Book Report Charled Dickens David Copperfield

Book Report

The book

The book I read is “David Copperfield”, a novel written by Charles Dickens in 1850, and it is about the life of David Copperfield from his birth to his mature age.

David is an orphan boy who lost his father before his birth. His early years are happy with his loving mother and his kindly servant Peggotty. But the mother feels alone and stressed because of the responsibility of growing up a child alone, and she decides to marry the cruel Mr. Murdstone. His stepfather is a strict person who never misses a chance to beat him and humiliate him. David is soon sent to a miserable boarding school, Salem House, were he gets many friends.

Unfortunately, David’s mother dies and the he is immediately sent to work. This period is one of the darkest and saddest of his life: David works hard and gets a miserable salary. Then he decides to escape the situation he is living in, he runs away and reaches Aunt Betsey, his only relative. Aunt Betsey welcomes David with love and treats him as her child. She sends him to a good school, helps him to become a lawyer and finds him a job in the office of the lawyer Wickfield. During this period, he meets Dora and marries her. However, Dora dies because of a miscarriage and David finds as only support Agnes, Wickfield’s daughter. He realises a feeling of love for her and after a short time, the two get married, completing the family with four children.

Opinions

The novel is written at the first person, as an autobiography, and shows us how hard David’s childhood and youth were. The fact that the novel is written as an autobiography makes the reader connect directly to the character: after only few lines, David’s emotions and feelings are already shared by the reader.

I really enjoyed the novel and all the feelings and sensations that the book brought to me, the sadness when David’s mother dies, the compassion when Mr. Murdstone beats him, but also, the happiness knowing that the novel ends with a happy end. But the novel is also a perfect picture of the English society of the 19th century and it’s very interesting to know how the way of living and thinking was at that time.

I would recommend this book to all the sensitive persons, as me, because they would get enough feelings to enjoy the book and also to all the people who have the curiosity of knowing something more about times already distant.

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