# Fortune-Telling explained — Little Dorrit

> Chapter companion for Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

Little Dorrit receives a visit from Mr. Plornish, who informs her that Flora Finching (Mr. Casby's daughter) wishes to engage her services. Little Dorrit visits Flora the next morning, where Flora rambles about her past engagement to Arthur Clennam and her marriage to the late Mr. F. Meanwhile, Mr. Pancks begins to appear everywhere around Little Dorrit—in the street, at Mr. Casby's, at Mrs. Clennam's, and even in the Marshalsea—befriending her father and Tip, and occasionally muttering 'Pancks the gipsy—fortune-telling.' Little Dorrit grows more retiring and seeks solitude in her garret room, where she sits musing by the window. When Maggy comes to tell her that Arthur Clennam is below and wishes to see her, Little Dorrit, feeling unwell, declines to go down.

## Themes in this chapter

### Imprisonment and Confinement

Little Dorrit's life is circumscribed by the Marshalsea prison, and her growing retreat to her garret room reflects her internal confinement and desire for solitude.

### Secrecy and Revelation

Pancks's mysterious behavior and cryptic 'fortune-telling' hints suggest hidden knowledge and impending revelations about the Dorrit family.

### Family Dynamics and Obligation

Little Dorrit's sense of duty to her father and her family is evident in her continued work and her retreat to her room only when she can be spared.

## Character check-ins

### Little Dorrit

Receives a call from Mr. Plornish, visits Flora Finching, observes Pancks's mysterious behavior, and retreats to her garret room, declining to see Arthur Clennam.

### Mr. Plornish

Brings a message from Flora Finching to Little Dorrit, and later is struck silent by Pancks's strange actions in the prison.

### Flora Casby

Invites Little Dorrit to her home, rambles about her past engagement to Arthur Clennam and her marriage to Mr. F., and offers Little Dorrit work.

### Mr. Pancks

Begins to appear everywhere around Little Dorrit, befriends Tip, and mutters 'Pancks the gipsy—fortune-telling' in passing.

### Arthur Clennam

Visits the Marshalsea and asks Maggy to summon Little Dorrit, but she declines to see him.

### Maggy

Summons Little Dorrit to see Arthur Clennam, but Little Dorrit sends her back with a message.

## Key lines

> Little Dorrit received a call that same evening from Mr. Plornish, who, having intimated that he wished to speak to her privately, in a series of coughs so very noticeable as to favour the idea that her father, as regarded her seamstress occupation, was an illustration of the axiom that there are no such stone-blind men as those who will not see, obtained an audience with her on the common staircase outside the door.

Mr. Plornish visited Little Dorrit that evening and, by coughing conspicuously to signal he wanted a private word, managed to speak with her on the staircase—since her father, willfully ignoring her work as a seamstress, was like the proverb that says no one is as blind as those who refuse to see.

_Introduces Mr. Plornish's visit and the theme of willful ignorance._

> Pancks the gipsy—fortune-telling.

Pancks, like a fortune-teller, hints at hidden knowledge.

_Pancks's cryptic phrase suggests he knows something about the Dorrits' future._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxiv-fortune-telling
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_dorrit_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters