David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
My favourite book is David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, a story about an orphaned boy’s lifetime, at a very young age. David’s story was heartfelt and full of different twists, timeless as a message of the lives of humans in any setting or era. I particularly enjoyed the characters who appeared in Copperfield’s life because they were so full of personality with unique individual natures and roles in his writing, such as Aunt Betsey, Mr Dick, Agnes and Peggotty. These are some of my favourite characters featured in the story, as in heavy contrast to the suffering David endures throughout his childhood, they all presented to be kind-hearted, good-natured people who made you smile every time they appeared. Aunt Betsey was a mysterious figure mentioned at the start of the book, evolving into somewhat of a mother figure to David. Mr Dick, Aunt Betsey’s eccentric best friend, was a heartwarming character who was very wise despite his condition. Agnes, David’s best friend and ‘angel’ from his school days, who became his second wife at the end of the book (something I hadn’t expected, surprisingly), and Peggotty, possibly the purest heart of anyone from the book – David’s maid/nurse who served him and his parents since early childhood, sticking around throughout his life as a home for him when he needed it.
Kind characters such as these were lovable and brought light to the story, but what of the antagonists? There were two distinctly villainous characters in this book – Uriah Heep and James Steerforth – but I had the most interest in Steerforth. Specifically because of the effects of manipulation shown from David’s perspective, how his respect and admiration for Steerforth clouds his judgement of him, and the evolution of Steerforth’s reputation throughout the book. He starts out as David’s invaluable protector at Salem House, then as a reunited friendship in their adult years. People surrounding the two tell David multiple times of how they view Steerforth, but David never relents his praise of him. Only once Steerforth’s seduction of Emily plainly shows everyone his true nature does David begin to doubt the honour of his friend, and his ultimate demise shows how even after Steerforth had died, David still held him in high esteem – an interesting character relationship for an early time period setting.
The ending was incredibly satisfactory to me, tying up the entire book with the ending Copperfield always deserved: a loving wife, children, and his friends enjoying happy endings of their own. A true story of being born with the odds against you but working towards achievable success anyway.
