Dear Serial Readers,
I didn't especially enjoy this installment, much like a so-so episode of "Mad Men" or something equivalent in serial viewing. I suppose Mrs. Flintwinch's second "dream" confirms there's some mystery afoot between Mr. F. and Mrs. C., but then again, we already knew that. "Time shall show us," as the narrator intones, but that time hasn't come about, yet. Is Mrs. F's dreaming supposed to pose as an allegory for reading the novel, where there's some mixing up, some secret we can only partially decipher at this point? Did you think some crucial tidbit was revealed, something my sloppy reading missed?
About Arthur's long ramble out of London--again, sort of like the larger meandering narrative that moves in and out of London, in and out of England, in and out of a core preoccupation with the back story of Clennams and Dorrits. Arthur Clennam seems to have (or be insinuated in)multiple romantic attachments, whether in the past to Flora, or in his uneasily restrained fantasies about Pet, or through his narrative obsession with Amy Dorrit. I can't see the connection with Pet/Minnie, the age difference notwithstanding (and surely not so unusual in Victorian tales). Little Dorrit's refusal of John Chivery, who seems a nice enough son-of-a-turnkey, does fortify her character, her devotion to her father's fragile station in life. I can only imagine her revising her repudiation of marriage (or her desire for aloneness) once her father is reclaimed in some way, and surely Arthur is pursuing this salvation. Is his wobbly attraction to Pet a way to show he has choices as a consumer in the marriage market? or that his choices too are limited by circumstances beyond his control?
Another element in my frustration with this number has to do with teasing (by mere mention in one case and slight appearance in the other) about Tattycoram and Miss Wade. I would like to see more of their particular discontents, more of their stories, but that desire was serially deferred! Maybe next time--chapters 19-22.
Serially stalled,
Susan
2 comments:
I was curious about the return to the focus on shadow and light leading up to Mrs F.’s dream in Chapter 15: the “varying light of fire and candle” in Mrs C.’s room; a “solitary light that died under the breath of Avery”; the “watch-light” of the sickroom; the “winter twilight.” All that after the long description of Mrs C.’s house which both sunlight and moonlight never touch. Atmospherics, no more, no less, perhaps. Maybe “Time shall show us.”
Until more is revealed, I could find little more than an obtuse dialogue between the “two clever ones” in the dream. For a dream, it's a very long sequence. Is “dropped down on me” a colloquial British expression known to everyone but me?
If there was an earlier suggestion of potential love between Pet and Arthur, I either missed it of have forgotten it. Arthur's turning over in his mind the question of loving her, loving her not, seemed to me to come out of the blue. I shared the hope of seeing Tattycoram and Miss Wade again, once they were mentioned in that chapter, just as I thought we might see more of the young Barnacle fumbling with his eyepiece, though that might have been excessive.
It's nice to have the photo of the Thames, given Little Dorrit's stated preference, in Chapter 18, for sitting by it.
I hadn't thought of this section as less satisfying--but it is! I did love the Jr. Barnacle's outrage at seeing Clennam, and his observation to his friend "Egod, sir . . . He said he wanted to know, you know! Pervaded our department--without an appointment--and said he wanted to know!" What more needs to be said to show that someone is a dangerous radical? Even today that seems to be enough!
I hadn't seen "egod" before, as I also hadn't seen "dropped down on me." I wonder if they are each character's idiosyncrasies, slang of the month, or more commonly used phrases.
I didn't quite understand what "not in MS" meant in my edition about the chapter "Little Dorrit's Lover." Does that mean it was published with the serial? Added later? How much was the MS complete before it was published serially? It seemed to me that she just wasn't interested in John, the nice enough turnkey-son (somewhat of a fop, perhaps), and I was impressed by her strength in getting his respect for her desire to be alone. I wondered if she is already fond of Arthur, who did help her and her brother. But probably not.
The one thing I wondered in the "dream" sequence, the only potential clue I noticed, was that Affery hears so many noises--is someone else about the house? Why is she so affected by this? And it seems that Mrs. C. feels guilt toward Little Dorrit, but isn't fully informed of the borders of her guilt, either. She seems to find ways to continue to see herself as at least marginally virtuous.
I'm ready to start finding some things out!
I liked the ramble, and I can make up reasons for Arthur to seek the love Pet, but the narrative certainly doesn't give them. Interesting that John *is* Little D's lover, though he is rejected, and Arthur is "Nobody's Rival." Or, perhaps the painter is "Nobody's Rival."
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