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A review by cstadler
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
4.0
I liked how much doodling there was in this. Especially Traddles with his skeletons. I liked Aunt Betsy and Mr. Dick.
Maybe reading it over such a long time contributed to this, but I found it disjointed. Something exciting would happen in one plotline (e.g. Steerforth and Em'ly running off) but then it would pivot to something totally different (usually Dora). The main arcs also ended rather suddenly — I was surprised that there was no final confrontation between Steerforth and David.
The most interesting aspects of this for me was class. We have huge inequality in 2023, but not as binary of a cultural distinction between common and gentlefolk. Some parts that didn't make sense to me revealed how Dickens and his readers had a shared understanding of this that I was missing.
But what does Dickens think about class mobility? I thought some pairs of characters spoke to that:
- Class strivers: Uriah and Em'ly both ultimately fail at changing their status. Em'ly is portrayed as a naive romantic who is taken advantage of, and is fine in the end. Uriah is calculating and therefore evil.
- Villians: the lower class Uriah is consistently demonized while David never stops saying how much he loves the upper class Steerforth.
- The humble: Uriah says he is 'umble but wants to be and acts like a gentleman; Mr. Peggoty is very clearly portrayed as lower class in his clothes and speech, behaves humbly (e.g. refuses to sit in front of Mrs. Steerforth), and never expresses anything negative about his status.
So, work hard but be happy with the station you're given in life? I'm curious to read some analyses now and see if I'm wildly off-base.
Maybe reading it over such a long time contributed to this, but I found it disjointed. Something exciting would happen in one plotline (e.g. Steerforth and Em'ly running off) but then it would pivot to something totally different (usually Dora). The main arcs also ended rather suddenly — I was surprised that there was no final confrontation between Steerforth and David.
The most interesting aspects of this for me was class. We have huge inequality in 2023, but not as binary of a cultural distinction between common and gentlefolk. Some parts that didn't make sense to me revealed how Dickens and his readers had a shared understanding of this that I was missing.
But what does Dickens think about class mobility? I thought some pairs of characters spoke to that:
- Class strivers: Uriah and Em'ly both ultimately fail at changing their status. Em'ly is portrayed as a naive romantic who is taken advantage of, and is fine in the end. Uriah is calculating and therefore evil.
- Villians: the lower class Uriah is consistently demonized while David never stops saying how much he loves the upper class Steerforth.
- The humble: Uriah says he is 'umble but wants to be and acts like a gentleman; Mr. Peggoty is very clearly portrayed as lower class in his clothes and speech, behaves humbly (e.g. refuses to sit in front of Mrs. Steerforth), and never expresses anything negative about his status.
So, work hard but be happy with the station you're given in life? I'm curious to read some analyses now and see if I'm wildly off-base.