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Exceptions to the Rule Who are we really? How much difference is there between the way we see ourselves and the way others perceive us, and does society affect the way we consider one another? These questions (and eventually the answers) are posed throughout Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit. In examining two of the main characters, Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam, the reader is struck by an ever-changing alternation of self versus subject in both cases. As society and circumstance metamorphose from Book I to Book II, the matter of identity is carried helplessly along with it. In journeying through the pages of Little Dorrit, society’s undeniable influence upon the characters, and its adhesion to identity, are marked. The introduction of Arthur Clennam and the matter of his family are no exceptions to the rule. There is no doubt, even for the semi-observant reader, that Arthur Clennam’s family life is fraught with mystery and disagreeable familial connections. Not only does the memory of his less-than-pleasant childhood affect the way Arthur sees himself, but it also has direct impact on the way others view him. It appears that a lack of hearty self-confidence provides an almost demure nature within him, which is charming, i