Little Dorrit has been called a masterpiece among masterpieces by G.B.Shaw. Like many of Dickens’ novels this too is a London novel; the metropolis in which Dickens locates his characters. The urbane, aristocratic, well –to-do citizens of this city in contrast to the struggling impoverished folk from the poorer sections gives an ambience and canvas for the novelist to explore. Little Dorrit highlights another characteristic, typical to a Dickens novel; the maze of relations or relationships, that the narrative will create, dissociate, resolve or dissolve.
The novel is divided into two parts. Book 1 deals with the poverty and misery of the Dorrit family. The change in Manifest destiny and how the characters behave once they are in grasp of new riches is presented in Book-2. Dickens models his novel on the ephemerality of wealth and the permanence of a strong, moral core. The novel revolves around the character of money; of what it can do and what it cannot do; what it can fetch and what it cannot! It is true that money makes many things but it is also true that it cannot do all things. For instance it cannot bring real affection or happiness untainted by mediation or commerce.
Little Dorrit or Amy the second daughter of William Dorrit is the character who carries the novel; Kindness and humility, devotion to duty and unpretentiousness are what Little Dorrit is made of. Riches do not lure her nor poverty crush her. Where normal beings inhabit a world of loss and profit, Little Dorrit is steadfast in her attachment to her duty, her moral obligation and her empathetic concern. All this she does without a tinge of pride.
The narrator calls it a novel of imprisonment; both physical and metaphorical. The imprisonment of insolvents at the Marshalsea prison; the celebration of prison life, the little luxuries and liberties may be representations of Dickens’ childhood experiences. The metaphorical imprisonment is revealed in the thoughts of Ms Clennam who is entrenched in her trust of retribution and remorse for wrong deeds. The novel is also a debunking exposure of the false Gods and wealth prophets like Mr Merdle who are worshiped by society. Indeed the involvement and faith of all society like the Barnacles, the Merdles, in wealth and money is such that people like Mr. Clennam and Ms Dorrit are an anomaly. Blandois, Flintwitch, Mr. Casby, Henry Gowan, Mr Merdle, Mr Tip are all after money although in their individual methods and means.
Dickens seems to be deeply concerned about what money can do to human behavior and human relations. In fact the few people in the novel whose behavior doesn’t alter through out are Ms Affery, Ms Plornish, Maggy, Frederick, Mother or Ms Meagles, Ms Dorrit and they have very little to do with money or its inducements. On the other hand we have Mr.Dorrit and his eldest daughter Fanny, whose behavior changes as soon as they become rich. Mr. Dorrit becomes scornful of his old relations, is disdainful and apologetic if his earlier life and cannot get enough of the vanity and allurements of high society. Fanny is a victim of the false veil that the newly gotten wealth puts on her. She is impatient for more company; more entertainment to flirt and flaunt her charms and marries Edmund Sparkler with the sole purpose of smiting her to be mother-in-law. Mr Dorrit’s son Tip is an easier prey and becomes an imbecile, losing his time and energy in betting, drinking and gambling. Little Dorrit has to once again take under her care both her siblings when all their wealth is lost in the fraudulent transactions of Mr. Merdle with whom it is invested.
The novel has its share of twists; Arthur Clennam is not the son of Ms Clennam, Little Dorrit being the beneficiary of the will of Mr Clennam’s grandfather.
Perhaps the highest form of imprisonment is being cemented to the social class into which you are tagged. Release from this imprisonment is indeed a stupendous achievement as Mr Meagles is constantly reminded, that he has succeeded in acquiring a son-in-law much above his social stature in the form of Henry Gowan although it is he who is the sufferer in this alliance as he has to fund the debts and the livelihood of his flippant son-in-law. Little Dorrit certainly touches the aspect of class divide in British society in unsophisticated terms. In that sense it is a rebellious, hard-hitting novel.
The prison motif is a predominant feature in the narrative of Little Dorrit. The novel begins with the scene in a French prison between Blandois and Cavaletto, and ends with the release of Arthur Clennam from the Marshalsea debtors prison. Also the novel presents strong self willed characters in the form of Ms. Clennam, Miss Wade, Blandois who are committed to the path they have chosen. TattyCoram is another strong willed girl who comes out of her shroud of individualism to renew her relationship with the Meagles. The narrative of the novel is certainly strident and hard-hitting, reaching a highly satirical tone when it describes the circumlocution office or the devotion of society to wealth.
Charles Dickens’ novel resonates with a symphonic quality alternating between empathy and apathy, ardor and disdain, candor and artifice. The ones who remain unaffected to any scale of passion and maintain equanimity nearer to a meditative, divine spirit like Little Dorrit are the center piece, the core or the Atman of this celebrated novel. (To be continued)