Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit. Charles Dickens. 1855-1857. Penguin. 928 pages.

Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day. 

Little Dorrit is the third full-length Dickens that I've read*. Last fall, I read Bleak House, and last month I read Our Mutual Friend. Did I like Little Dorrit? Not as much as Bleak House. Not as much as Our Mutual Friend. But there were plenty of things I liked about it. Like the heroine, Amy Dorrit, and her love-interest, Arthur Clennam.

Arthur first meets 'Little Dorrit' in his mother's home. He is returning from a LONG absence, returning after his father's death. His parents marriage being a disaster, he spent part of his time with his mother in England, part of his time with his father in China. Little Dorrit (Amy) is quiet, not one to call attention to herself. But there is something about her that intrigues him. So he sets out to befriend, to learn all he can about her. What he learns is that she was born to her father and mother in Marshalsea--a debtor's prison. Her father has been a long-time resident. She's never known freedom, she leaves the gates most every day to earn what she can--she's a good seamstress, happy to find work where she can, like at the Clennams. But to Marshalsea she returns each evening before the gates are locked. She's happy to have a friend in Arthur. But while she may think of him as something-more-than-a-friend, he's settled into thinking of her as a daughter. He's twenty years older than Amy, and, well, he's not the smartest of men when it comes to realizing the obvious. (He has to be TOLD by someone he barely knows that Amy is in love with him, has always been in love with him.) He decides that the best way to help Amy is to help get her father out of debtor's prison. So with the help of a few friends, he sets out to do just that. But is Amy suited to riches?! Does society really hold a place for Amy, Fanny (her older sister), Tip (her older brother), her father, and her uncle? Can money buy happiness? Can money redeem past wrongs? What do you think?!

The minor characters and subplots didn't thrill me in Little Dorrit. Don't get me wrong, there were times when I found it very comical. Dickens had a good sense of humor. And there are some great sketches of characters here and there. Arthur's old love-interest, for example, is almost always good for a laugh. Though it is a laugh at her expense. And Mr. Sparkler, Fanny's love interest, is good for comic relief too. There's a scene between him and Fanny--after they're married--that had me laughing a great deal! (And just when I needed it too!) And Little Dorrit offers a certain amount of drama--drama that for me might have been spoiled by having seen the adaptation two years ago. I thought that the book would clarify things for me, that characters that didn't make a lot of sense in the film would become clearer when I read the book. But I didn't find that to be the case. There are still pieces of the puzzle that I'm missing. There are still characters that leave me confused and puzzled. Which I suppose is why Little Dorrit isn't a book that I can love, love, love. However, I do like it. I am glad I read it.

He had a certain air of being a handsome man--which he was not; and a certain air of being a well-bred man--which he was not. It was mere swagger and challenge; but in this particular, as in many others, blustering assertion goes for proof, half over the world (25).

In our course through life we shall meet the people who are coming to meet us, from many strange places and by many strange roads and what is set to us to do to them, and what it is set to them to do to us will be done. (39)

Flora, always tall, had grown to be very broad too, and short of breath; but that was not much. Flora, whom he had left a lily, had become a peony; but that was not much. Flora, who had seemed enchanting in all she said and thought, was diffuse and silly. That was much. Flora, who had been spoiled and artless long ago, was determined to be spoiled and artless now. That was a fatal blow. This is Flora! (165)

*Not including GREAT EXPECTATIONS which was required reading in high school. Or A Christmas Carol which is so familiar that I'm not sure it should count.  

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Posted in 1800-1900 , 1855 , 1856 , 1857 , adult fiction , classics , library book

North and South (Revisited)

North and South. Elizabeth Gaskell. 1854-1855. 452 pages.

'Edith!' said Margaret, gently, 'Edith!'
But, as Margaret half suspected, Edith had fallen asleep.

Last spring I discovered North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It was a story that I couldn't forget. I read the book. I listened to the audio book. I watched the movie. (I watched the movie twice.) When I wrote in my review that I loved it--I meant it. No question about that. But at the same time, I questioned the intensity of that love. Would it prove a lasting love? Would North and South prove to be a true favorite? Yes, the characters, the stories made an impression on me. But would it make a lasting impression? I knew that sooner or later I would have to reread this one.

So what do I think after rereading this one? I love it even more than I did before! And I didn't think that was quite possible! Because I was very enthusiastic the first time around.

There were things that I noticed for the first time. There were things that I was only able to appreciate the second time through. Little details that may not seem like much, but taken together add to the beauty and complexity of the whole.

I was able to focus on the relationships more, I think.  John's relationship with his mother and sister. And the relationship between Margaret and her mother and father and brother. And, of course, I was paying attention to every sign of affection between John and Margaret! Knowing the characters--knowing their strengths and weaknesses--it affected how I read the novel.
 
This was such a satisfying, comfort read.

North and South is bittersweet. I think the contrast between life's joys and sorrows is one reason why I love this one so very much. Because of everything that Margaret endures, her happily ever after means just that much more to me. I think I love John and Margaret more because of all the obstacles along the way.


Some of my favorite lines:

As she realized what might have been, she grew to be thankful for what was. (68)

'Take care you don't get caught by a penniless girl, John'
'I am not easily caught, mother, as I think you know. But I must not have Miss Hale spoken of in that way, which, you know is offensive to me. I never was aware of any young lady trying to catch me yet, nor do I believe that any one has ever given themselves that useless trouble. (78)

'Papa, I do think Mr. Thornton a very remarkable man; but personally I don't like him at all.' (88)

'Bessy, don't be impatient with your life, whatever it is--or may have been. Remember who gave it you, and made it what it is!' (91)

'Loyalty and obedience to wisdom and justice are fine; but it is still finer to defy arbitrary power, unjustly and cruelly used -- not on behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of others more helpless.' (109)

'I cannot forgive her pride,' said his mother; 'I will befriend her, if there is need, for your asking, John. I would befriend Jezebel herself if you asked me. But this girl, who turns up her nose at us all--who turns up her nose at you--'
'Nay, mother; I have never yet put myself, and I mean never to put myself, within reach of her contempt.'
'Contempt, indeed! Don't go speaking of Miss Hale, John, if I've to be kind to her. When I'm with her, I don't know if I like or dislike her most; but when I think of her, and hear you talk of her, I hate her.' (143)

'Don't dwell so much on the prophecies, but read the clearer parts of the Bible.'
'I dare say it would be wiser; but where would I hear such grand words of promise--hear tell o' anything so far different fro' this dreary world, and this town above as in Revelations? Many's the time I've repeated the verses in the seventh chapter to myself, just for the sound. It's as good as an organ, and as different from every day, too. No, I cannot give up Revelations. It gives me more comfort than any other book i' the Bible.' (137)

'I suspect my "gentleman" includes your "true man."'
'And a great deal more, you would imply. I differ from you. A man is to me a higher and completer being than a gentleman.'
'What do you mean?' asked Margaret. 'We must understand the words differently.'
'I take it that "gentleman" is a term that only describes a person in his relation to others; but when we speak of him as "a man," we consider him not merely with regard to his fellow-men, but in relation to himself, - to life - to time - to eternity. A cast-away lonely as Robinson Crusoe - a prisoner immured in a dungeon for life - nay, even a saint in Patmos, has his endurance, his strength, his faith, best described as being spoken of as "a man." I am rather weary of this word "gentlemanly," which seems to me to be often inappropriately used, and often, too, with such exaggerated distortion of meaning, while the full simplicity of the noun "man," and the adjective "manly" are unacknowledged - that I am induced to class it with the cant of the day.' (163)

'He is the first specimen of a manufacturer - of a person engaged in trade - that I had ever the opportunity of studying, papa. He is my first olive, let me make a face while I swallow it. I know he is good of his kind, and by and by I shall like the kind. I rather think I am already beginning to do so. (165)

'Speak to your workmen as if they were human beings. Speak to them kindly. Don't let the soldiers come in and cut down poor creatures who are driven mad. I see one there who is. If you have any courage or noble quality in you, go out and speak to them, man to man.' (175)

'I hardly know if it is pain or pleasure, to think that I owe it to one - nay, you must, you shall hear - to one whom I love, as I do not believe man ever loved woman before.' (192)

'One word more. You look as if you thought it tainted you to be loved by me. You cannot avoid it. Nay, I, if I would, cannot cleanse you from it. But I would not, if I could. I have never loved any woman before: my life has been too busy, my thoughts too much absorbed with other things. Now I love, and will love. But do  not be afraid of too much expression on my part. (194)

'I see a great deal of difference between Miss Hale and Fanny. I can imagine that the one may have weighty reasons, which may and ought to make her overlook any seeming impropriety in her conduct. I never knew Fanny have weighty reasons for anything. Other people must guard her. I believe Miss Hale is guardian to herself.' (305)

'The exact truth! Very few people do speak the exact truth. I have given up hoping for it.' (320)

'He may care for her, though she really has been almost rude to him at times. But she! - why, Margaret would never think of him, I'm sure! Such a thing has never entered her head.'
'Entering her heart would do. But I merely threw out a suggestion of what might be.' (329)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Posted in 1800-1900 , 1854 , 1855 , adult fiction , classics