Little Dorrit

Among the company of the Dorrits is a dignified woman called Mrs. General, whom William has hired to be his daughters’ chaperone and educate them on society matters. Mrs. General is described as a woman who does not have an opinion on anything and she demands not to be told anything that could shock her.

Fanny and Edward are angry when they learn that Amy has been visiting Pet Gowan. Fanny knows that Pet is a friend of Clennam’s, yet no one in the family will mention his name as they don’t want to be associated with anyone they knew when they were in prison. Other than Amy, the Dorrits have become extremely prideful and they feel Amy is lowering herself to help someone. They also worry that this will reveal the secrets of their past. The Dorrits behave like they have never been to debtors’ prison. They also take care to improve Frederick’s appearance, and he is content to go along with their machinations though he respects his youngest niece.

When the Dorrits arrive at their next lodgings on their way to Italy, they find that their room has not yet been vacated by its previous tenants, though it will be ready soon. William is enraged and offended by this, believing that the landlord somehow knows of his imprisonment and is treating him differently because of it. The lady who was occupying the room comes down to speak to William, and it turns out to be Mrs. Merdle and her son Edmund Sparkler. However, Mrs. Merdle pretends she does not know the two Dorrit daughters and leaves, and this makes Fanny happy since the families are now on equal social ground. Amy is unhappy with their new life since she now has no work to do and no one to take care of. She begins to see her new life as a dream and spends an increasing amount of time in contemplative solitude.

Amy writes to Clennam about her travels and her family. She tells him Pet seems happy, though Amy thinks Gowan is not a good match for her. Amy speaks of all the changes in her family’s status and how she cannot adapt to them. She also asks Clennam about her old friends around the Marshalsea as her father had helped many of them financially, and she confesses that she misses them more than they could ever miss her. She also admits that she now pities her father and feels a distance growing between them; she worries that she and Clennam are growing distant, too. Amy would like him to remember her as she was when they met, and not as the daughter of a rich man.

William has his valet summon Mrs. General to speak about Amy. Mrs. General has observed that Amy has no “force of character and self-reliance” (618), something the narrator disagrees with but which William thinks is a fair assessment. They are both worried about Amy’s despondency and her lack of interest in the family’s social circles, and they tell her this when they summon her. Amy says she needs more time to adjust to their new lifestyle, but William and Mrs. General are disappointed in her and say that Fanny has adjusted well. Amy thinks that the father she now knows is not the same person he was before he went to prison since 23 years in Marshalsea have changed him inwardly and outwardly. William reproaches her for reminding him of the Marshalsea when everyone else tries to forget it. At this, Amy feels hurt for her father, especially since she sees that he cannot even bring himself to say the name Marshalsea.

Frederick mentions that he and Amy saw Mr. and Mrs. Gowan at a gallery in Venice. After the Dorrits learn that Gowan is connected to the Merdle family, they agree to let Amy visit Pet. After Amy leaves the room, Frederick begins to protest against the family’s newfound pride and their mistreatment of Amy. He attacks Fanny in particular and claims she forgets their former situation as she judges who is good enough to meet with her sister. The Dorrits chalk this outburst up to Frederick’s usual quirks and do not take him seriously.

The Gowans have traveled to Venice with Rigaud (who is going by the name Blandois), and Henry Gowan can’t decide whether he likes him or not. However, as his wife and everyone else dislikes Rigaud/Blandois, Gowan becomes his companion. Amy and Fanny go to visit Pet, and Fanny asks Pet about the Merdles while Amy asks her if she is well. Gowan is in the next room, sketching Rigaud/Blandois, and Amy is afraid him. She observes that Gowan treats his wife like a child. The women are also horrified to see Gowan abusing his dog, Lion, for no reason.

They leave in a gondola and on their way home, they run into Edmund Sparkler who is in another boat. Fanny flirts with him but Amy does not understand the games she is playing with him and Mrs. Merdle. Fanny believes their meeting at the inn is a better story to describe how Sparkler fell in love with her rather than the truth that he knew her when she was dancing at the theater. She also believes she can anger the pompous Mrs. Merdle by encouraging him. Sparkler visits with the Dorrits, and they speak of Mr. and Mrs. Merdle and Henry Gowan, and William decides that he wants Gowan to paint his portrait. The group goes to the opera together, where they run into Rigaud/Blandois, who tells them that someone has poisoned Lion.

Amy tries harder to listen to Mrs. General’s lectures on social education and act more like Fanny, who one day tells her that their chaperone has designs on their father. Sparkler continues to try to court Fanny, and she treats him cruelly. Sparkler, Rigaud/Blandois, and the Gowans become regular visitors at the Dorrits’. Amy and Pet are both suspicious of Rigaud/Blandois, and Pet is certain that he is the one who killed her husband’s dog. Amy compares the upper echelons of society to the culture of the Marshalsea, as both have very specific yet illogical systems and traditions. The family makes their way to Rome and receives a visit from Mrs. Merdle; they try to ingratiate themselves to her.

Doyce and Clennam’s business does well, and Clennam encourages Doyce to try working with the Circumlocution Office once more, and he offers to take up the task on Doyce’s behalf. Clennam is surprised by how much he misses Amy. One day, while visiting the Meagles, Clennam meets with the dowager Mrs. Gowan, who frequently implies that the Meagles wanted Pet to marry Gowan so they could get her money. Mr. Meagles stands up for his daughter, and he and the dowager argue as he reminds her that he did not want Pet to marry her son. The dowager suggests that they should not attempt to get along as they are so different, and she quickly leaves. She misrepresents the Meagles to everyone in society whom she can influence.

Mr. and Mrs. Meagles are determined to go and see Pet. Henry Gowan is in debt again, and Meagles knows he will have to pay the debts. Within a few days, the Meagles leave for Europe, but Clennam and Doyce frequently visit their house. One day, their housekeeper tells Clennam that she has seen Tattycoram at the gate of the house, but she could not get to her before she left. One night, Clennam also sees Tattycoram with a mysterious man who is later revealed to be Rigaud. He follows the two as they meet with Miss Wade, and Clennam overhears them speak about money.

After Rigaud leaves, Clennam follows the two women as they go into Casby’s house. Clennam goes in, and Flora receives him excitedly and asks about Amy as Clennam tries to get a word in about the people he followed there. Flora takes him to Casby, and Clennam is surprised to find him alone. Clennam tells him about the situation with Tattycoram, but Casby says he does not know Miss Wade’s address and cannot help him. Clennam runs into Pancks on his way out and asks him if he knows anything about Miss Wade, but all Pancks knows is that she is not to be trusted.

Clennam gives up on finding Tattycoram and goes to visit his mother. On his way to her house, he spots the strange man he had seen with Miss Wade—Rigaud— and watches him knock on his mother’s door. Clennam asks Affery who the man is, and she says he goes by Blandois and adds that she is afraid of him. They both go upstairs, where Clennam sees his mother is deeply interested in Rigaud/Blandois and defends him when Clennam asks who he is. Jeremiah Flintwinch arrives and Rigaud/Blandois embraces him. Flintwinch and Clennam notice that both of them are suspicious of the strange man.

Amy writes again to Clennam to tell him what she knows of Pet, as they are now both in Rome. She thinks that Pet seems lonely and neglected, noticing how people in society gossip about her marrying above her station. Amy also tells him about a friend of Gowan’s called Blandois—who is Rigaud with a fake name—who makes Pet uncomfortable. She also tells him that Pet, who has become her close friend, just delivered a baby, and that Fanny has a suitor who has followed them to Rome. Amy says very little about herself, focused more on what she thinks Clennam wants to know. She does tell him she is homesick and thinks often of the people in her past life.