Dickens' favourite child. Review on David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

With a dust pan in one hand and a cleaning-cloth in another, as I vivified my Study Table this past Sunday, lay in the corner of a heap- a rusty, almost tattered classic. I grabbed it and filled with nostalgia, scanned it all over again. Yes, I am posting a synopsis on a book about which there’s not a genuine reader alive who doesn’t know- “David Copperfield”- Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical classic.

“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 favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield, ” voiced the great Dickens about his novel published as part of a series in the 1800s. It's startling how authentic Dickens's characters were, and how keen an observer of human psychology he was. Most of them are often introduced nonchalantly only to reappear as pivotal to the storyline.  

David Copperfield is born to his widowed mother, Clara, and is looked after by this loving nurse, Peggotty. While still a young boy, David’s mother marries a dreadful man by the name of Murdstone, who along with his sinister sister, Miss Murdstone, makes life miserable for young Davy. He is sent off to boarding school, and subsequently after his mother dies, Murdstone sends him to work in a factory.

David finds his only living relative, Aunt Betsey Trotwood, and life begins anew under her care as he returns to school. He falls in love and soon in an ailing wife he discerns, ‘better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved at all…’ The two most endearing chapters that give the readers moist-eye moments would be- “The Storm”, which pictures the tragic demise of his closest pal, Steerforth and “The Farewell” in which he bids adieu to his dear crony, Mr. Micawber. This novel, told in the first person, takes the reader from David’s birth well into adulthood, effortlessly weaving many stories throughout, which often beautifully connect with one another.

It is not just the stories in this novel that make it so wonderful: it is also Dickens’ trademark colourful, larger-than-life, funny, cruel, outspoken, pathetic, delirious, sweet, eccentric, and outrageous characters: -

The treacherous Uriah Heep, the jovial nurse Peggotty, the adorably dim-witted Dora, the improvident Mr Micawber and the egotistic and charming Steerforth come to life. Then there lies Agnes, his source of solace and compassion- the one who stood by him through thick and thin, the one whom he may have never loved but always cherished. From seaside Yarmouth to London and beyond, as plots and counterplots effortlessly interweave into one intricate, grand design, David Copperfield captures the brightness, magic and terror of the world as seen through the eyes of a child: his bafflement turning to self-awareness and his young heart growing ever more disciplined and true.

"David Copperfield" may lack a central plot, but its branches are verdant and rambling; it feels more like a life…