Little Dorrit: Difference between revisions

 

The central figure is Amy ''aka'' Little Dorrit, the 'Child of the Marshalsea'. Which is to say, she was born in this debtor's prison -- a nineteenth-century English institution in which defaulters were incarcerated, along with their families as necessary, until such time as they were able to pay what they owed.

...until the looming shadow of money, secrets and pretense that has hovered over the entire cast lowers once more.

 

 

* [[Abusive Parents]]: Mrs. Clennam and Mr. Dorrit are both emotionally, if not physically, abusive.

* [[Adult Child]]: Maggy, who is twenty-eight but whose mental development was stopped by an accident at ten years old.

* [[Dating What Daddy Hates]]: Pet's flirtation with Henry Gowan, of which her parents strongly disapprove due to his lazy, cynical attitude and his many debts.

* [[Dead Little Sister]]: Pet Meagles' twin, which makes her [[Doting Parent|Doting Parents]] especially protective.

* [[Disabled Means Helpless]]: Subverted with Maggy, who, despite being severely affected by [[Brain Fever]], can still take care of herself. Played straight with Mrs. Clennam, who in spite of her forceful character is paralyzed in a wheelchair and unable to leave the upper floor of her house.

* [[Domestic Abuse]]: Jeremiah enjoys scaring the daylights out of his wife Affery.

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Mr. Merdle, when his financial shenanigans are about to collapse.}}

* [[Driven to Madness]]: {{spoiler|Mr. Dorrit has been imprisoned for so long that exposure to the outside world (and the loss of his fellow inmates' respect) causes him to break down and die.}}

* [[Dysfunctional Family]]: The Dorrits and the Clennams.

* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: The narrator refers to Mr. Merdle's powerful acquaintances by their careers: Bar (a lawyer), Physician, Bishop and Treasury.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Henry Cowan literally beats his dog.

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: As per the norm for a Dickens novel.

* [[Love Dodecahedron]]

* [[Memento MacGuffin]]: The mysterious watch Clennam's father entrusts to his son on his deathbed.

* [[Ungrateful Bastard]]: The Dorrits, so much. When Amy works all day to support her father, he complains that she doesn't spend enough time with him. When she feels homesick for the Marshalsea after they're freed, he calls her insensitive for even mentioning it. Fanny accuses her sister of a lack of family pride for refusing to take bribes from Mrs. Merdle, and the whole lot of them (except Amy) completely ignore Mr. Clennam once they're free even though he is responsible for getting them out of jail.

* [[Unexpected Inheritance]]: Two of them. The first gets Mr. Dorrit out of prison. {{spoiler|Amy Dorrit refuses the second one, because it would mean revealing that Mrs. Clennam has covered up Arthur's real parentage.}}

* [[Vast Bureaucracy]]: The Circumlocution Office again. It's some of Dickens' most devastating political satire.

* [[Woman Scorned]]: {{spoiler|Miss Wade hires Rigaud to spy on her former lover, Henry Cowan.}}

 

{{reflist}}