Topic 9 (session A) - Speech Presentation > Varieties of speech presentation in the novel > Task C

Varieties of speech presentation in the novel

Task C - Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit

In the extract below, from a novel by Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit (Amy Dorrit), the heroine, is visiting her vain, feckless and pretentious father, who is bankrupt (again!) and has been sent to the debtor's prison, Marshalsea. William Dorrit is a regular inmate of the debtor's prison (he is referred to by the narrator throughout the novel as 'the Father of the Marshalsea', and Little Dorrit was actually born in the prison!). Effectively, the Father of the Marshalsea, who has little contact with reality and is supported by his daughter, treats the Marshalsea as if it were a gentlemen's club:

To keep his attention engaged, she talked with him about his wardrobe; when he was pleased to say, that Yes, indeed, those shirts she proposed would be exceedingly acceptable, for those he had were worn out, and, being ready-made, had never fitted him.

(Charles Dickens , Little Dorrit, chapter 19)

What form of speech presentation is used for the Father of the Marshalsea's speech here? What effect do you think it has?

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