David Copperfield Dickensalong

A pelisse, I believe is a sort of coat/ cloak thing to wear outside- I recognise it from Georgette Heyer.
I am enjoying the slow pace, it takes the pressure off for me. I do hope Pegotty ends up "willin' "!

this novel was Dicken's first first person novel and the one he most identified with - it's very autobiographical in places. Even down to David's initials being his own, just inverted.

The next section that we're coming to contains the parts that were more or less straight from Dickens's own childhood.

Btw - these are a few of the adverts from my replica copies of the original David Copperfield

That’s interesting Piggy. I haven’t read enough Dickens to have realised that.

I didn’t think Murdstone had killed Clara, I just assumed it was the usual case of Victorians expiring which they do with alarming regularity. It’s possible he was responsible for her death via neglect rather than directly.

True - the baby was being breast fed so when mother died it would have been v vulnerable unless a wet nurse could be found.

I'll go back and look too but didn't the baby die a few days after his mother? Which would make sense, especially if she'd been ill for a while and the baby was already malnourished.

The horrific Murdstones wouldn't be very likely to care lovingly for a small baby. And infant death was an everyday occurrence

Sorry, I'm going to bow out of this thread. I prefer to read more quickly. Enjoy!

David's mother's death is conveniently vague, isn't it? But for plot purposes both she and the baby had to go, so DC is now an orphan. The scene at the undertaker is classic Dickens - horribly chilling but he finds comedy in it too.

Did the husband not kill David’s mother? He seemed very upset before the funeral but fully expecting him to turn on David now,

I'm way behind, still on chapter 3 I'll need to catch up today.

Also, what killed David's mother and brother? She is described as going into a decline post childbirth - but if seems a mental illness rather than a physical one. Yet the baby died within 24 hours of his mother, which suggests a highly contagious disease??

And dickens left his own wife for a younger model after she'd borne him TEN children.

Essentially, married women had no rights, so yes, Murdstone could do what he liked. I'm sure the fact that coercive relationships existed was absolutely acknowledged, but legally women were unprotected.

Dickens was terribly sympathetic to all women - except his own wife

Yes, this is pretty much the case, Piggy - the defining event for him was the sudden death of his young sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth (his wife Catherine's sister). She lived with them in Doughty St - where the Dickens Museum is now - and was taken ill very suddenly one evening, then died the next day. Dickens was totally devastated by this and it goes a long way to explaining the way he portrayed women in his books, as passive, ever-perfect objects of adoration, often dying young, like David's mother. He really couldn't deal very well in his writing with women as flesh-and-blood creatures, I don't think. They tend to be either comic, or stuck up on a pedestal to be venerated.

I'm also rooting for Barkis and Peggoty

I felt really sorry for his mother, I though Dickens did the emotional abuse and gaslighting really well (did Victorians recognise this at all?) when it was probably legal to beat your wife with no consequences. She was in a pretty impossible situation. Anyone else willing her not to marry him?

I do enjoy Dickens names though.

Does anyone think the great aunt Copperfield from Chapter 1 who buggered off when David wasn't a girl will make a reappearance somewhere down the line?

Yes, I felt really sorry for the teacher (was it Mells?)

Also feel sorry for Barkis - he’s willin’ but she’s not interested!

Im really enjoying this, it's almost like dickins bingo (naive child who becomes an orphan, death of a saintly woman, domestic abuser) however some bits have elevated up it for me.

I find dickins portrays mental domestic abuse quite well, just the sheer psychological torture. The humour I've found genuinely funny in places and I was actually shocked at steerford getting that teacher sacked using the modern equivalent of 'your mum sponges off the state'

I’m really enjoying this! I don’t know the story so don’t know where it’s going. I loved the cheeky waiter and the flute playing teacher! Looking forward to the next few chapters, am hoping we get to hear more of his schooldays.

I may have got carried away and finished to the end of chapter 10, says the woman who doesn't like Dickens.

I just stumbled on this thread whilst scrolling, I didn't know readalongs were a thing. That's ace, I'm going to look out for them more now. David Copperfield is my all time favourite comfort book, I'm actually disappointed to see that it's becoming a series because I can't imagine it doing the book justice. Where are you all up to? My brain didn't make sense of the 3x instalment thing and I want to join in

I sat the other night wondering how many LTB’s David’s mother would have if Mumsnet was around. There was a marked contrast between David’s Aunt and mother who were both victims of domestic abuse and how they handled it. Was Dickens particularly enlightened on the plight of women?