Summary
The novel opens in the city of Marseilles, France. Two men, John Baptist Cavalletto and Monsieur Rigaud, are imprisoned in a cell together. The jailer brings them food and informs Rigaud that his trial will begin shortly. After the prisoners are left alone again, Rigaud tells his cellmate how he came to be in prison. He married a widow who possessed money and property from her first husband; he claims that she died accidentally while they were quarreling, and he has now been wrongly accused of her murder, but it is strongly implied that he is indeed guilty. The guards arrive to escort Rigaud to his trial, and after they exit the cell, Cavelletto hears the sounds of a commotion and struggle.
Elsewhere in Marseilles, various travelers have been quarantined, including the Meagles family (consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Meagles, their beloved young daughter Pet, and Pet's maid and companion, Tattycoram). While in quarantine, Mr. Meagles has struck up a friendship with a fellow Englishman named Arthur Clennam, who is gradually making his way back to England after having spent the last twenty years living in China with his father, who has recently died. The two men confide in each other, with Mr. Meagles explaining that Pet had a twin sister who died as a young child, while Clennam describes his lonely and unhappy childhood. Amongst the travelers, there is also a young Englishwoman named Miss Wade, who keeps to herself and rejects friendly overtures from Pet. By chance, Miss Wade comes across Tattycoram expressing her rage and frustration that she is often neglected and ignored while Pat is doted upon. Tattycoram has been adopted by the Meagles after growing up in a charitable home for orphaned and abandoned children.
After completing his journey and arriving in London, Arthur makes his way to his childhood home, where he is reunited with his mother and two household servants, Affery and Jeremiah Flintwinch. Mrs. Clennam is a cold and reserved woman who has been confined to her bedroom for many years, but has remained active in the family business which her son and late husband managed in China. Arthur confirms that his mother received his father's watch which he sent after his death, since the late Mr. Clennam seemed very anxious that his wife should have it. After Mrs. Clennam goes to bed, Arthur learns from Affery that she was bullied by Jeremiah and Mrs. Clennam into marrying Jeremiah for their convenience. Affery also mentions that Arthur's former sweetheart is now widowed, and that he could consider courting her again. Later that night, Affery has a strange vision in which a man identical to her husband seems to be standing with him in the kitchen. Flintwich persuades her that this was simply a nightmare.
The next morning, Arthur explains to his mother that he does not plan to continue with the family business since he sees it as futile and barely surviving. He also asks whether she or his father ever wronged anyone as part of their business dealings, since Arthur has the impression that his father was haunted by some kind of remorse. If this is the case, Arthur is eager to atone for any wrongdoing. Mrs. Clennam angrily denies anything of the sort, and renounces her relationship with her son, planning instead to have Flintwinch serve as her business partner. Arthur moves into different lodgings, but continues to come to the house every day to review business affairs with Flintwinch and his mother.
Arthur's visits to the Clennam house give him a chance to observe Mrs. Clennam's companion, a young woman referred to as Little Dorrit, who comes every day to spend time at the house sewing, and then leaves every evening. Little Dorrit's first name is actually Amy, and she was born in Marshalsea prison, where she has lived her entire life. Before her birth, her father was imprisoned for debt, and, as was common at the time, his wife and two older children joined him there. Amy was born in the prison a few months later, and her mother died when she was very young. Her father settled into life in the prison, assuming a role as an authority figure referred to as the "Father of the Marshalsea." Because of the Dorrit family's long residence in the prison, they have formed a network of social connections with the guards and other residents.
Amy has played an active role in maintaining the welfare of her family. She arranged for her older sister Fanny to be trained as a dancer, and Fanny now lives outside of the prison with her uncle, Frederick Dorrit, making a modest living. Amy has also tried to find opportunities for her brother Tip, but he is unmotivated and never stays long at any of the jobs she manages to line up for him. Crushingly, he eventually ends up with his own debt and himself becomes a prisoner. Amy is careful to hide many of these details, as well as her own employment, from her father so that he can believe all his children have easy and comfortable lives.
Analysis
The novel opens with a prison scene, but not one set in the prison that will dominate the remainder of the plot. Instead, the Marseilles prison creates a melodramatic and almost Gothic overtone: many English readers would be quick to assume that prison conditions in Continental Europe would be worse than ones in their own region. Rigaud is also clearly positioned as the villain: his specific crime introduces themes that will become important later in the novel, including marrying for profit rather than love, unhappy relationships, and being willing to resort to crimes and lying in hopes of securing a fortune. The abrupt departure of his character and the sudden shift to an entirely different set of individuals introduces a narrative model that will also be used for much of the novel: until the various plot threads come together, it will seem like the narrative is frequently jumping between entirely different settings, storylines and casts of characters.
The gathering of English travelers creates a comical synthesis of individuals with varying ranges of worldly experience. While good-hearted, the Meagles family is clearly not very cosmopolitan and functions as a way to poke fun at wealthy tourists who travel out of a sense of obligation and a desire to seem sophisticated while they would actually prefer just to be at home. Their lack of judgment also surfaces in the origin story of how Tattycoram came to live with them. On one hand, they were well-intentioned and have tried to be kind to the young woman. On the other, they treat her more like a doll or a domestic pet than a fully formed human being with desires and aspirations of her own. Tattycoram's outburst violates conventions of how a young woman would be expected to behave in the Victorian era, as well as class-based notions that she should be grateful for everything the Meagles family has done for her. However, it is easy for a reader to see why she would feel frustrated and angry, and the character who comes across as sinister in these early scenes is the colder and more mysterious Miss Wade.
Miss Wade's reserved but impenetrable demeanor in some ways foreshadows the icy nature of Mrs. Clennam, but the latter's behavior is all the more shocking because she does not show any warmth or affection to her own son after a long separation. The interaction confirms Arthur's initial explanation that he has led a lonely and isolated life, never knowing any familial love. The undermining of expectations that parents would be loving and act in the best interests of their children is furthered by the introduction of the Dorrit family. In his initial crime of getting into debt, William Dorrit mostly showed bad judgment and carelessness. Over years of prison life, however, he has become self-indulgent, demanding, and self-righteous. As Jeremy Tambling writes, "the prison is the dead space of the Marshalsea, which humiliates rather than criminalises; the guilt it produces is in relation to gentility and the ego" (p. 149).
Mr. Dorrit's relationship with Amy almost entirely reverses the parent-child dynamic in that she constantly worries about his needs, takes care of him, and protects him from any information he might find upsetting. Likewise, Fanny and Tip also take advantage of their sister's conscientious, hard-working, and loving nature so that they can think solely about themselves. Amy's nickname of "Little" reflects her physical stature and status as the youngest child, but is ironic in light of how much responsibility she takes for the entire family, and how she is often the only one to behave like an adult.
Early on, it becomes clear that money and business concerns are forces that shape the lives and choices of individuals. William Dorrit's business decision was foolish but not malicious: if anything, he was the victim of his partner's unethical decisions, but he is the one who now pays for it. Rigaud is heartless but not senselessly violent, since his decision to kill his wife was largely motivated by his desire to secure her financial assets. Arthur is haunted by a suspicion that the Clennam family business is somehow implicated in something unethical, and shows his strong sense of personal integrity in his desire to uncover what this might be. At this point, however, Arthur and Mr. Dorrit are parallels in their helplessness to change anything. Arthur has been shut out of his family and their business practices, while Mr. Dorrit's imprisonment has shut him out of life.
