David Copperfield

Of all my books, I like this the best.  It will be easily believed that I am a fond parent to every child of my fancy, and that no one can ever love that family as dearly as I love them.  But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favorite child. And his name is David Copperfield. – Charles Dickens, 1869

I just finished reading David Copperfield (that is, The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)) and I can see why Dickens was so fond of this novel.  It is the most autobiographical of all his novels and he explored themes that were very close to his own history and heart.  It’s the first of his novels to be written in first person, enhancing the autobiographical feel.  David Copperfield was published in serial form from May 1849 to November 1850, three chapters at a time (excepting the last release which had 7 chapters).  The full novel was first published in book form in 1850.  David Copperfield lies about midway through the Dickens canon, a decade after Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby and a decade before A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.  

There are plenty of good plot summaries on the web so I won’t try to improve on those.  To quickly summarize, the novel tells the story of David Copperfield from the night of his birth to his middle age as a happily-married and successful novelist.  His early years are marred by abuse, neglect, and deprivation as he is mistreated by his step-father, Edward Murdstone, sent to a boarding school run by the cruel Mr. Creakle, and reduced to working in a bottle factory where he meets Wilkins Micawber.  His situation improves dramatically during his adolescence as he is taken under the wing of his beneficent aunt Betsy Trotwood, educated in the fine school of Dr. Strong, and set up in London to become a procter.  His “undisciplined heart” falls for a shallow and childish girl, Dora Spenlow, who he marries.  As Copperfield becomes a man, he and his family and friends befall a number of tragedies and misfortunes which, in true Dickensian fashion, resolve with rewards for the good and just desserts the evil.

This book is very easy to love – and for so many reasons.  Of course, no one can tell a story like Dickens.  I was astounded by the gentle, gradual construction of the plot.  Dickens keeps you so engrossed in the moment-to-moment details of a scene that you don’t notice the superb story arc that he’s building. This is even more amazing given that he was writing a serialized novel.  I don’t know how far in advance of publication he wrote, but he must have still been writing chapters when the first folios were sold.  Imagine the discipline it would take to get all the details, all the foreshadowing, and all the character development needed to finish the story without being able to go back and revise anything.  David Copperfield has dozens of plot lines all meticulously developed over the course of hundreds of pages.  Then, one by one, they resolve magnificently.

 

Dicken’s characters are so well-drawn that they seem to take on a life of their own even beyond the pages of the novel.  While Scrooge, Fagin, and Miss Havisham come to mind from other novels, David Copperfield has Edward Murdstone , Uriah Heep, and Wilkins Micawber.  Murdstone’s need for “firmness” terrorizes David and effectively murders his mother.  Uriah Heep wriths servially, always reminding David how “’umble” he is as he plots to swindle several of David’s friends.  Micawber is extraordinary in his loquaciousness and his inability to manage money.  Dicken’s characters all have some set of characteristics or habits that make them so clearly realized.  David’s aunt Betsy Trotwood has a never ending battle with donkeys on her lawn.  Peggoty, David’s nursemaid, pops the buttons from her apron in her distress.  Dora Spenlow, David’s child-wife, has a whole arsenal of curl-bobbing, giggling, and hiding behind doors to melt one’s heart.  Mr. Dick, Betsy Trotwood’s idiot friend, has difficulty keeping Charles the First from intruding on his writing.  That’s not to say Dickens' characters don’t grow, learn, and change.  They do, and sometimes in surprising ways.  Mr. Dick, not the sharpest individual, saves the marriage of Dr. and Mrs. Strong with his keen intuition.  Mrs. Gummidge spends the first half of the novel bemoaning her “lone and lorn” life and then, in the second half, becomes caring and capable when the family needs her.  Self-centered Dora seems to have only the future of Agnes and David on her mind as she lies dying.

Finally, the overall theme of David Copperfield is love, in all its complexity and forms.  The presence or absence of love in each character is in direct proportion to their ability to look after and care for others.  Peggotty, Agnes, Daniel Peggotty, and Betsy Trotwood demonstrate the power of love as they weather the strains of loss, scandal, and death.  On the other end of the spectrum are Uriah Heep, James Steerforth, and his man Littimer who are concerned only for themselves and ruin the lives of others in pursuit of their ambitions.  It’s refreshing to read a novel about love (without vampires or werewolves) in these cynical times.

Question of the Day: What's your favorite Dickens novel.  Why?