Prison Imagry in Little Dorrit
Graduation Date
Summer 1961
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Granting Institution
Catholic University of America
Program Name
Humanities
Abstract
The general fund of material on the life and work of Charles Dickens leaves much to be desired in quality though little to be questioned in quantity. Until as late as 1955 critical commentaries were brief though numerous, and the only really outstanding biography since John Forster (1872-74) is Edgar Johnston's Charles Dickens, His Tragedy and Triumph (1953). Edmund Wilson's The Wound and the Bow (194-7) presents the highly recognized "Dickens: The Two Scrooges" and Lionel Trilling's more recent study (1952) gives evidence of increase in genuine interest in Charles Dickens and his work and promise of more detailed scholarship. These publications, supplemented by letters of Dickens to Forster and by other pertinent commentaries will be used in the present discussion of Dickens' use of prison imagery in Little Dorrit.
The fact that Lionel Trilling ranks Little Dorrit among the three great novels of Dickens' great last period and yet pronounces it relegated to the background of public consciousness signifies what little work, comparatively, has been done on that novel. What has been accomplished and recognized is found in the writers mentioned above.
Scholarship already published on the imagery in Little Dorrit recognizes in general outline the image of prison as the informing symbol for the major theme. The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate the significance of prison imagery and, through careful analysis, to point out how prison on the literal level (and various terms connected with it: dirt, grime, gloom, bars, cramped cells, vermin, musty odors, rusty iron, slimy rocks, to name a few) is a basis for the figurative images Dickens uses to depict the main characters and to interweave the plots which involve various strata of society.
As far as is consonant with the analysis I shall point., up various images as contrasting with or reinforcing the basic image of orison. In so working I shall treat in order: (l) Prison on the literal level; (2) Figurative use of prison imagery with major and minor characters; (3) Unity of eflect. as depending in large part on prison imagery.
The text of the novel used is the edition by P. F. Collier and Sons, New York, nd. All references to the text have reference to book and chapter.