Little Dorrit Pride Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

Mr. Dorrit, on being informed by his elder daughter that she had accepted matrimonial overtures from Mr. Sparkler, to whom she had plighted her troth, received the communication at once with great dignity and with a large display of parental pride; his dignity dilating with the widened prospect of advantageous ground from which to make acquaintances, and his parental pride being developed by Miss Fanny's ready sympathy with that great object of his existence. He gave her to understand that her noble ambition found harmonious echoes in his heart; and bestowed his blessing on her, as a child brimful of duty and good principle, self-devoted to the aggrandisement of the family name. (2.15.1)

Oh nice – here we've got the intersection of duty and pride, which immediately totally twists the whole idea of a daughter's duty. What is Fanny's great score in getting engaged to the idiot Sparkler? That she's going to "aggrandize" the Dorrit name. Dorrit doesn't even bother to find out if Fanny even likes Sparkler.