# Fellow Travellers explained — Little Dorrit > Chapter companion for Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. ## What happens Arthur Clennam, newly returned from exile in China after his father's death, meets Mr. Meagles and his family during quarantine in Marseilles. Mr. Meagles shares his family's travels and introduces his daughter Pet and their maid Tattycoram. Arthur reveals his bleak upbringing under strict, unloving parents. After quarantine, the group dines at a hotel, where the reserved Miss Wade engages in a conversation about forgiveness and prisons. Miss Wade later encounters Tattycoram in a fit of rage and self-loathing, observing her with a strange, analytical interest. ## Themes in this chapter ### Imprisonment and Confinement The chapter opens with travelers released from quarantine, and Arthur describes his life as 'heavily ironed' and broken by his parents' strict regime. ### Identity and Social Mobility Arthur feels like a 'waif and stray' without will or purpose, while Mr. Meagles represents a self-made, practical man. ### Family Dynamics and Obligation Arthur's harsh upbringing contrasts with the Meagles' affectionate family; Tattycoram's resentment toward Pet highlights unequal treatment. ## Character check-ins ### Arthur Clennam Reveals his harsh childhood and lack of will, having been sent to China against his wishes. ### Mr. Meagles Cheerful and practical, he advises Arthur and shares his family's travels. ### Pet Meagles Present at the dinner, she shrinks childishly at Miss Wade's ominous words. ### Tattycoram Found by Miss Wade in a passionate rage, feeling neglected and ill-used. ### Miss Wade A solitary, proud young woman who questions forgiveness and later observes Tattycoram's turmoil. ### Mrs. Meagles Present with her husband and daughter at the dinner. ## Key lines > Trained by main force; broken, not bent; heavily ironed with an object on which I was never consulted and which was never mine; shipped away to the other end of the world before I was of age, and exiled there until my father's death there, a year ago; always grinding in a mill I always hated; what is to be expected from me in middle life? Will, purpose, hope? All those lights were extinguished before I could sound the words. Arthur describes being forced into a life he never chose, sent to China as a young man and kept there until his father died, leaving him without ambition or direction. _Arthur's confession to Mr. Meagles reveals his deep sense of lost agency and the lasting impact of his oppressive upbringing._ > One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it's left behind; I dare say a prisoner begins to relent towards his prison, after he is let out. Mr. Meagles suggests that people tend to feel kinder toward a place once they have left it, comparing it to a prisoner who might soften toward his jail after release. _This remark sparks Miss Wade's skeptical response about the ease of forgiveness._ > You seem to come like my own anger, my own malice, my own—whatever it is—I don't know what it is. But I am ill-used, I am ill-used, I am ill-used! Tattycoram tells Miss Wade that her presence feels like a manifestation of her own rage and resentment, and she insists she is being mistreated. _Tattycoram's outburst reveals her volatile temper and sense of injustice, which Miss Wade observes with detached fascination._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/ii-fellow-travellers - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_dorrit_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters