# Pet Meagles — Little Dorrit character guide

> Pet Meagles in Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Pet, Minnie, Minnie Gowan

**First appearance:** 0004-ii-fellow-travellers

## Snapshot

The Meagles' beautiful, warm-hearted daughter, raised in a riverside cottage like a hothouse flower, she draws suitors the way the garden draws the sun.

## Who they are

Pet is the adored center of a family that has arranged itself around her, and Dickens renders her as the pretty young portion of the house grafted onto the older brick. Her gentleness is real, but so is her inexperience, and the men who circle her bring complications her parents cannot manage. Her choices in the early middle of the book set the emotional weather for Arthur Clennam's own disappointments.

## In the story

### [Fellow Travellers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/ii-fellow-travellers)

Present at the dinner, she shrinks childishly at Miss Wade's ominous words.

### [Nobody's Weakness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xvi-nobody-s-weakness)

Appears at the doorway as Arthur admires her portrait; her beauty and charm are central to Arthur's internal conflict.

### [Nobody's Rival](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xvii-nobody-s-rival)

Shows affection for Gowan and the dog, but also tenderly tries to comfort her father.

### [Nobody's State of Mind](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxvi-nobody-s-state-of-mind)

Mentioned as the object of Gowan's addresses and Clennam's suppressed affection; described as young and trusting.

### [Five-and-Twenty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxvii-five-and-twenty)

Mentioned as being upset over her feelings for Henry Gowan, which contributed to the household tension that triggered Tattycoram's outburst.

### [Nobody's Disappearance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxviii-nobody-s-disappearance)

Now married as Minnie Gowan, she has an emotional conversation with Arthur, asking him to comfort her father after her departure, and expresses her love for her family.

### [Mrs. Merdle's Complaint](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxxiii-mrs-merdle-s-complaint)

Presented to Mrs. Gowan as her future daughter-in-law; Mrs. Gowan feigns bewilderment at her son's attachment.

### [A Shoal of Barnacles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxxiv-a-shoal-of-barnacles)

The bride, who is married to Henry Gowan at the Barnacle-filled wedding.

### [A Letter from Little Dorrit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/iv-a-letter-from-little-dorrit)

Now Mrs. Gowan, she is described as beautiful and happy, though Little Dorrit worries about her marriage.

### [Mostly, Prunes and Prism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/vii-mostly-prunes-and-prism)

Now Mrs. Gowan, she is treated politely but distantly by the Dorrits due to the Prunes and Prism code; shares a sympathetic understanding with Little Dorrit, including a mutual aversion to Blandois.

### [The Dowager Mrs. Gowan Is Reminded That "It Never Does"](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/viii-the-dowager-mrs-gowan-is-reminded-that-it-never-does)

Mentioned as Henry Gowan's wife; her happiness is reported in letters, but her father remains clouded by her absence.

### [A Letter from Little Dorrit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xi-a-letter-from-little-dorrit)

Now Minnie Gowan, she is described as living very much alone in a bare lodging in Rome, with a solitary dinner and little company.

### [Introduces the Next](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xx-introduces-the-next)

Mentioned as Henry Gowan's wife, whom Miss Wade hates.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/characters/pet_meagles
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/characters