Little Dorrit

Rating:
Summary: A Tale of Imprisonment
Review: Little Dorrit, as in many other Dickens books is full with character portrayal. There are a number of characters that are worth remembering such as Flora Finching, Mr.F's aunt etc. The division of the book into two parts makes sense because without the second one (Riches), the first part of the book(Poverty) would not be as strong as it is now. A great, sophisticated and fully rewarding book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book; Tough Read; Great Payback
Review: Little Dorritt is not light reading. While it is in many ways a very entertaining work, it is not for those seeking pure entertainment. It is a very rich work, full of social commentary [church bells ringing, "They won't come."; the Circumlocution Office], humor [can anyone resist laughing out loud and Flora Finching?], several memorable characters, and a very powerful statement on personal salvation.

Yes, the novel does drag from halfway to the three quarters mark; but what 900 page Dickens novel doesn't? When you read Dickens, you should expect that. It is during that time that he typically starts to resolve many of the issues raised in the first half and also sets up his exciting finale. While the finale of Little Dorritt is not exciting in the Hollywood sense, it is very fulfilling.

The major theme that spans the entire work, something I haven't seen others discuss, is that of Old Testament vs. New Testament thinking. It is the Old Testament thinking of Arthur's mother that keeps her in her wheelchair. It is only when she gets a dose of New Testament thinking from Amy Dorritt that Arthur's mother walks. Dickens was a Unitarian who had a strong belief in the redemptive power of Christ. While he often ridiculed both the Church ("They won't come.") and religious hypocrites (Borriohoola-Gha in Bleak House), it is through Little Dorritt that he presents this redemptive power. Entertainment becomes a treatise on right living.

Rating:
Summary: Expose' -Speculators and Kind Hearts in the Victorian Era
Review: Little Dorritt was born at Marshalsea-the debtors prison. Her father is something of an informal mayor (`father') of the place, and everyone imprisoned there pays him homage-and alms- for his long suffering good nature and the 'tone' he sets for the experience of being thrown in jail Indeed, Mr. Dorritt has raised self pity to an art form. Little Dorritt is small and wan. People continually ask her if she `has strength and can endure things.' She reminds them she was born in the poor house. Through the kind offices of `a friend,' Arthur Clennam, midway through the book, the family is released from prison, debts paid and they live the genteel life that Mr. Dorritt always assumed was his birthright. In a classic case of projection, Mr. Dorritt prattles to Amy (Little) Dorritt how she should not be morose, and she should forget life in the poor house. 'Put on airs for the sake of the servants so they would remember 'their place.' Mr Dorritt goes on to assure Amy `he has completely wiped the sad episode of living in debtors prison' from his mind. In order to secure his place in society, Mr. Dorritt seeks favor from an unseen Mr. Merdle who it seems has the economy of the entire world in the palm of his hand. Indeed, Fanny Dorritt, Amy's sister is also smitten with the Merdle clan and seeks the favor of Edmund Merdle, just so she can put on even more superior airs than Mrs. Merdle does. The circumlocutions of speech, especially those Mr. Dorritt and Mrs. Merdle use, when these characters talk to one other in itself is worth the price of admission. Amy is devoted to her father and shows little interest in social activities. She does however manage, through her needlework, to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Clemmens, Arthurs mother- that's how Arthur comes to learn of Mr. Dorritt's legal plight and thanks to Arthur they got away from Marshalsea, the debtor's prison. In time, Mr. Dorritt falls sick. He stands up at a dinner party to give his `welcome to Marshallsea speech, much to the embarrassment of all the high society types there present. Hence the contrast between the two societies, the debtors and the wealthy. Mr. Dorritt's disease in terminal and inevitably, we meet Mr. Merdle when he comes to commiserate with Fanny, his son Edmund and the other mourners. The mighty economic dynamo who has been the talk of the town-is oddly contrite. In leaving the wake, he asks in all humility, if he might have a pen knife...one of the wedding tokens from Edmund and Fanny's wedding. Mr. Merdle then privately kills himself.
All his financial wheelings and dealings were false and the family is busted. Arthur Clemmens is busted too, and Amy goes to find him at Marshalsea in her families old lodgings. She insists on helping him and he is ashamed as he believes he was not only instrumental in their release from Marshalsea but also in connecting the family with the notorious Mr. Merdle. Amy will have nothing to do with this all this pathos. She goes to plead Arthur's case with his mother who has money locked up in a vault. She has been paralyzed for a very long time and is unable to walk. The steward is furious that the family fortune should be spent to pay Arthur's debts as the steward believes and has tried to convince Mother that Arthur is a spendthrift playboy. The steward wants the money for his loyal service.
Mother rises from her chair and with assistance from Amy and her maid, descends the stairs and sees the steward open the safe, at which point the house collapses. Amy takes the money, frees Arthur and the two are married.
I give you a sketch of the plot in an effort to help the reader navigate through this book. Little Dorrit gives good service in depicting Debtors prison and paints a very Dickensian scene, as another reviewer commented, there is a sense of accomplishment in completing this read.

Rating:
Summary: A bit sluggish.
Review: Not one of Dickens more fashionable books. Can't quite imagine a BBC version! I had trouble with the character of Little Dorrit herself, so humble, childlike and submissive yet obviously showing great strength of character. I really couldn't visualize her. The plot is reasonably strong but would have benefitted from a good sub editor.

Rating:
Summary: disappointment
Review: this is a novel about disappointment. almost every character is unhappy about his lot in life: clennan about his lost youth, lost loves; mrs clennan about her marriage; william dorrit about his time behind bars; daniel doyce about his failed efforts to promote his invention; henry gowan about not being provided for by his well-connected relations; the meagles about losing their only daughter to a man like mr gowan; the villain rigaud about his 'ungentlemanly' treatment by society; flora finching about her lost looks; miss wade and tattycoram about society's supposed condescension; little dorrit about her father's fate; and so on. the main line of the book, then, is how each of these people deals with his/her disappointment.

the story is also about 'surfaces', or the airs people put on to enhance their places in society. many take on personas to hide their disappointment. william dorrit is the prime example of this, but others, like rigaud, ms wade, little dorrit's sister fanny, mrs clennan, henry gowan, also adopt personas. then there are the already-elevated members of the ruling class, like the family barnacle and the capitalist titan mr merdle, who put on airs to hide their disqualifications for their exalted positions. mr merdle even uses his 'surface' to perpetrate a collosal fraud that would put the worldcoms and enrons of our time to shame.

this theme of 'surfaces' is reinforced by the narrative design of the book which is itself a surface. much of the action in the story happens behind the scenes - ie, below the surface. panks' investigation of the dorrit inheritance, the business at clennan and co., rigaud's machinations, ms wade's relationship with tattycoram: all are described in only enough detail to let the reader know that something is happening, but never enough detail to know precisely what. in hiding the machinery of the story, dickens puts the reader in the position of someone who is in the dark about the story, as if the reader himself were in a prison and was wholly reliant on outsiders for information about what is happening. it's in this subtle narrative structure that the book itself resembles a prison, a prison that mirrors and reinforces the dominant symbol of the book. this is the strongest feature of the book.

Rating:
Summary: maturing beyond the prison of self
Review: This is my personal favorite among Dickens novels, fully equal to Bleak House, though not nearly as widely read or admired. Most reviewers miss the fact that debtors prisons had long been closed before Dickens wrote the novel, so 'reform' was in no way its objective. What he really wanted to explore was self-imprisonment. His main character, Arthur Clennam, has been imprisoned by family strictures all his life. Denied love as a child, exiled from his sweetheart as a young man to an outpost of the family business in China, left by his father only with a watch inscribed 'DNF' meaning 'do not forget' (what he doesn't know) Arthur returns to England. We first see him 'imprisoned' in quarantine with others who suffer spiritual incarcerations of their own. The spiritual heart of this novel is the story of how Arthur loses hope that he can 'go home again' and pick up with his old life, how he reconstructs a personal life and satisfying work, and how he endures the collapse of the past and all its guilty debts, ultimately being set free to live life on a new foundation. This novel will hearten those who have arrived in the middle of our lives feeling that like Arthur, we stand among ruins, 'descending a green and growing tree' whose limbs die and wither under us as we come down. But when he is finally stripped of everything, Arthur gains all. While this great bildungsroman of maturity is being carried forward, Dickens offers a wealth of characters, plots, and subplots that will keep Dickens lovers turning pages in well-founded faith that Boz will once again knit all together in a satisfying tapestry of incident and meaning. It could be summed up as "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." All the characters are jailed by something--Little Dorrit herself by her prison home, her father by his dependency and pathetic grasping for reputation. Blandois, the wicked murderer, shows up first in a Marseilles prison and bestrides the plot with his vile presence. Arthur's mother stays voluntarily imprisoned in a decaying house and her wheelchair, and worse, in wrath and jealousy. We also meet a housemaid trapped in uncontrollable rage, the woman who abducts her, walled in pride and hatred, a young woman trapped in adoration of a worthless husband, parents frozen in grief over a lost child, a financier transfixed with the knowledge of his own falsity . . . and more. Secrets, nightmares, murders, lost deeds and treasure, stolen fortunes, all abound in this vivid and satisfying plum pudding of a novel. Modern readers may weary of the satirical chapters on 'the Circumlocution Office'--but they're no worse than the treatment of the Court of Chancery in Bleak House. The best of this novel is that it is not all written just for the satisfactory settlement of some young person, but rather for the arrival at full maturity of a man who is already adult at the novel's opening. Arthur (one remembers that Britain's legendary king bore that name) rescues others from despair, and finally learns to let others so rescue him. This is a redemptive novel, that shows us it is possible to see that we are inside the prison of who we've been taught we are, and believe we can't stop being, and it is possible to break beyond those prison walls and 'go down to a life' of quiet decency and common happiness. A great, grownup read!

Rating:
Summary: A Gem from Dickens' Better Years
Review: This seems to be one of Dickens' more underrated novels. It was written during the post-"Dombey and Son" flowering of the writer's mature style, and I enjoyed it surprisingly much. The symbolism of light and prison walls is carried well throughout the intricate plot, and I cared about the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Teaching a lesson about Society
Review: This was a mandatory reading for a Literary Theory class and I must say, at first, I was less than pleased. I have read Dickens a few times before tackling "Little Dorrit" (David Copperfield is my favorite)and his works aren't always "gripping." However, upon finishing the novel there was a great sense of accomplishment. This story reveals so much about the wrongs of high society and the(wrongs of) importance of appearances. In this 800 page epic, Dickens gives us a love story that can actually be useful in, and comparable to, today's world.
I left this book feeling most glad that I had been "forced" to read it because it has reminded me that times have not changed so very much when it comes to what's important in life.
In warning, it is not exactly quick in pace (considering it was written serially for periodicals over several months of time)but it does have an important message...and the characters are just quirky enough to make it interesting. Dickens even delves into the surreal once or twice, which makes for a nice twist.
A tip: If you find yourself in the middle of a harsh winter in, say Michigan, and you have some free time in your days, this book would perfectly fit the mood. Warning!: Do not take this one to the beach for leisure reading!!!

Rating:
Summary: Teaching a lesson about Society
Review: This was a mandatory reading for a Literary Theory class and I must say, at first, I was less than pleased. I have read Dickens a few times before tackling "Little Dorrit" (David Copperfield is my favorite)and his works aren't always "gripping." However, upon finishing the novel there was a great sense of accomplishment. This story reveals so much about the wrongs of high society and the(wrongs of) importance of appearances. In this 800 page epic, Dickens gives us a love story that can actually be useful in, and comparable to, today's world.
I left this book feeling most glad that I had been "forced" to read it because it has reminded me that times have not changed so very much when it comes to what's important in life.
In warning, it is not exactly quick in pace (considering it was written serially for periodicals over several months of time)but it does have an important message...and the characters are just quirky enough to make it interesting. Dickens even delves into the surreal once or twice, which makes for a nice twist.
A tip: If you find yourself in the middle of a harsh winter in, say Michigan, and you have some free time in your days, this book would perfectly fit the mood. Warning!: Do not take this one to the beach for leisure reading!!!

Rating:
Summary: 'To Be Always A Sacrifice'
Review: With Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens touched upon a subject near and dear to his own heart; that of having a father who was incarcerated in Debtor's Prison. But Dickens extends this probing eye to include many different types of prisons that we either fall into by the fault or actions of others, or by our own actions.

Arthur Clennam returns home to London after many years away to find many things changed, and many the same. His mother, a recluse to the home that Arthur grew up in, remains a solitary figure, cast in shadows. Flora Casby Finching, the love of Arthur's youth, who married another and now finds herself alone; re-enters his life, and he finds himself wondering what he ever saw in such a flighty, chatty girl. Arthur also finds Jeremiah Flintwinch and his wife, Affery; in attendance to his mother. Jeremiah, a rough-edged, secretive man is a stark contrast to his meek, timid wife, who is plagued by dreams of augury throughout the story.

Also entering Arthur's life are the Dorrit's, the 'first family' of the Marshallsea Prison...Father William, the debtor in question, Amy; the caretaker and martyr of the clan, Fanny; the arrogant, self absorbed elder daughter, and Tip; the lazy, shiftless brother who, when given the chance and opportunity to strike out on his own and find a better life, wanders back to London to re-tie the family apron strings he was to break free from. Amy, employed to Arthur's mother as a seamstress; finds herself ever the voice of reason, the sacrificer, the kind and gentle soul....swimming in a sea of ingrates.

With typical Dickens flair; fortunes are reversed, lives are intertwined; secrets are kept, and revealed; and once again the reader realizes that nothing is ever what it seems on the streets of London. Numerous plot twists throughout the novel propel the story along at a very satisfying pace. Little Dorrit, after an unexpected windfall comes to the family; still finds herself in the same unenviable position in the family. Mr. Dorrit finds himself trapped by his prison background even after he is released, in the manner of trying to 'measure up' to society, and rise above his past. One particular point I found interesting was having Mr. Dorrit, in Book 2, settle his family into a large, virtually empty hotel to live...as if he could not leave the enormity of the prison, and all its rooms and inhabitants, completely behind.

The 'prisons' that Dickens visits in the latter half of the story are those of kept secrets; past transgressions; emotional obligation; and so many more that exist in our minds and memories.

While I only give the book four stars, it was a wonderful read. The characters are up to their usual flourish and flaw. But at times the plot devices were visible all the way from Marseilles to the Marshallsea, and seem to come from nowhere, really. While they help the story immensely, in terms of direction...they lack in credibility, and seemed a bit soap-operaish in their 'timely arrival'.

Nevertheless - I enjoyed immersing myself in Dickens' London once again..and walked away satisfied with the outcome. Even in Dickens' darkest tales, he usually delivers a silver lining.

A highly enjoyable read...