David Copperfield - Charles Dickens's Epic

I call David Copperfield Dickens's Epic because comprising of a whopping 821 pages in The Modern Library's paperback edition (that's 64 chapters total), without the notes and commentary to guide you through the novel, it takes a while to complete.

If the novel was any less than 821 pages, readers would be disappointed, given that its formal title is The Personal History, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield The Younger of Blunderstone Rookery which he has never meant to be Published on any Account.

So don't try and finish this novel all in one sitting, now. (Can one even speak the title in one breath?)

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."

David Copperfield begins with the story about a young boy, fatherless before he is born. His mother is young, with only a bit of a property, pension, and servant, all of which her husband (who was considerably older than she was) left her with before he died. Naturally, his mother remarries again, and enter another villain of the novel.

There end the quiet beginnings of David Copperfield and the adventures of his life begin. David tells us of the traumas of growing up fatherless, then with an evil stepfather, coping with an equally bitter schoolmaster, and the ills of working in the factories during London's economic boom during the industrial era. Dickens interjects social commentaries all the while narrating the tale of David Copperfield. This novel is also very autobiographical, as Dickens as a young boy found himself laboring away in a factory (his family was poor and his father was often sent to prison because of the inability to pay off family debts).

The novel is written in the first person, and there are a few interesting chapters which Dickens termed them "Retrospects" but I term them interludes. There, although the writing is still in the first person, it was not loquacious, in the familiar Dickens prose. Instead, it was almost stream of consciousness, observing but at a distance, a bit whimsical. At one point in these chapters, David remarks "I think I am in a happy dream."

Overall, the novel is quite well constructed. Because this is Dickens however, there are numerous moments of over description and one simply wants to bat him on the head and pronounce loudly "Get on with it, you old lout!" I recommend to the reader to stay patient, and keep reading. The novel is worth finishing, despite the numerous pages which loom ahead.

The plot thickens considerably throughout the novel, of course. David goes through adolescence, adulthood, finds a profession, finds love. But this is not to say that he leads a charmed and quiet life. David meets bad characters, suffers heartache, often finding himself having to act like a gentleman despite his wish not to do so in front of questionably moral individuals.

Two warnings about Dickens for those who are picking up Dickens for the first time. One, is that I remember my high school English teacher mentioning that Dickens used to write for papers, and in fact some of his earlier novels were published by chapters in papers and he was paid by the word; hence, his verbose writing. I need to look this up sometime to find authority on whether there was truth in this teaching, but judging by Dickens's writing alone, there is. Dickens's sentences are often long; subjects which can be described in a few words are drawn out over paragraphs.

Despite this babble, I am impressed by the endings of every chapter. They tied together the plot that the chapter told very well. When David leaves for school as a young boy, he leaves his mother, stepfather, and servant (Peggotty) behind. As he is very fond of and very close to Peggotty, David observes

"I sat looking at Peggotty for some time, in a reverie on this suppositious case: whether, if she were employed to lose me like the boy in the fairy tale, I should be able to track my way home again by the buttons she would shed."

Second, is that Dickens very much likes to use coincidence and chance meetings and interweaves his characters very much. So read slowly, and try to remember even the small characters from chapter to chapter. Sometimes this is frustrating because some of them are mentioned only once and never reappear later on in the novel, but many become main characters later on. Don't be annoyed - this is very Dickens and becomes quite enjoyable after reading a few more of his other novels.

BOTTOM LINE
This was my third Dickens novel, the other two being Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. I can't say that I enjoyed Copperfield as much as the other two, partially because I felt Copperfield was longwinded, but I felt that Copperfield had better writing than the other two; hence, I give it four stars instead of five. Some say that this is Dickens's best work, so it definately is a must read, however.

Persevere, and good luck!