Mrs. Gowan's Pretenses Michelle Qiu College

Most characters in Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens have a pretense that they keep up in the novel, both to themselves and to others. Sometimes it is clear that others can see through the person’s actions, and sometimes, people fall for the falsehood. While the reader can usually tell that the person pretending knows they are pretending, at times, it seems that even the person pretending start to believe it is the truth. Some characters have a behavioral mannerism that relates to their pretense. Mrs. Gowan’s mannerism seems to be her usage of a large green fan, which gives insight to her relationship to society.

Mrs. Gowan’s main pretense is that her son’s marriage is socioeconomic step down. She was once married to a man that was distantly related to the Barnacle family. After her husband’s death, she receives a pension and an apartment from the Barnacles, where she lives with her son. She has the family connections to be in the upper class but no longer has the money to maintain that position. Henry, her son, does not have a steady job and runs into debt quite often. His marriage to Pet Meagles is a monetary step up because he used to lose money every month and now receives money from Pet’s father. However, Mrs. Gowan...