Litsy

Chapter 16: I Am A New Boy In More Senses Than One

Everything is going well for Trot/David! He loves his school and living with Wickfield even though he‘s an alcoholic and keeps his daughter as maid.

What Dickens is good at is telling a story that the reader gets even though the narrator doesn‘t — here about Annie, who married Mr. Strong out of respect, but is secretly in love with Jack, who is being shipped off to India.

#buddyread #readlong

CrowCAH, Ruthiella

CrowCAH Agree, the reader understands a lot by various clues. 2y

Ruthiella Dickens‘ more eccentric female characters are great: Aunt Betsy, Peggotty, etc. But the bland portrayal of Agnes as a paragon of Victorian womanhood (and she‘s not even 12 years old yet) irks me. 2y

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Yossarian

David Copperfield | Charles Dickens

David Copperfield, Chapter 1. #readlong #buddyread with me (and @Ruthiella and whenever else wants to be tagged!)

What would tell a new author who brings you a manuscript that is written in the first person but describes things the narrator couldn‘t possibly know (like the circumstances of his own birth)?

More questions on Chapter One in the comments!

Yossarian David claims, despite being born late Friday night, he had never seen “Ghosts or Spirits.” But what about the elms who were “giants who were whispering secrets . . . tossing their arms about . . . too wicked for their peace of mind”? What about Mr. Chillip who walked “as softly as the ghost in Hamlet”? What about Miss Betsey Trotwood, who “vanished like a discontented fairy”? Does he see ghosts and spirits everywhere?
2y

Yossarian Miss Betsey Trotwood is presented as both a strong, independent woman who escaped from a horrible marriage and as a total asshole who abandons her family. Are we supposed to respect her or hate her?
2y

Yossarian David Copperfield, Sr., we learn, was “double my mother‘s age,” as mom was not yet twenty. What are we supposed to make of this age gap?
2y

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Yossarian Pegotty and Mrs. Copperfield have the same Christian name, but what is it?
2y

Yossarian Anything else you want to talk about? The caul auction? “Handsome is that handsome does”? The 105 pound residual annuity? There‘s a lot here for 11 pages! 2y

Ruthiella I‘ll get back to you asap! I‘ve yet to read the first page! I‘ve not read it, but I know Tristam Shandy also starts with the protagonist‘s birth which he couldn‘t possibly know. Also note that allegedly David Copperfield is Dickens‘ most autobiographical novels. Interesting how the father was killed off early when IRL Dickens‘ father didn‘t die but was rather feckless and unsuccessful. 2y

Yossarian @Ruthiella I try to avoid playing Freud, although killing your father in literature seems like a relatively safer manifestation of an Oedipal complex. 2y

Ruthiella Dickens is one of the few authors where I do know a bit about his personal life. And I‘ve read this book before, so I have the benefit of knowing what‘s coming (vaguely) - in this case the step-father. (edited) 2y

Ruthiella Speaking of which, the age gap between the parents, while not uncommon for the era allows for (i) a natural death of the father and (ii) the mother to be young enough to remarry and bear more children. 2y

Yossarian @Ruthiella I got “double her age” and “not yet twenty,” so at the oldest they were married at 19 and 38 and he died at 39. I don‘t know what was considered a “natural death” back then, but I know Dickens believed into spontaneous human combustion in Bleak House, so his biology may have needed some refreshing. 2y

Yossarian As for step-fathers, I‘m starting to get that idea from Chapter 2. 2y

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