Amy Dorrit is born in the infamous Marshalsea
Prison of mid-nineteenth century England. Her father, Wiiliam Dorrit, has been imprisoned for being unable to clear his debts. Her broken spirited mother dies shortly after Amy is born. Amy grows up to be a
young woman without any knowledge of the world outside the prison walls. She is not pretty like her elder sister, Fanny - the prison atmosphere seems to have stunted her physical growth. At the age of twenty-two, she looks like a child of ten, and is painfully aware of the fact. But she is the one on whom the entire family depends. She takes care of her father, who has lost his dignity through his long incarceration. She sends her lazy elder brother, Edward, out to work. Both she and Fanny earn their living working as seamstresses in the city. She also looks after Maggy, a mentally unsound young woman, and even Frederick, William Dorrit's brother. Amy soon gets to know her stern employer's son, Arthur Clennam. Arthur is a
quiet, middle aged man, always serious and thoughtful, the complete antithesis of his strict, rigid, unyielding mother. Arthur had a bitter and lonely childhood, and a broken
love affair in his youth has made him sad, but not bitter or cynical . He is extremely sensitive to other people's emotions and sentiments, and his feelings of pity for his poor employee leads him to take a further interest in Amy and her family. He also knows that his mother is somehow responsible for the condition of Amy's family. While Arthur's interest in Amy seemed to be confined to paternal kindness and benevolence, the young, inexperienced Amy soon finds herself getting attracted to this quiet, sensitive, pensive man.
Arthur is introduced to Daniel Doyce by his friend, Mr. Meagles. Doyce is an old man, and by profession he is an engineer. His factory is in Bleeding Heart Yard, a neighbourhood of the poorest people in society. Doyce and Arthur enter into a partnership and Arthur is frustrated by the corruption and inefficiency of the “Circumlocution Office”, a government department which grants licenses and patents. The book contains a searing satire on the workings of bureaucrats at government offices.
Arthur soon falls in love with Mr. Meagle’s twenty year old daughter, Minnie, but she marries another man, leaving him disappointed.
Through Arthur’s efforts, William Dorrit is soon released from prison. A lost will is also discovered and Amy becomes a rich heiress. William Dorrit settles down among London’s high society. Wealth has changed all the Dorrits except Amy and the weak Frederick. William and his two elder children want nothing to do with their past lives, even past friends and well wishers. They are terrified of their life in Marshalsea being discovered by the snobbish, hypocritical London high society. Fanny marries Edmund Sparkler, a rich, dim witted young man she barely likes. Tragedy strikes Amy’s life when her beloved father and uncle die within hours of each other.
Edmund’s stepfather , a rich and famous financier, and the rising star of London elites, Mr. Merdle, has been taking care of the finances of the Dorrits. Even Arthur invests with Merdle’s famous firm. But due to Merdle's mishandling of his clients' funds, they are ruined. Arthur is put into Marshalsea as a result. He falls ill, and Amy meets him. She tells him that Merdle’s firm has ruined her financially too. Arthur has finally become aware of the fact that Amy is in love with him, and is startled to realize that he too has fallen in love with her. Arthur’s partner, Doyce, has in the meantime found fame and success abroad and bails out their firm from financial difficulty. As a result, Arthur is released from prison. On a quiet, sunny morning, Arthur and Amy are finally married in a church.
Little Dorrit is a “quiet” story, compared to other novels by Charles Dickens. The beauty of the novel lies in the way two people with a sad past come together to start life afresh.
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