkler. Little Dorrit, devoted to her father, supports them both through her sewing and is free to pass in and out of the prison. To maintain the honour of her father, who is embarrassed to acknowledge his financial position, Little Dorrit avoids mentioning her work outside the prison or his inability to leave. Mr Dorrit assumes the role of Father of the Marshalsea and is held in great respect by its inhabitants, as if he had chosen to live there.

After Arthur tells his mother that he will not continue in the family business, Mrs Clennam chooses her clerk Jeremiah Flintwinch as her partner. When Arthur learns that Mrs Clennam employs Little Dorrit as a seamstress and shows her unusual kindness, he wonders whether the young girl might be connected with the mystery of the watch. Arthur follows the girl to the Marshalsea. He tries in vain to enquire about William Dorrit's debt in the Circumlocution Office – assuming the role of benefactor towards Little Dorrit, her father, and her brother – but is unable to make any progress. Meanwhile, Rigaud, who has been released for lack of evidence, approaches Mrs Clennam under the name Blandois and blackmails her and Flintwinch into giving him a place in her business.

While at the Circumlocution Office, Arthur meets the successful inventor Daniel Doyce. Doyce wants a partner and man of business at his factory, and Arthur agrees to fill that role. Arthur encounters Cavalletto, who is injured by a carriage in London, and aids him in getting medical care. Cavaletto lives in hopes of never again seeing Blandois. Little Dorrit falls in love with Arthur, but Arthur fails to recognise her feelings. He is infatuated with Pet Meagles but is disappointed when she marries the handsome but cruel artist Henry Gowan. Shortly after Pet's wedding, the Meagles family suffers a blow when Tattycoram runs away to live with Miss Wade.

Arthur becomes reacquainted with his former fiancée Flora Finching, the reason he was sent away to China. She is now a widow and takes care of the aunt of her late husband. Her father Mr Casby owns many rental properties, and his rent collector, Mr Pancks, takes the brunt of the dirty work of collecting Casby's inflated rents. The indefatigable Pancks discovers that William Dorrit is the lost heir to a large fortune, enabling him to pay his way out of prison and altering the status of the entire family. Restored to wealth, Dorrit immediately shuns all reminders of his past and forbids a heartbroken Little Dorrit from seeing Arthur again.

Riches

The now wealthy Dorrits decide that they should tour Europe as a newly respectable rich family. They travel over the Alps and take up residence for a time in Venice, and finally in Rome, displaying pride over their new-found wealth and position, hiding their past from new friends. Little Dorrit finds it difficult to adjust to their wealth and new social position, but only her uncle Frederick shares her feelings. Fanny and Tip adjust rapidly to the ways of society, as does Mr Dorrit. But he fears that someone will discover the truth of his past spent in the Marshalsea. At a party In Rome, Mr Dorrit falls ill and dies at their lodgings. His distraught brother Frederick dies that same night. Little Dorrit, left alone, returns to London to stay with newly married Fanny and her husband, the dim-witted Edmund Sparkler. Meanwhile, Blandois disappears, and Mrs Clennam is suspected of his murder.

The financial collapse

The financial house of Merdle, Edmund Sparkler's stepfather, ends with Merdle's suicide. The collapse of his bank and investment businesses takes with it the savings of the Dorrits, the firm of Doyce and Clennam, Arthur Clennam, Pancks and thousands of others. Pancks feels enormous guilt for persuading Clennam to invest with Merdle, who everyone considered the financial "man of the hour." Ashamed and unable to pay the business debts, Clennam is now imprisoned in the Marshalsea, where he becomes ill. When Little Dorrit arrives in London, she slowly nurses him back to health.

At Arthur's request, Cavalletto tracks down Blandois and brings him to Arthur at the Marshalsea. The truth of Mrs Clennam's past is revealed by Blandois and confirmed by Jeremiah at the Clennam home one week after the meeting in the Marshalsea. Her marriage was arranged by her parents and Clennam's uncle, though uncle Gilbert knew his nephew had already married. Mrs Clennam had insisted on bringing up little Arthur and denying his biological mother, his father's first wife, the right to see him. Mrs Clennam feels this is her right to punish others, under the guise of her religion. She was hurt and used her power to hurt others.

Arthur's biological mother died about the same time as Arthur went off to China. In her younger life, she joined a boarding house of artistic people in London. Later Mr Clennam's wealthy uncle Gilbert, stung by remorse, had left a bequest to Arthur's biological mother and to the youngest daughter of her patron. If the patron had no daughter, the youngest child of his brother would inherit. The patron was Frederick Dorrit, the kind musician who had taught and befriended Arthur's biological mother, and the beneficiary is his niece, Amy Dorrit.

After prodding Mrs Clennam to tell the truth, which she refuses to do, Jeremiah gave the papers with this codicil to the uncle's will to his twin brother on the night that Arthur arrived home. He told Mrs Clennam that he had burned the papers on the next day. Blandois took the papers after killing Jeremiah's brother and left a copy at the Marshalsea for Little Dorrit.

Although Mrs Clennam failed to tell Little Dorrit of her inheritance or give it to her, she hired her for seamstress work. She failed to tell Arthur about his biological mother, although Arthur had sensed that his father had some past burden on his mind as he died. Unwilling to yield to blackmail by Blandois and with some remorse, the rigid woman rises from her chair and totters out of her house to reveal the secrets to Little Dorrit at the Marshalsea. Mrs Clennam begs her forgiveness, which the kind-hearted girl freely grants.

Returning home, Mrs Clennam falls in the street, never to recover the use of her speech or limbs, as the house of Clennam literally collapses before her eyes, killing Blandois. Affery was outdoors seeking her mistress, and Jeremiah had escaped London before the collapse with as much money as he could find. Rather than hurt Arthur, Little Dorrit chooses not to reveal the will that was meant to benefit her but will tell him about his parents after his mother dies.

Mr Meagles seeks the original papers, stopping in France to ask Miss Wade. She has them but denies it. Tattycoram, who has suffered under Miss Wade's sadistic temperament, follows Meagles back to London and presents the papers to him. He gives them to Little Dorrit. When Arthur is well and they are about to marry, Little Dorrit asks him to burn the papers. Mr Meagles then seeks out Arthur's business partner Daniel Doyce from abroad. Doyce returns a wealthy and successful man, who arranges to clear all debts for Arthur's release. Arthur is released from the prison with his fortunes revived, his position secure with Doyce, and his health restored. Arthur and Little Dorrit marry.