Little Dorrit is a
novel by
Charles Dickens, originally published in
serial form between 1855 and 1857. It
satirizes the shortcomings of both government and society, including the institution of
debtors' prisons, where debtors were imprisoned, unable to work, until they repaid their debts. The prison in this case is the
Marshalsea, where Dickens's own father had been imprisoned. Dickens is also critical of the lack of a
social safety net, the treatment and safety of industrial workers, as well the bureaucracy of the British
Treasury, in the form of his fictional "Circumlocution Office". In addition he satirizes the stratification of society that results from the
British class system.