Pete Yemc
Per 7
9/20/98
David Copperfield is a novel (actually a serialized novel) that contains several themes all beautifully illustrated by Charles Dickens elaborate, descriptive writing style (a writing style which probably earned him a lot of money, but is the bane of reader like myself, who are attempting to read the whole 811 pages in two weeks). As this is a story of maturation, one theme is that of growing up and learning of the ways of the world. But David Copperfield also learns of the truth of the British class system, where the high class is vile and deceptive, whilst the low class is earnest and open.
Throughout the book, Dave bounces from one aspect of the class system to the next. As it opens, he is in the high class (his mother is a rich widow), but he lives a simple life. He is at a state higher than the working class (he has a nanny/servant/maid), but not to the standard of the upper class (his mother doesnÕt demand the structure and order later desired by the Murdstones). From there, he witnesses the life of the Peggotys (working class) and that of the Murdstones and Salem House (upper class). Next, he bounces to working class at Murdstone and Grinby's warehouse (and the plight of the Micawbers) and to the aristocracy of Aunt Betsey. Throughout his ordeal, Dave is disheartened by the upper class (he is beaten by both Mr. Murstone and Mr. Creakle, and the Murdstones horrid ways kill his mother) and he is rehabilitated at the "house" of Peggoty on numerous occasions. I feel that David must know that he prefers the lower working class and yet he keeps returning to a life of the high class as if out of necessity. The climax of this novel will be when David Copperfield makes the realization that the order of the upper class is too small a price to pay for happiness in life.
Though the aforementioned theme is common in several novels (and in almost all of Charles Dickens's), the one aspect of David Copperfield which makes it such a powerful novel (and a long one) is Dickens's ability to describe in the way that he does. In using the first person narrative, Dickens allows David to go off on unnecessary but entertaining description on an aspect of his life. On page 1, right in the beginning, David goes off to describe how he was "born with a caul,"and what eventually happened to the caul. The actual title itself was long and descriptive. It was not just David Copperfield, but rather The Personal History Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery which He Never Meant to Be Published on Any Account. Dickens was a genius at elaborating when he didnÕt need to (on another note, I like how the British name all of their houses, David was born at Blunderstone Rookery, and I know some English folks from Fordside). Lastly, I noted one ingenious bit of description involved on page 334, in which David is drunk. Dickens indicates this by tying together David's speech, "I'mafraidyouÕrenorwell."(And even more lastly, just looking at the title now, and knowing that scholars think that David Copperfield is Charles Dickens autobiography, David Copperfield's initials are D.C. Charles Dickens' initials are C.D. Coincidence? I think so.)