# Mrs. Flintwinch Has a Dream explained — Little Dorrit

> Chapter companion for Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

Affery Flintwinch dreams that she wakes to find her husband Jeremiah Flintwinch awake, watching a double of himself asleep. The double wakes, dresses, drinks port wine, and leaves the house carrying an iron box. When Affery confronts Jeremiah on the stairs, he shakes her violently, then claims she was sleepwalking and threatens to give her medicine if she has such dreams again.

## Themes in this chapter

### Secrecy and Revelation

Affery's dream hints at hidden activities involving an iron box and a double, suggesting secret dealings within the Clennam house.

### Imprisonment and Confinement

Mrs. Clennam's long confinement to her sickroom and the claustrophobic atmosphere of the old house reinforce themes of physical and psychological imprisonment.

## Character check-ins

### Affery Flintwinch

Dreams of discovering her husband with a double; is shaken awake by Jeremiah and told she was sleepwalking.

### Mr. Flintwinch

Appears both as the waking original and the sleeping double in Affery's dream; later shakes her and dismisses the incident as a nightmare.

### Mrs. Clennam

Mentioned as the invalid mistress whose bell summons Affery; her port wine is consumed by the double in the dream.

## Key lines

> When Mrs. Flintwinch dreamed, she usually dreamed, unlike the son of her old mistress, with her eyes shut.

Affery Flintwinch typically dreamed with her eyes closed, unlike Arthur Clennam.

_Opens the chapter with a contrast between Affery's dreaming and Arthur's wakeful state._

> She felt so afraid of her husband, that being on the staircase, she had not the power to retreat to her room... but stood there staring.

Her fear of Jeremiah paralyzed her, preventing her from escaping back to her bedroom.

_Highlights Affery's terror and submission to her husband._

> Why, Affery, woman—Affery! You have been getting out of bed in your sleep, my dear!

Jeremiah claims Affery was sleepwalking and had a nightmare.

_Jeremiah's dismissive explanation covers up the strange events of the dream._

## Links

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