It’s pretty astonishing that after four years as an English
major and years of reading for pleasure that the only Charles Dickens novel I
have read is A Christmas Carol.
Somehow, Dickens never made it onto the required reading lists and was always
something that I told myself I would “get to later.” Lucky for me, this reading
challenge has a lot of Dickens. Now that we are on to episode two and Rory’s
first day at Chilton, we are also introduced to an abundance of high quality
literature. In a short exchange between one of Rory’s teachers and Paris,
several Dickens novels are mentioned and David
Copperfield is the first.
David Copperfield is Dickens’
semi-autobiographical novel about a young boy growing up through poverty and
adversity. It was Dickens’ favorite of his novels and many critics consider it
the greatest of his novels. As I have not read all of his novels, I cannot say
I agree with this. I have to read more to decide this. However, I would not
sing the praises of this novel as others have. Personally, I found it long and
tedious. I can appreciate this novel from a literary standpoint, but it
followed the structure of a biography and therefore the plot was lacking. David
was presented with challenge after challenge, villain after villain, but other
than the character itself, there was not a common thread. Now, I know in life
there is not always a common thread and, well, things just happen as they happen.
BUT, when I read a book, I want there to be some semblance of a plot and
storyline. The character needs to be going somewhere. Maybe it is because I
could not really connect to David Copperfield the character that I felt this way.
While I admire
David’s tenacity and his ability to overcome any challenge he faces, I did not
always like him. I found him a little self-centered, especially in how he
viewed the women in his life. David is quite the flirt and has several love
interests throughout the novel (Emily, Agnes, Dora). I suppose in the span of
one’s lifetime that is acceptable because God knows I have flirted with more
than three guys in my twenty-four years. But he spends his time bouncing
between the three and he views all in a similar manner. David had a childhood
crush on Emily and he was more intrigued by her childlike innocence
than anything else. At one point, Dickens wrote that it be “better she die
innocent and young” in reference to Emily. This bothered me because 1. It came
out of the blue so it is a bit creepy, and 2. Why is a woman less appealing when she is aware of the world? This
is a common theme with David. Along with Emily, he views his first wife Dora as
a child. Dora is a grown woman, but David treats her as if she is breakable and
often refers to her as his “child wife.” More so, he encourages Dora to view
herself in this way. Agnes, David’s second wife, is a little different. While
she does not act like a child in the way Dora does, Agnes is presented as an
“angel” and “perfect.” She is good and selfless and…well…boring. Agnes has very
minimal character development and it’s frustrating that she is presented as the
ideal wife. I also find it irksome that a good woman is presented as boring. You can be good and interesting and exciting at the same time.
I suppose
some of the issues I have with this novel are because it was written in 1850,
but that is no excuse for how boring I found it! I’m sorry; I’m getting sassy
here. I will give Dickens another chance. Maybe I read this book during the
wrong time of year. Reading a long, tedious novel with many depressing story
elements is not always the most fun in the middle of winter. Oh well! On to the
next one!
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