Summary
Cavaletto, now going by the Anglicized name of Mr. Baptist, is living in Bleeding Heart Yard and seems happy despite his poverty. He does however sometimes seem fearful that someone might be following or trying to find him. Meanwhile, Pancks is leading some sort of secret project, in which he entrusts his landlord Mr. Rugg, Mr. Rugg's daughter, and John Chivery with missions around London in search of some information he is seeking. At the same time, Arthur's dislike of Henry Gowan (which he discusses with Doyce) continues to grow as he finds Henry more self-indulgent and aimless than ever. One day, Henry invites Arthur home to meet his mother. Arthur dislikes Mrs. Gowan, who is snobby and pretentious, and is outraged when she tells him that she believes Mr. and Mrs. Meagles are trying to lure Henry into marrying Pet because of his higher social status. Arthur is suspicious that Henry orchestrated this visit so that Mrs. Gowan would initiate his conversation, and remind Arthur that Pet and Henry seem to be on their way to marriage.
Arthur's worries about both Amy's melancholy and Pancks's strange behavior continue to escalate. He's distracted, however, by news from Mr. Meagles that Tattycoram snapped, lashed out, and ran away. Arthur and Mr. Meagles suspect she might be with Miss Wade, and eventually find the two women. Miss Wade echoes Tattycoram's complaints that she has been treated unfairly in comparison to Pet, and explains that she is also illegitimate. Tattycoram refuses to return home. Meagles's subsequent efforts to get her to come home are also unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Pet and Gowan have gotten engaged, and while Arthur is saddened, he agrees always to do what he can to help her.
At the Clennam house, Affery has been growing more agitated by strange noises and Flintwinch's mysterious behavior. One day, after Pancks comes by to see Little Dorrit, Mrs. Clennam first questions Amy about what he wanted, but then seems strangely affectionate with the young woman. After seeing Amy out, Affery is trapped outside the house when the door blows shut behind her. She runs into Rigaud/Blandois, who helps her break back in. After Affery fetches Flintwinch, Blandois explains that he has business with Clennam and Co, and retires briefly to an inn to clean up before meeting Mrs. Clennam. When he returns and meets with Mrs. Clennam, he notices the initials DNF on Mr. Clennam's old watch, which she explains stands for "Do Not Forget." After Mrs. Clennam retires, Flintwinch and Blandois tour the house and then go out drinking, but Flintwinch does not disclose any information.
Amy gets into an argument with her family after accompanying Mr. Nandy on his way to the Marshalsea. Nandy is Mrs. Plornish's father, who is an impoverished old man, and is fond of Mr. Dorrit, so Amy was trying to be helpful by walking with him when he was going to visit her father. However, both Fanny and Mr. Dorrit felt she was hurting the family reputation by being seen in public with someone so poor. Amy is even more upset when Arthur arrives, and watches as her father mistreats old Nandy. Tip also insults Arthur because he is angry that Arthur will not give him any money. Finally, Arthur and Amy are left alone, and he asks why she has been avoiding him. Amy changes the topic to ask what has been wrong with him, and Arthur admits he was in love with someone but things have not worked out. Amy assumes he is referring to Flora, but he denies this, and explains that he has given up on love altogether. He promises he will always be a supportive friend to Amy and asks if she cares for anyone. While Amy is denying this, Pancks arrives in great excitement, and pulls Arthur aside. Then he leaves Arthur to break the news.
Delaying the revelation of Pancks's discovery, the narrative shifts to a meeting between Mrs. Gowan and Mrs. Merdle. Mrs. Gowan gives the cover story that she is unhappy with Henry marrying Pet and blames the Meagles family for engineering everything. In reality, both women know that Mrs. Gowan is eager to obtain the money that Pet will bring with her. After Mrs. Gowan leaves, Mr. Merdle comes home and his wife starts complaining about the fact that he often seems stressed and preoccupied with work. In her mind, a gentleman should never display this kind of behavior. At Pet and Henry's wedding, Mrs. Gowan puts on a show of inviting all of her wealthy relations. Meanwhile, Arthur is concerned with the cynicism and materialism Henry is already showing. After the marriage, the couple head off to honeymoon in Italy.
After this delay, we return to Pancks's discovery: he has been able to unearth proof that Mr. Dorrit is the heir to a large unclaimed fortune, which means he will be able to pay off his debts and live as a wealthy man. Arthur breaks the news first to Amy, and then to her father. Dorrit immediately starts putting on airs, and acting like he is very fancy. On the day the Dorrit family leaves prison, they almost drive away before realizing that Amy is missing. They find Arthur helping Amy, who is wearing her old prison clothes. Everyone is upset that she has not dressed herself appropriately, but Arthur explains that he found her having fainted after trying to change into a fancy gown. He helps her into the carriage, and the family drives away.
Analysis
The introduction of Mrs. Gowan introduces another bad parental role model into the text. Much like Mr. Dorrit and Mrs. Merdle, Mrs. Gowan is preoccupied with maintaining her social position, and willing to use her children to do so. While the connection to the Barnacles gives the Gowan family a vague social prestige, Mrs. Gowan and her son have very little income, which explains why Henry is always grumbling about having to work for a living rather than live the leisured and idle life he feels entitled to. Marriage to Pet would bring welcome access to cash, but Mrs. Gowan is very careful to weave a web of manipulation and façade in order to maintain her social position. She gives off the impression that she is unhappy about the marriage, and that the Meagles are scheming to trap Henry into a marriage that is beneath him. While clever, the behavior of both Henry and his mother alarms Arthur, who worries that an unhappy future lies ahead for Pet. Confirming that Pet is sweet-natured but impulsive and short-sighted, she rushes into the marriage anyways, and her parents are too doting to stop her.
The affectionate but often blind natures of Mr. and Mrs. Meagles also comes starkly to light with Tattycoram's rebellion. Mr. Meagles is genuinely shocked to find that the young woman sees herself as having any cause for complaint: he has always tried to treat her kindly and lovingly. Tattycoram's rage would have been particularly shocking in an era where young women were largely expected to maintain a polite façade, but it adds new depth to a minor character. It is no coincidence that Tattycoram's anger surfaces at the moment where Pet is about to get engaged and move into another situation of being pampered and adored. Tattycoram mounts a powerful critique of social injustice by calling attention to the fact that, had she been born in different circumstances, she might have had all the same opportunities and love that have been denied to her by a stroke of fate.
Tattycoram's sense that she has been mistreated and made miserable with envy is presented with some sympathy, especially in the light of other characters, notably Amy Dorrit, who also suffer through no fault of their own. However, in sharp contrast to Amy's patient and humble acceptance, Tattycoram struggles against her lot in life, and this rebelliousness leaves her vulnerable. Miss Wade appears in this section as a sinister presence who exploits a young woman's volatile emotions. Tattycoram might not know better, but Miss Wade seems to make a deliberate effort to make her even more resentful and drive a wedge between her and her adopted family. Mr. Meagles's futile attempts to win Tattycoram back are particularly poignant when compared to the almost simultaneous loss of Pet due to her marriage and move abroad. In a short time, a kind but short-sighted man loses both his daughters to sinister and manipulative characters because he has not equipped them with the necessary skills to see that neither Miss Wade nor Henry Gowan actually want what is best for them. For all his failings, Mr. Dorrit has at least raised Amy and Fanny to be intelligent and perceptive women who are skilled judges of character.
The introduction of a connection between Blandois and Mrs. Clennam contributes to the novel's sense of a claustrophobic plot, in which various narratives are drawing ever closer together without the precise details yet becoming clear. Arthur shares in the reader's foreboding sense that nothing good can come of these connections, but also lacks the power to do anything about it, or even understand what is happening behind closed doors. As a result of refusing to engage in a business whose ethical practices he mistrusts, Arthur is cut off from a role of masculine authority as the head of the Clennam family and business.
While the Blandois-Clennam mystery deepens, another plot comes to an improbable climax. Pancks, initially presented as someone who unsympathetically exploits the poverty of others, takes it upon himself to restore the fortunes of the Dorrit family. Even as they continue to flaunt an imagined social stature by shaming Amy for her kindness to the less fortunate, their snobbery seems to be vindicated: it turns out they are in fact as rich and privileged as they have always pretended to be. This bizarre revelation highlights a theme present in other plotlines as well: the idea that the illusion of wealth and social prestige can seemingly create the reality of it. Mrs. Gowan likewise seems to have willed herself and her son to be rich through her insistence on acting like it, and now Mr. Dorrit's fantasies seem to have taken shape as reality.
