The perpetually burning fire symbolizes Mrs. Clennam’s unyielding, self-imposed penance and the stagnant, oppressive atmosphere of her home.
6. What item did Arthur find and leave in his father’s desk?
A. A letter
B. An old silk watch-paper worked in beads
C. A large sum of money
D. A final memorandum
B. An old silk watch-paper worked in beads.
The watch with the message “Do not forget” is the central clue to the family mystery that Arthur is trying to solve.
7. What power did Mrs Clennam claim to have influenced for more than two score years?
A. Arthur’s life decisions
B. All his father’s dealings
C. The household staff
D. The church
B. All his father’s dealings.
This establishes Mrs. Clennam’s complete control and her role as the keeper of the family’s dark secrets.
8. What is the name of the debtors’ prison that Arthur inquires about?
A. The Lock
B. The Clink
C. The Marshalsea
D. The County Jail
C. The Marshalsea.
The Marshalsea debtors’ prison is a central location and symbol, representing social decay and the traps of poverty and class.
9. Who are William Dorrit’s three children?
A. Frederick, Fanny, and Amy
B. Fanny, Tip, and Amy
C. Tip, Edward, and Fanny
D. Amy, Tip, and Minnie
B. Fanny, Tip, and Amy.
These are the three children of William Dorrit, each shaped differently by their life in the Marshalsea.
10. Who is the little girl often referred to as “Little Dorrit”?
A. Fanny
B. Pet
C. Minnie
D. Amy
D. Amy.
Amy, known as Little Dorrit, is the novel’s heroine, born and raised in the prison. She represents selfless love and fortitude.
11. What was the “great study and object” of all public departments and politicians regarding work?
A. How to do it
B. How not to do it
C. How to maximize profit
D. How to confuse the public
B. How not to do it.
This is the core principle of the Circumlocution Office, Dickens’s famous satire on inefficient and obstructive government bureaucracy.
12. What is the occupation of Daniel Doyce?
A. Architect
B. Lawyer
C. Smith and engineer
D. Inventor of forms
C. Smith and engineer.
Daniel Doyce represents the practical, inventive, and honest working man thwarted by the bureaucracy of the Circumlocution Office.
13. Who had been the beloved of Arthur Clennam’s boyhood?
A. Amy Dorrit
B. Pet Meagles
C. Miss Wade
D. Flora Casby
D. Flora Casby.
Flora Finching (née Casby) was Arthur’s first love, and her changed, comically incoherent nature represents his lost youth and the passage of time.
14. What is the main collection interest of Mr Pancks?
A. Old books
B. Foreign stamps
C. Advertisements relative to next of kin
D. Political tracts
C. Advertisements relative to next of kin.
Pancks’s hobby of searching for heirs in advertisements directly leads to his discovery of the Dorrit family’s fortune.
15. How does William Dorrit view the degradation of his life in prison?
A. As a great injustice
B. As a sign of his perseverance
C. As a sort of portion bestowed on his devoted child
D. As a temporary setback
C. As a sort of portion bestowed on his devoted child.
This demonstrates William Dorrit’s profound selfishness, twisting his daughter’s sacrifice into a form of inheritance for her.
16. Who is Mrs Merdle’s son from a former marriage?
A. Henry Gowan
B. Tite Barnacle
C. Edmund Sparkler
D. Arthur Clennam
C. Edmund Sparkler.
Sparkler is the vacuous stepson of the great financier Mr. Merdle. His pursuit of Fanny Dorrit connects the two families.
17. What did Bar the lawyer offer Mr Merdle regarding a potential purchase?
A. A share in a bank
B. A large estate with political influence and church presentations
C. Advice on the Circumlocution Office
D. A partnership with Doyce
B. A large estate with political influence and church presentations.
This shows how Mr. Merdle’s immense (and fraudulent) wealth gives him power over the highest levels of society, including politics and the church.
18. What remedy did the Bishop suggest for depression arising from an over-taxed intellect?
A. Rest and vacation
B. Reading the Bible
C. Yolk of a new-laid egg with sherry and nutmeg
D. Strong tea
C. Yolk of a new-laid egg with sherry and nutmeg.
The Bishop’s trivial remedy for Mr. Merdle’s deep “complaint” highlights Society’s inability to see the moral sickness behind his financial success.
19. What was Pancks’s motive for inquiring about the Dorrit family?
A. To expose Mr Casby
B. To gain money
C. Desiring to serve young person, name of Dorrit
D. To help Arthur Clennam
C. Desiring to serve young person, name of Dorrit.
Pancks’s investigation is not for personal gain but is driven by a genuine desire to help Little Dorrit, whose goodness he recognizes.
20. Who did Mr Meagles reveal Pet was inclined towards?
A. Arthur Clennam
B. Henry Gowan
C. Edmund Sparkler
D. Young John Chivery
B. Henry Gowan.
Pet’s infatuation with the cynical and lazy artist Henry Gowan is a source of great sorrow for her parents and for Arthur.
21. What was the result that Pancks revealed regarding William Dorrit?
A. That Arthur was ruined
B. That man (William Dorrit) is rich and entitled to an inheritance
C. That the Circumlocution Office was wrong
D. That he had lost the papers
B. That man (William Dorrit) is rich and entitled to an inheritance.
This is the novel’s major turning point, as Pancks announces the discovery that William Dorrit is the heir to a vast fortune.
22. What did Little Dorrit cry out before she swooned upon hearing the news of her father’s fortune?
A. O, Mr Clennam!
B. Father! Father! Father!
C. Thank Heaven!
D. I am rich!
B. Father! Father! Father!.
Little Dorrit’s first thought is not of the wealth but of her father’s freedom, showing her selfless devotion.
23. What did Mrs General say was advisable for forming a demeanour?
A. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism
B. Reading, writing, and arithmetic
C. Work, silence, and prayer
D. Elegance, grace, and beauty
A. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism.
This is Mrs. General’s famous method for achieving a prim and proper mouth shape, symbolizing her superficial and repressive approach to “forming” a lady’s character.
24. Why did Mr Dorrit claim Little Dorrit “habitually hurt” him?
A. She was too silent
B. She argued with Fanny
C. She constantly revived the painful topic of his past
D. She wore shabby clothes
C. She constantly revived the painful topic of his past.
Once free, Mr. Dorrit cannot escape the “prison of his mind” and resents Amy for being a living reminder of his shameful past.
25. What did Fanny admit she intended to make of Mr Sparkler?
A. Her husband
B. Her friend
C. A slave
D. Her rival
C. A slave.
Fanny’s ambition is to dominate society through marriage, intending to use the dull-witted Edmund Sparkler to spite his snobbish mother, Mrs. Merdle.
26. Who was Flora Finching trying to find, whom she thought Mr Dorrit might see in Italy?
A. Arthur Clennam
B. Miss Wade
C. Mr Blandois
D. Mr Rugg
C. Mr Blandois.
This marks the re-entry of the villain Rigaud, now using the alias Blandois, into the main storyline in Italy.
27. What London landmark was Mr Dorrit worried about passing on his way out of London?
A. London Bridge
B. Waterloo Bridge
C. The Marshalsea
D. St Paul’s
C. The Marshalsea.
Even on his grand tour, Mr. Dorrit is terrified of his past, revealing how his psychological imprisonment continues despite his physical freedom.
28. What name did Mr Dorrit call himself as he confusedly welcomed guests to Mrs Merdle’s dinner table?
A. Mr Merdle
B. The Count
C. Father of the Marshalsea
D. The Great Financier
C. Father of the Marshalsea.
At the height of his social success, Mr. Dorrit’s mind collapses, and he reverts to his identity as the “Father of the Marshalsea,” exposing the fragility of his new life.
29. What did Mrs Merdle write on a scrap of paper for Little Dorrit during the dinner?
A. Your father is drunk
B. Pray come and speak to Mr Dorrit, I doubt if he is well
C. The Marshalsea is waiting
D. Clennam is here
B. Pray come and speak to Mr Dorrit, I doubt if he is well.
Mrs. Merdle’s note shows the society hostess’s panic as the decorum of her dinner party is shattered by Dorrit’s breakdown.
30. What did Cavalletto whisper Blandois was?
A. A swindler
B. A thief
C. An Assassin
D. A gambler
C. An Assassin.
Cavalletto’s terrified recognition of Blandois as the murderer Rigaud confirms the villain’s true nature to Arthur Clennam.
31. What honour was Mr Merdle rumored to have his golden face set against?
A. A peerage
B. A baronetcy
C. A knighthood
D. A life position
B. A baronetcy.
The rumor that Society wishes to honor the fraudulent financier Mr. Merdle with a title is a scathing critique of its worship of wealth above all else.
32. What did the Chief Butler say about Mr Merdle after his death was revealed?
A. Sir, Mr Merdle never was the gentleman
B. He was a great loss
C. He was a genius
D. He owed me money
A. Sir, Mr Merdle never was the gentleman.
The butler’s verdict after Merdle’s suicide reveals the “below stairs” perspective, which saw through the facade of gentility that fooled all of “Society.”
33. What happened to Mr Merdle’s reputation as the day declined after the crash?
A. It was upheld as a tragedy
B. It was revealed he was a low, ignorant fellow and rascal
C. It was defended by the Barnacles
D. It was quietly forgotten
B. It was revealed he was a low, ignorant fellow and rascal.
Once the fraud is exposed, Society, which had revered Merdle, instantly turns on him, revealing its own hypocrisy.
34. What prison did Mr Rugg advise Clennam should choose, rather than the Marshalsea?
A. The King’s Bench
B. The Fleet
C. Newgate
D. The Tower
A. The King’s Bench.
Arthur rejects the more “fashionable” debtors’ prison, choosing to go to the Marshalsea, the place so tied to Little Dorrit’s life.
35. What was the first change of feeling Clennam experienced upon arrival at the Marshalsea?
A. Deep terror
B. Unnatural peace
C. Frustration
D. Anger
B. Unnatural peace.
Imprisonment brings Arthur a strange sense of relief, as it ends his struggle and striving in a world he never felt a part of.
36. What did Young John eventually reveal Little Dorrit had shown the witnesses (the walls, window, yard)?
A. Her misery
B. Her determination
C. Miss Dorrit’s love
D. Her father’s pride
C. Miss Dorrit’s love.
The lovesick John Chivery poetically explains that Little Dorrit’s secret love for Arthur was plain for all to see within the prison walls.
37. What was the message Little Dorrit gave John Chivery to deliver to Arthur?
A. “That she would visit soon”
B. “That his Little Dorrit sent him her undying love”
C. “That he must be brave”
D. “That she was married”
B. “That his Little Dorrit sent him her undying love”.
Amy’s message, delivered by her disappointed suitor John Chivery, marks the moment she openly declares her love for the imprisoned Arthur.
38. What was the message on the paper inside Arthur’s deceased father’s watch?
A. Love forever
B. Do not forget
C. Find the truth
D. Forgive me
B. Do not forget.
This message, found in the watch, was Arthur’s real mother’s plea to his father, which Mrs. Clennam suppressed.
39. What was the final act of treachery revealed by Jeremiah Flintwinch?
A. He gave the papers to Rigaud
B. He stole the family fortune
C. He married Affery against Mrs Clennam’s will
D. He swapped the codicil for a duplicate and burned the duplicate
D. He swapped the codicil for a duplicate and burned the duplicate.
Flintwinch reveals his ultimate betrayal: he kept the true codicil that left a bequest to Little Dorrit’s family and gave Mrs. Clennam a fake to burn.
40. What was the nature of the first great petition Little Dorrit’s old mistress made to her?
A. To help pay Rigaud
B. Not to disclose the secret to Arthur until she was dead
C. To marry Tip
D. To live at the Marshalsea
B. Not to disclose the secret to Arthur until she was dead.
Mrs. Clennam confesses the entire secret to Amy but begs her not to reveal Arthur’s true parentage to him, wanting to maintain her role as his mother until her death.
41. When Mrs Clennam came to Little Dorrit in the Marshalsea, what power did she exhibit?
A. New power of Movement
B. Great physical strength
C. Uncanny knowledge of the future
D. The ability to disappear
A. New power of Movement.
In her desperate rush to the Marshalsea, the crippled Mrs. Clennam miraculously rises and walks, a dramatic event preceding the collapse of her house.
42. What was Little Dorrit doing for Clennam while he was ill in the Marshalsea?
A. Sending him money
B. Thinking, working, and watching him
C. Arguing with Fanny
D. Organizing his accounts
B. Thinking, working, and watching him.
Having lost her fortune, Little Dorrit returns to the prison to nurse Arthur back to health, resuming her role as a selfless caregiver.
43. Who did Mr Meagles and Mother go abroad to bring back?
A. Tattycoram
B. Arthur Clennam
C. Daniel Doyce
D. Pet Gowan
C. Daniel Doyce.
Doyce, having achieved fame and fortune abroad for the inventions England ignored, returns to rescue his partner Arthur from debt and despair.
44. What did Mr Meagles say Doyce must hide under lock and key when he comes to England?
A. His new wealth
B. His foreign medals and distinctions
C. His inventions
D. His tools
B. His foreign medals and distinctions.
This is a satirical comment on English pride; Doyce’s success abroad would be seen as an insult to the Circumlocution Office that rejected him.
45. What did Little Dorrit ask Arthur to do with the folded paper (the secret)?
A. Read it carefully
B. Keep it safe
C. Put it in the fire and say “I love you!”
D. Return it to Mrs Clennam
C. Put it in the fire and say “I love you!”.
Little Dorrit chooses to destroy the papers proving her inheritance, prioritizing Arthur’s peace of mind and their future love over wealth tied to a painful past.
46. What did Pancks aim a blow at on the Patriarch’s head during his denunciation?
A. His white locks
B. The bumpy head
C. His pocket
D. His nose
B. The bumpy head.
In a moment of comic justice, Pancks exposes the hypocrisy of the landlord Mr. Casby and physically cuts off his false “patriarchal” hair.
47. Who did Fanny marry?
A. Henry Gowan
B. Arthur Clennam
C. Edmund Sparkler
D. Young John Chivery
C. Edmund Sparkler.
Fanny achieves her social ambition by marrying the wealthy but foolish Edmund Sparkler, becoming a leader in fashionable society.
48. Who was the “Father of the Marshalsea” before coming into his fortune?
A. Frederick Dorrit
B. Arthur Clennam
C. William Dorrit
D. Tip Dorrit
C. William Dorrit.
As the longest-serving inmate, William Dorrit held the respected, albeit tragic, title of “Father of the Marshalsea.”
49. What characteristic was often associated with Mr Casby?
A. His honesty
B. His smooth face and white hair
C. His sharp business sense
D. His aggressive temper
B. His smooth face and white hair.
Mr. Casby’s benevolent, patriarchal appearance is a complete facade, hiding his true nature as a greedy and heartless slum landlord.
50. How did the Circumlocution Office handle Doyce’s matter after referring it to three Barnacles and a Stiltstalking?
A. Shelved the business
B. Approved the patent
C. Funded the project
D. Promoted Doyce
A. Shelved the business.
This is a prime example of “How Not to Do It”; Doyce’s valuable invention was endlessly passed around and ultimately ignored by the bureaucracy.
