Book Report on David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

In the novel Dickens introduces many characters to readers, and many of those characters contrast each other greatly, creating character foils. These contrasts highlight the differences of the characters and the part of society they represent. This allows readers

As the characters age throughout the book, their self-awareness grows significantly. An example of this is while Sophie washes “the blood off her arms and cleans the knife” (175), her bravery and loyalty shines. She evolves from a shy child to a brave, young adult; Sophie becomes willing to sacrifice her life for others rather than a child who is insecure of her deviation. Equally important, David says, “When there is that, where is the word? There is only the inadequacy of the word that exists” (166). This thought identifies how he is able to acknowledge the capacity of his own deviation and the insignificance of spoken words; David recognizes the development of his comprehension about communication with “thought shapes.” Additionally, David recalls, “A series of memories cut off what my eyes were seeing—my Aunt Harriet’s face in the water, her hair gently waving in the current; poor Anne a limp figure hanging from a beam; Sally, wringing her hands in anguish for Katherine, and in terror for herself; Sophie, degraded to a savage, sliding in the dust, with an arrow in her neck…” (197). He exhibits a vision of the Waknuk community and its dark effects upon certain individuals. Seeing that he progresses towards more sophisticated topics, his realization of these impacts identifies a growth in his overall understanding about recent ventures. In conclusion, the advancement to adulthood corresponds with the journey from innocence to

Great Expectations tells the ultimate rags to riches story of the Orphan Pip. Dickens takes his readers through life changing events that ultimately mold the identity of the main character. Dividing these events into sections will provide the basis for interpreting which events had the most profound effect on Pip’s identity towards the end of the novel. These life-changing events provide the catalyst for the development of Pip’s character from childhood, his adolescence, maturing into a social gentleman, and finally becoming a self-aware man of society.

Dickens had several real life experiences of poverty and abandonment in his life that influenced his work,

During Charles Dickens’ childhood, a set of circumstances revolving around his father’s imprisonment forced him to enter the workforce at the age of twelve. This experience caused Dickens to feel that his innocence and childhood was stolen, as he had to sacrifice his family’s love to provide for them financially. The loss of his childhood has a large effect on his novels, especially A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol. In these novels, Charles Dickens argues against avarice, and advocates for love, by expressing similar themes of greed, redemption, and love, through exampling and varied characters.

The characters change drastically throughout the novel especially David Strorm. He changes from the young innocent boy to an adult striving for his acceptance. David is brought up in a house hold and community that teaches to not accept deviants. In his adolescence David starts realizing that he is not like the others. He believes that it is ok to have differences, especially when he meets Sophie and the way his community captures her sending her away because they believe she is not the true image of the Lord. “The essential quality of life is living, the essential quality of living is change; change is evolution: and we are part of it. The static, the

The authors both use the motif of false identities, that are imposed by other characters upon the protagonist, to display how inferior individuals are misunderstood. Dickens displays the motif of false identities through the change of clothes of the protagonist. It was almost immediately after his birth when Oliver was left alone on the streets to survive. Since he had no immediate family to guide him during his childhood as to whom he is as an individual, his identity was chosen for him by an outsider. His rank in society was chosen when Oliver was:

Charles Dickens, an author, an editor, an illustrator, and a great mind. There are many words we can associate with Charles Dickens, but most importantly Charles was a creator. He created many famous stories that are shared with the world like A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist. A Tale of Two Cities is a novel that is reflected back to Charles' life, from a child through adulthood. Charles' life influenced A Tale of Two Cities because of where he lived, how he grew up, and how he grew as a writer.

The Victorian era was time of epic growth. There are lots of things to talk

David has grown threw the novel and is becoming an adult independently and using his knowledge in difficult situations. He sacrifices his own life to protect himself and other around him. His discovery about truth of all the things his father had said about deviations and the fringes. He maturated and had more knowledge of the world and others around him. All of his action contributed to the major theme of the novel. He grew throughout the novel with discoveries, mistakes and sacrifices and with his growth and maturity he had a better understanding of the world around him.

Instead of a single main protagonist focused upon, the novel revolves around the lenses of various characters, dealing with their own stories and conflicts, while the overarching event, the French Revolution, is increasing in intensity. Because most of the characters belong to the upper class, they are later persecuted by the revolt. Dickens, at first, witness this uprising as inherently good, as the lower class will no longer stand against discrimination from the wealthy. The beginning of the novel gives off the impression that this would most likely become nonviolent, seeking justices by new laws and regulation. The main protagonist, dislike his aristocrat's upbringing, originally see this upset as something positive that will help relinquish the ills of society. Instead of this wishful thinking, the poorer citizen goes through exceeding lengths. At times such as back then, moral guidance becomes muddled. Dickens illustrates that although some of the powerful were corrupt and brutal to those of lower class, the reaction of the proletariat was unwarranted. Varying characters were affected by the events that took place, for must were or higher status. Families aware shatter as mobs were formed to storm the streets, seeking anyone to exact anger towards. And just as historical documents confirm, public executions took place as well. Dickens writes that evil, the one

Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned British writers with well-known and widespread work. Dickens was born in England in 1812 and died in 1870. During this time, Victorian England experienced an Industrial Revolution, which impacted his life tremendously. New factories and industrial machinery changed many lives of the lower class citizens. The family grew up impoverished and struggled to maintain a good lifestyle. The family’s financial situation was strained as John Dickens, Charles’s father, spent money that the family didn’t have. These societal factors were influential in Charles Dickens’s life, and the same themes present themselves in his works. When an author creates a work, frequently themes of their life events are incorporated into the theme of the book, consciously or unconsciously. Victorian Age industrial-influenced strife was a common theme in Dickens’s life and presented itself throughout Dickens’s books.

One of the most important and common tools that authors use to illustrate the themes of their works is a character that undergoes several major changes throughout the story. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens introduces the reader to many intriguing and memorable characters, including the eccentric recluse, Miss Havisham, the shrewd and careful lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, and the benevolent convict, Abel Magwitch. However, Great Expectations is the story of Pip and his initial dreams and resulting disappointments that eventually lead to him becoming a genuinely good person. The significant changes in Pip's character are very important to one of the novel's many themes. Dickens uses Pip's

Charles Dickens is one of the most influential writers in history and was “born in Landport, now part of Portsmouth, on February 7th, 1812”(Priestly 5). Despite being the successful writer that he was in life, Dickens had very humble beginnings and because his Father, John Huffman Dickens, “lacked the money to support his family adequetly” , Dickens lived in poverty through out most of his childhood (Collins). Matters only got worse, however, when Dickens’s Father had to “spen[d] time in prison for debt” causing Dickens to have to “work in a London factory pasting labels on bottles of shoe polish” (Collins). It was a horrible experience for him, but it also helped him to no doubt feel pity for the poor, which is

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” In his novel, Great Expectations, Charles Dickens exemplifies Ralph’s belief and conveys that when a person has gone wrong in life, a trauma or pain can help him or her return to a better path. All through the novel, characters such as Pip, Miss Havisham, and Magwitch illustrate this theme through the decisions they made in life and where those decisions took them.