Charles Dickens

David Copperfield Annotated Charles Dickens

The story is told in the first person by a middle-aged David Copperfield, who is looking back on his life. David is born in Blunderstone, Suffolk, six months after the death of his father, and he is raised by his mother and her devoted housekeeper, Clara Peggotty. As a young child, he spends a few days with Peggotty at the home of her brother, Mr. Peggotty, in Yarmouth, which Mr. Peggotty shares with Ham and Emily, his orphaned nephew and niece, respectively. When the visit ends, David learns that his mother has married the cruel and controlling Mr. Edward Murdstone. That evening Murdstone's sister also moves in and assumes the management of the household. One day Mr. Murdstone takes David to his bedroom to beat him, and David bites his hand. After that, the eight-year-old David is sent to a boarding school run by the sadistic Mr. Creakle. There David becomes friends with the kind and steadfast Tommy Traddles and with the charismatic and entitled James Steerforth. Partway through David's second semester at the school, his mother dies shortly after giving birth to a son, who also perishes. After that, Peggotty is dismissed, and she marries Barkis, who drives a wagon. David is not returned to school, and at the age of 10 he is sent to work at Murdstone's wine-bottling factory in London. He lodges at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Micawber, a generous couple who are constantly facing financial disaster. Eventually, Mr. Micawber is sent to debtors' prison, after which David runs away to Dover to find his great-aunt, the self-sufficient Miss Betsey Trotwood, and, on the advice of her simpleminded and good-hearted boarder, Mr. Dick, she takes him in.