Little Dorrit - Help

[carrotsandpeasifyouplease]

so after weeks of storyline i seem to have missed the explanation as to where Arthur came from, and i watched the explanation part twice! So Amy is the daughter of arthur's dad's fling with woman in boarding house but where did Arthur come from ???? i thought i had it and that they were brother and sister but obviously not. Am i being really thick tonight or what?

who is that portly? i was wondering if he wore a false nose

Agree Portly, he was the best thing in it!

OK 've read a synopsis on tinternet which says that amy's uncle was teaching a girl a musical instrument and had basically taken her in and looked after her. This girl got preggers by Arthurs dad and then had arthur.

Arthur taken in by mrs clenam as she didn't have a child as long as the real mother made herself scarce. Arthurs dad then leaves the niece (amy) of the man who looked after arthur's real mum (i.e amy's uncle) money in his will. why I have no idea!

you know what, the beeb cocked up and basically left half the story out is what i'm thinking!

he was very good portly
I think I read that Blandois was golum in LOTR I just thought he was very pantomime but good
Agree with you LaVie and I think I will follow JulesJules mum's lead and complain to the bbc because I thoroughly enjoyed it but was let down at the end.
I have Bleak House on DVD which is also a very good soap style dickens.

You can read the whole thing here

Came on here too to find out what on earth it was all about - think I get it now, thanks LaVie. Going to read your link now, Rusty.

Btw, if anyone missed episodes, all 14 are on BBC iPlayer (not that having seen them all made the final episode any more comprehensible!)

Oh my goodness, Rusty... you weren't joking when you said the whole thing!

Thanks for the explanation, artichokes, I was confused too & thought they were brother & sister marrying!

Just want to say to those of you who 'can't stand Dickens', try 'A Christmas Carol'. I took up the 'free' Stour Valley offer & it's in one of the books. It's only a short story, but I've just finished it and it's fantastic, just perfect for curling up with on a cold night. DH doesn't read much and he enjoyed it too!

It would be amusing to see just how many people have googled 'Little Dorrit synopsis' since this weekends final episode!! Such a shame as the series was good up to that point.
It amazingly managed not to tie up any of the loose ends to the various stories, didn't explain properly the relationship between Amy and Arthur (yes it did seem like they were brother and sister in this adaptation!) and didn't make any real reference back to the watch or the words Do Not Forget, the motif around which the whole series had been built? The storylines around characters such as Tatycorum and Pet were built up and then totally disregarded! All very strange!
Have a look at this website for a more satisfying & comprehendable conclusion to the story:
www.reese.org/duneroller/content/book-summary/best-novels/summary_of_little_dorrit.htm

www.reese.org/duneroller/content/book-summary/best-novels/summaryof_littledorrit.htm

I came straight to mn for an explanation. Very annoying that they did not resolve even one of the plot lines properly. When a whole series is based around a dark and mysterious secret you at least want it revealed in the final episode.

Oops here it is again...

www.reese.org/duneroller/content/book-summary/best-novels/summary_of_little_dorri t.htm

The Meagles visited the Foundlings Hospital and felt sorry for them and decided to adopt a child to bring up with their own girl. Chose Harriet, "Hatty". Decided to call her Tatty to make her feel she had a nickname. Changed her ugly surname to Coram (the founder of the Hospital). Miss Wade had been brought up as an orphan and wanted to save Tatty from the humiliation of life as a governess etc. Cheating - haven't read it but just looked up the appropriate passages.Thanks to you all for explaining the intricacies of the solution to parentage - it just got so complicated in the original book.

Having read this thread I'm still not totally sure I grasp everything! It's all just too complex and complicated.

It's worth remembering that Dickens wrote most of his stories as serials, and I think he just made it up as he went along (if you know what I mean) and then tied it off however he could at the end.

I bought the book of Bleak House last year to help me to understand the tv show, but it confused me further. There were just too many characters and situations!

I can handle A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist but some of his other stuff is almost bewilderingly impenetrable.

I think I've cracked it. Mrs.Clenham was brought up very strictly and was told she was to marry Gilbert who was equally strictly brought up by his uncle. After a year of marriage she found he had "married" a young woman and there was a child. She confronted her and said she would take the child arthur and bring it up as her own. She would support the woman who was never to see Gilbert again. When the uncle was old and getting soft he heard about it, felt guilty and decided to leave the young woman some money. By then she had died, so to salve his conscience he left money to the daughter of the young woman's patron (Little D.'s uncle Frederick, who had been getting her singing lessons.) In the event of no such daughter, the money to go to Frederick's brother's daughter - WE'RE THERE AT LAST - Little Dorrit! The uncle had dictated this codicil to his will to Mrs.Clenham, but she'd kept it secret. So Little D. and Arthur not related in any way.

Thank you Gilly