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Little Dorrit Book 2, Chapter 4 Summary

A Letter from Little Dorrit

  • This chapter is just a short letter from Amy to Arthur.
  • Amy is all mopey and homesick and a little passive aggressive in the letter – much like in real life.
  • She writes about meeting Mrs. Gowan and goes on and on how super-beautiful Pet is, and how much Amy is not nearly as beautiful, and how she totally could never measure up to the awesomeness that is Pet.
  • She adds that Gowan kind of sucks, and that Pet seems kind of unhappy, and that they are not that well matched as a couple. But still, Pet? Really very pretty. Yikes, Amy, put down the whip. We're thinking that horse is already dead.
  • In other news, Amy can't adjust to their new life and misses everyone from home. She wonders about the Plornishes, and how they are doing now that Dorrit bought them a business and they are able to have Old Nandy come live with them again. (That's a neat little bit of exposition there, right? Now we know what they've been up to!)
  • She also keeps expecting to find the prison around every corner and Mrs. Clennam's house on the next block. On top of that, she's super-sad that she isn't at Dorrit's beck and call anymore.
  • Finally she hopes Arthur thinks about her sometimes, and that he'll keep remembering her as the poor, raggedy girl he met, not the daughter of some rich obnoxious dude.