David Copperfield

Taking a break from writing my book to update this blog for a bit. :)

One of  Dickens' most famous books, and one of the first books I was introduced to. Granted as an eleven year old I only read the abridged version, but by God what absurdity did I miss?

Well let's start at the beginning. Dickens uses a first person perspective to tell this story, so we see everything as Old David Copperfield looks back on a pretty dismal and dreary life. When he was born, his Aunt Betsey Trotwood came to see the baby, got all huffy that it wasn't a girl and swore never to speak to his mother Clara or their housekeeper Pegotty. Which is fine, because Clara spoils the boy with affection, since he's really the only thing she has since her husband died. And just when David's life was happy and perfect, his mother remarries a very strict and gruff man named Mr.Murdstone who moves into their house, The Rookery with his sister Jane. Mr. Murdstone then begins to discipline David severely, always backed up by his sister, and tells Clara not to be so soft with the boy.

I do want to pause for a minute to say something about the brother-sister dynamic between Mr.Murdstone and Jane. It's ridiculously creepy and awkward. He gets married and brings her along to live with him and his new family, and she is present for everything except (I'm hoping ) the marital bedroom activities. I love my siblings as much as anyone, but if I got married, I'll send a letter from time to time, don't move in. Also there is not one mention of Jane Murdstone ever having suitors or being romantically inclined to anyone. But I digress.

So back to young David's abusive childhood. Mr.Murdstone thrashes him for falling behind in his studies. Then David gets reprimanded constantly by him for pretty much being a beacon of light in his mother's existence. At one point David bites Mr. Murdstone's knuckles during one beating (Yay David!) and is sent away to a boarding school Salem House, where he has to wear a sign that says "Beware of him, he bites". I'm guessing that is a more terrible form of a dunce cap. And did I mention the headmaster, Mr. Creakle is a terrible person who delights in punishment (Argus Filch, anyone?). Yeah that just rounds out the terribleness that David suffers through away from home. Then David comes home for a school break to find that his mother has had a baby, and his mother is not as healthy as she was before. So David tries to make the most of his time home, only to find he can't be as affectionate towards his mother as he used to without upsetting Mr.Murdstone and his sister. So David returns to Salem House, finding comfort in his friends, especially James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles. To make things worse, his mother and the baby die, and David is forced to come home to The Rookery once more, as Mr. Murdstone figures out what to do with David.

The answer to that is hard labor at a factory that Mr. Murdstone is part owner of. The motive behind this job is to make David into a man, and what better way to do that than spend hours cleaning and peeling the labels off of bottles. In a case of what modern kids would call the "fuck its", he walks from London to Dover to find surly Aunt Betsey, who is also a tad crazy. She takes him in because she thinks it's what his imaginary sister Betsey Trotwood would want her to do. Plus it gives him a place to live while his London landlord, Mr.Micawber spends some time in debtors prison for some bankruptcy issues.  News soon reaches the Murdstones that David has left the factory, so of course they come knocking on Aunt Betsey's door asking for David back. Crazy Aunt Betsey says no and sends the Murdstones packing, which you hope is the last time you ever have to read their names ever again.

In between all this, David travels to Yarmouth to see Pegotty's brother Mr. Dan'l Pegotty, and his niece Em'ly and nephew Ham, and this crazy old widow named Mrs.Gummidge. He has an adorable little crush and intimate friendship with Em'ly and they spend hours in each other's company. I also must mention that Mr.Pegotty lives in an UPSIDE DOWN BOAT. Which is pretty freakin sweet. He also takes Steerforth to Dover to meet the Pegottys and Steerforth takes a liking to Em'ly, but I'll touch on that later.

Aunt Betsey takes care of David and arranges for him to work in London again for her lawyer Mr. Wickfield, and David soon becomes close friends with his daughter Agnes. We are also introduced to the world's first closet sociopath stalker Uriah Heep, who is by far the creepiest person I have ever read about since I started reading.  He always mentions when he talks that he is so " 'umble" and comes from a humble family. But we soon realize this tall skeletal ginger albino is really a devious weasel, and I still have nightmares from time to time about him. As David grows up, he moves between jobs and tragedy hits. Little Em'ly has run away.

The truth is, Steerforth lures Em'ly away with him and Dan'l Pegotty and Ham go on a wild goose chase to find her. David helps as much as he can, by visiting Steerforth's house and talking to his mother. She has no idea that her son has pretty much abducted a young lady and only allows her to send cryptic messages home. They eventually find her, thanks to her former prostitute friend Martha, and all is well. While this is going on, David has a happy reunion with Tommy Traddles, the kid whose hair always stood on end, and they spend a lot of time catching up and have a few adventures. David also has a new job, training as a proctor under Mr. Spenlow, and falls head over heels for his daughter Dora, and the two become secretly engaged and eventually marry.

I'm going to step out and say a few very unkind things about Dora. She has the mind set of an eight year old girl, in the body of a young woman. I have no idea what David saw in her and even reading this book again, I still can't figure it out. She calls him "Doady" which is her form of his name and calls him a "naughty Blue Beard" and draws on his face with pencils. She also gets upset very easily when David tries to GENTLY correct his behavior, and he gets a housekeeper to cook and do his housework, because obviously nothing gets done. Dora lets her terrier Jip stand on a cookbook that David buys her, because it's so cute and amusing. I spent a lot of time hoping that he would just leave her or take her back to her father and ask for a refund. I think the whole reason David married her is because she had the same doting affection for him that his mother had, and it's the closest thing he has to that part of his life.

I'll leave you with this much, so I don't give away anymore of this book. I enjoyed reading it, and it is a very long read, with much paying attention to the dialogue, in particular the name changes. Aunt Betsey renames David "Trotwood Copperfield" and that is how he is referred to by Mr. Wickfield, and most of the company he meets after he starts working for Mr. Wickfield. Only the people who he knew earlier in life, like Traddles, Steerforth, Pegotty, and Mr.Micawber, call him David, unless David introduces himself by his given name.

Happy Reading!

-Alex