Review of David Copperfield

I just finished this gem of a novel, David Copperfield, which most say is extremely autobiographical of Charles Dickens's life, and I am more than ever entranced by his playful, yet thoughtful, and overall masterfully observant writing style. I set out on this 729 page work because I teach the masterpiece, A Christmas Carol, to my 8th graders, and I wished to dive deeper into the world of the artist (see my blog on A Christmas Carol from last year, if you'd like).

What intrigues me about Dickens is, as T.S. Eliot accounted, "Dickens's figures belong to poetry, like figures of Dante or Shakespeare, in that a single phrase, either by them or about them, may be enough to set them wholly before us." I would add that not only the poetic detail his characterizations, but also in his scenery, sets him above any author I know of in crafting a picture in the reader's mind. Of what I've read, his works are not the deepest-delving into the human psyche, but his way with words is truly masterful and beautiful to behold.

What intrigues me most about David Copperfield itself, though, is a pristine retrospect of a narrator who has incurred many hardships in life. Through his accound of being orphaned, abused, and abandoned as a child, David the narrator maintains a light, witty tone while not downplaying his tribulations. For example, the reader finds himself simultaneously laughing and crying at his nurse's buttons popping off her dress from hugging him too hard when David's loathsome stepfather sends him away to school against the wishes of his broken and dying mother. This story further accounts David's tragedies, one after another, but never in a self-pitying or self-exalting tone. On the contrary, through all the sad circumstances and heartbreaks, the narrator continually keeps his spirit light and his eyes uplifted. Some critics claim this hopeful optimism makes the "autobiography" of David Copperfield unrealistic, but I think it accounts for something worth praising: joy in the midst of sorrow. The narrator, in hindsight, sees that all worked together for good in his life, and thus he doesn't have to soak the despairing times of which he writes with even more doom and gloom.

This light-hearted and joyful outlook speaks to me, as of course this book has to many others, in its innocence and good-humor. The idea that even hard times work together for a person's good is a very Christian concept, and that is captured in this novel, along with self-sacrificing love and redemption. I'm pretty sure Dickens was not a Christian, and I'm pretty sure that that's why this "child-like" love of truth and beauty is not found in his darker later novels, which is very tragic indeed. Dickens considered David Copperfield his favorite work, and I can see why. This beautiful coming-of-age story, or bildungsroman, portrays the intellectual, social, and moral growth of a man, who learns to love prudently and fervently, to care and work for the best in others, and live life with passion. As David (or, better yet, Dickens) states, "whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that, in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest" (507). May this be truly said of all of us. :)