# Tattycoram — Little Dorrit character guide

> Tattycoram in Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Tattycoram, Harriet

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

## Snapshot

The Meagles' adopted daughter, given a pet name instead of a real one, she burns with a sense of injustice that her grateful benefactors cannot imagine.

## Who they are

Tattycoram lives as a charity child in a household that means to be kind and cannot stop reminding her of it. Her temper, her pride, and her hunger to be seen as Harriet rather than as a rescued curiosity make her vulnerable to anyone who flatters her grievance. She matters because she tests the novel's faith that benevolence is always benevolent, and because her restlessness gives the plot a live wire.

## In the story

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

Found by Miss Wade in a passionate rage, feeling neglected and ill-used.

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

Reveals she has met Miss Wade, who offered her a place to go if she feels hurt; shows anger and contempt when overhearing the family.

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

Flees the Meagles household after refusing to count five-and-twenty, driven by pride and passion; her whereabouts are unknown.

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

Has disappeared with Miss Wade; all attempts to contact or recover her fail, and she is given up as irrecoverable.

### [Appearance and Disappearance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/ix-appearance-and-disappearance)

Reported by Mrs. Tickit as appearing at the cottage, then seen by Arthur in London with a suspicious foreign man.

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

Appears as Harriet, admits to looking in at the Meagles' garden gate, and shows conflicted feelings about her past.

## Links

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