“Of all my books,
I like this the best . . . I have in my heart of hearts a favorite
child. And his name is David Copperfield.”
Dickens wrote those words in his 1869 preface to David Copperfield.
It’s easy to believe why it was his favorite book. It is his most
autobiographical. He wrote experiences into David’s life that echoed
those in his own: boyhood work in a shoe-blacking factory; learning
shorthand to work as a parliamentary reporter; infatuation with a young
coquette who was the model for his “child wife”; establishing himself
as a writer. Perhaps regretting what might have been, Dickens also
provided David with a happily-ever-after marriage, unlike his
own.
David Copperfield also
contains some of Dickens’s most unforgettable characters: Aunt Betsey
Trotwood, whose brusque exterior covers a heart of gold; Wilkins
Micawber, impoverished but ever hopeful that something will turn up;
and Uriah Heep, the repulsive ‘umble hypocrite.
Although a half-dozen deaths occur in the novel, it is a story of hope,
determination, and growth. Even as a young orphan, David has the
gumption to run away to his great-aunt Betsey with no assurance that
she’ll take him in. He learns from his immature judgment and grows,
earning a second chance at a happy marriage. He is diligent and
persevering in pursuing a writing career and quickly becomes a public
success.
Dickens got darker with later books. For the most part, David Copperfield ends as the
reader would wish. David’s determination is rewarded; he triumphs over
the adversity of his early life through his own efforts, not luck.
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