Little Dorrit: The Character Reversal

[cathschaffstump]

Another thing that Dickens does very well in Little Dorrit is the character reversal.

I am a sucker for the character reversal. In recent memory, an author who does it quite nicely is Maggie Stiefvater in Lament. As a reader, I love the bad character who defects to the other side. I am less fond of the good to bad reversal, but still enjoy it when it happens.

Dickens gives us three lovely and unexpected reversals in Little Dorrit. First, we should look at Flora. Flora is Arthur’s love interest from his youth, and she’s truly a nonsense spouting comical character. Yet, almost always alluded to underneath her bluster and romantic allusions is a good-hearted nature that is often reinforced by the good things she does for the other characters. Flora is much more complicated than she appears.

The second of the reversals is the most unexpected. Affery, the Clennam’s abused and confused maid, decides at the end of the story to stand up for her own rights and Mr. Arthurs, even though she is scared out of her wits. That a character we’ve written off reaches into herself and finds the courage to do this is inspiring.

Of course, my favorite reversal is the complex Mr. Pancks. Mr. Pancks is the rent collector for landlord Casby, who has an aspect of goodness, but is truly a greedy man. Pancks is referred to as a no nonsense tugboat. He altruistically undertakes to unravel the tangles of the Dorrit fortune, and becomes Arthur Clennam’s trustworthy friend and ally. In the end, he quits Casby’s service and exposes Casby for the greedy man he is.

Dickens has plenty of flat characters, comedic characters, and villainous characters in the sprawling novel, but I enjoy that he also delivers complex and multi-dimensional characters.

I’ll be reading some lighter work for a little while, but the next classic on my list is the Mervyn Peake Gormenghast trilogy, which combines aspects of classic literature and literature of the fantastic, goals I strive toward in my own work.

Catherine

Originally published at Writer Tamago. You can comment here or there.