Little Dorrit · Chapters

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Chapter companions for Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.

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Chapter 1
Preface to the 1857 Edition
In this preface, Dickens reflects on the two years he spent writing Little Dorrit, defending the exaggerated portrayals of the Barnacles, the Circumlocution Office, and Mr. Merdle as grounded in real English experiences such as the Russian war, the Railroad-share epoch, and the public examination of a Royal British Bank. He also describes a visit to the site of the Marshalsea Prison, noting its transformation into a butter shop and Marshalsea Place, and identifies the room where Little Dorrit was born. He concludes by acknowledging his many readers and expressing hope to meet them again.
Chapter 2
Little Dorrit
Arthur Clennam returns to London after many years abroad and becomes entangled with the mysterious affairs of his mother's house. He encounters the impoverished Dorrit family, particularly the gentle and selfless Amy Dorrit, known as Little Dorrit, who works as a seamstress in the Marshalsea debtor's prison where her father has been imprisoned for decades. Arthur's growing interest in the family's plight sets in motion a series of revelations about hidden fortunes, family secrets, and the oppressive weight of social institutions.
Chapter 3
Book I: Poverty
The chapter introduces the impoverished world of the Marshalsea debtors' prison and the Dorrit family, focusing on Little Dorrit's quiet devotion to her father, William Dorrit, the 'Father of the Marshalsea.' Arthur Clennam, recently returned from the East, encounters the family and begins to uncover the secrets surrounding the Clennam household and the Dorrits.
Chapter 4
Sun and Shadow
The chapter opens in a Marseilles prison cell where Monsieur Rigaud and John Baptist Cavalletto are confined. Rigaud recounts his version of the events leading to his imprisonment, claiming he married Madame Barronneau after her husband's death and that her death was a suicide during a quarrel. The prison keeper arrives with soldiers to transfer Rigaud to trial, leaving Cavalletto alone. The chapter contrasts the oppressive confinement of the prison with the bright sunlight outside, and ends with the prison keeper's daughter singing a song that echoes through the jail.
Chapter 5
Fellow Travellers
Arthur Clennam, newly returned from exile in China after his father's death, meets Mr. Meagles and his family during quarantine in Marseilles. Mr. Meagles shares his family's travels and introduces his daughter Pet and their maid Tattycoram. Arthur reveals his bleak upbringing under strict, unloving parents. After quarantine, the group dines at a hotel, where the reserved Miss Wade engages in a conversation about forgiveness and prisons. Miss Wade later encounters Tattycoram in a fit of rage and self-loathing, observing her with a strange, analytical interest.

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Preface to the 1857 Edition

Little Dorrit

Book I: Poverty

Sun and Shadow

Fellow Travellers