David Copperfield
{{David Copperfield}}
Basic Info
- Author: Charles Dickens
- Year: 1850
- Type: #primary1
Summary (brief)
-DC is born in Suffolk after his father dies. Childhood is shattered when mother marries cruel, abusive Mr. Murdstone. DC is sent away to boarding school and later forced into grueling factory labor in London. David escapes these conditions by going to his eccentric aunt Betsy Trotwood. He becomes educated, trains in law, and becomes a successful author. He navigates relationships, including surviving a disasterous first marriage to Dora Spenlow before finding low with childhood friend Agnes WIckfield.
Major Themes
Key Passages / Quotes
Quote 1
quote:: “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”
page:: 7
themes:: fate, identity
Genre Notes
- #Autofiction heavily infused with lived trauma including childhood stint working in a blacking factory and his father's imprisonment for debt.
Characters / Concepts (if relevant)
Theory Connections
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#proto-autofiction #trans-corporeality wellness related to physical environments #confession
Related Texts
My Argument / Interpretation
Dissertation Relevance
How could this matter to my project?
-Dickens split his psyche into two parts: creating "David" to achieve the romantic and financial triumphs he desired and also to process his actual childhood neglect. When David is in the toxic, filthy London factory, he becomes weak, dirty and decaying, but the seaside atmosphere of Dover restores him.