Little Dorrit is a classic tale of imprisonment, both literal and metaphorical, while Dickens´ working title for the novel, Nobody´s Fault, highlights its concern with personal responsibility in private and public life. Dickens´ childhood experiences inform the vivid scenes in Marshalsea debtor’s prison, while his adult perceptions of governmental failures shape his satirical picture of the Circumlocution Office. The novel’s range of characters - the honest, the crooked, the selfish and the self-denying - offers a portrait of society about whose values Dickens had profound doubts.