David Copperfield

David goes to live with a poor but polite man named Mr. Micawber. Mr. Micawber lives in a full house with his thin wife, twin babies, two toddlers, and a young woman who is an orphan from St. Luke’s workhouse. Aside from this large family, their only visitors are invasive creditors. Despite their financial distress, the Micawbers are kind to David.

Life at the bottling factory is grim. David works long hours for very little pay among coarsely mannered working-class boys. He finds comfort purchasing puddings from local shops and drinking ale in local pubs (though he is so small that the bar tenders hesitate to serve him). David earns a reputation as the well-educated “little gent” (389) at Murdstone and Grinby. Reflecting back on his life as a young worker, David wonders what the people around him thought of him.

The Micawbers’ financial situation grows worse and worse. Desperate to fend off creditors, Mrs. Micawber requests that David help the family by pawning some of his belongings. Despite their best efforts, Mr. Micawber is thrown into debtors’ prison.

Much like “little gent” David, Mr. Micawber gets a reputation as a gentleman within the debtors’ prison. He assumes great authority within the prison club, where he lobbies against the prison.

Though Mr. Micawber is discharged from prison, his family must work to pay his debts, so they continue to feel threatened. Tensions run high, and Mrs. Micawber repeatedly announces that she will never leave her husband (thus suggesting that she has considered doing so). The Micawbers decide to move to the country.

Searching for a new home, David writes to Peggotty, who suggests that he move to his Aunt Betsey’s. David hires a young man to help him move, but the young man proves untrustworthy and steals David’s money. When David demands that the young man return his money, he protests that David has no authority over him because he can’t prove anything to the police. 

Desperate for money, David has no choice but to sell the clothes on his back. He takes his waistcoat to a small shop and attempts to trade it for eighteen pence. The shopkeeper tells David, “I should rob my family […] if I was to offer ninepence for it” (433), making David feel emotionally obligated to accept the low offer. At another shop, David overprices his jacket at half a crown, hoping to bargain with the shopkeeper. Instead, the shopkeeper orders him to leave.

The journey to Miss Betsey’s home is long and difficult. Afraid to spend the little money he has, David sleeps in the streets. He is harassed by street ruffians who attempt to take his money, and thus learns how to negotiate difficult situations. He comforts himself with dreams of his mother in her youth, before he was born.

When David arrives at Miss Betsey’s, he is dirty and ragged. Miss Betsey initially tries to shoe him away, but lets him in when he reveals he is her nephew. She asks her housemate, Mr. Dick, what she should do with David. He matter-of-factly tells her to wash him.

David describes his aunt as a stern, hard-featured woman with a masculine air, noting that she even wears a man’s watch and chain. Mr. Dick, by contrast, reminds David of the young students at Salem House after receiving their beatings from Mr. Creakle. Miss Betsey repeatedly bemoans David’s gender, claiming that he wouldn’t have made the same mistakes in life if he had only been born a girl. She is also strangely obsessed with shoeing donkeys off her front lawn.

David overhears Miss Betsey conversing with Mr. Dick about David’s mother. She greatly pities his mother and wonders why she remarried. When Mr. Dick suggests that she might have married for pleasure, Miss Betsey adamantly rejects this idea. She seems generally disgusted with the idea of marriage.

Miss Betsey continues to ask Mr. Dick what she should do with David, and he continues to provide simple recommendations (such as, “I should put him to bed” (473)). As David lies in bed, he suffers great anxiety, wondering if his aunt will let him stay. 

Over breakfast, Miss Betsey tells David she has written a letter to Mr. Murdstone, explaining where David is. David responds that he doesn’t know what he’ll do if he has to go back to Mr. Murdstone.

Miss Betsey sends David to check on Mr. Dick, who is trying to write his autobiography, Memorial, but digresses into odd, meandering reflections on King Charles I, which cloud his memories. When David reports back to Miss Betsey, she reveals that she invited Mr. Dick to move in with her when his brother tried to have him committed to an insane asylum. She blames Mr. Dick’s madness on the trauma of his sister’s marriage.

The Murdstones arrive on donkeys, which disturbs Miss Betsey. Miss Betsey asks about David’s inheritance from his father, implying that Mr. Murdstone has stolen money that should have rightfully gone to her nephew. Mr. Murdstone confirms her suspicions, and Miss Betsey angrily demands that they leave.

David begs his aunt to let him stay with her, and she responds by asking Mr. Dick what she should do. Mr. Dick tells her to have David “measured for a suit of clothes directly” (505). Miss Betsey adopts David, renaming him Trotwood Copperfield. 

As David becomes close with Mr. Dick, he grows to understand the symbolic significance of his daily rituals. Each day, Mr. Dick toils hard at his Memorial, a project David knows he will never finish. Nevertheless, David understands the deep importance of Mr. Dick’s project, and recognizes that the process of remembering is more meaningful than the ultimate outcome. After working on Memorial, Mr. Dick and David fly a giant kite in the park. David observes that this kite allows Mr. Dick to release much of the internal tension he has accumulated while working on Memorial.

David also bonds with Miss Betsey, who affectionately refers to him as Trot. After discussing the importance of education, Miss Betsey and David mutually decide that he should attend school in nearby Canterbury. There, they visit Miss Betsey’s friend, a lawyer named Mr. Wickfield. Miss Betsey hopes Mr. Wickfield can recommend schools in Canterbury.

At Mr. Wickfield’s office, an odd, ghoulish, skeletal young man named Uriah Heap shows them in. Mr. Wickfield, by contrast, is handsome and amiable. He recommends a fine school for David, but notes that all the dorms are full. After some discussion, Miss Betsey and Mr. Wickfield decide that David should stay with him until they find more permanent housing.

David meets Mr. Wickfield’s young housekeeper—his daughter, Agnes. Agnes’ physical beauty and her peaceful spirit strike David. He observes that she fawns over her widowed father.

That evening, David ventures out for another look at the beautiful old buildings of Canterbury. On his walk home, he crosses paths with Uriah Heap, who politely shakes his hand. David is disgusted by Uriah’s clammy touch.

The next day, Mr. Wickfield takes David to meet his headmaster, a kind man named Doctor Strong, and his wife, an attractive young lady named Annie. Mr. Wickfield and Doctor Strong chat about his wife’s cousin, Jack Maldron. Doctor Strong is eager to find Jack Maldron a job outside the country.

Despite David’s initial worries that his lower class background will reveal itself in some unflattering way, he gets along well with his new schoolmates. He excels in his studies and rises to the top of his class. He also adapts quickly to Mr. Wickfield’s home environment. He asks Agnes if she’s ever been to school. She insists that she goes to school every day: Her “school” is her father’s household.

That evening, the Wickfields hear from Jack Maldron, who is in a rush to go overseas. Throughout the conversation, Jack Maldron speaks oddly of Annie’s youth and Doctor Strong’s age, demonstrating a suspect attraction to Annie. Mr. Wickfield treats Jack Maldron with polite detachment, reassuring him that he’ll find him a job soon. After dinner, Mr. Wickfield drinks a great deal.

The rest of the evening passes pleasantly. David plays dominos and continues to bond with Agnes. David fits in so well with the family that Mr. Wickfield invites him to stay permanently. David eagerly accepts.

David runs into Uriah Heep on the way to bed. Uriah explains that he is studying to improve his understanding of the law, and expresses his great admiration for Mr. Wickfield, Agnes, Miss Betsey, and David himself. Specifically, he asks David if he is impressed with Agnes, betraying his obsession with her. David observes with disgust that Uriah squirms whenever some bit of information pleases him; Uriah’s obsequious mannerisms repulse him. Uriah invites David to have tea with him and his mother.

David accompanies the Wickfields to a farewell party for Jack Maldron, who has obtained a position in India. Annie’s mother is present at the celebration, and she spends much of the evening convincing Doctor Strong to financially help her working-class family members. During the celebration, Annie’s mother also mentions that Annie and Jack had a childhood romantic relationship. Annie blushes at the mention of this relationship.

When it’s time for Jack to leave, Annie is so overcome with emotion that she faints. As Jack’s coach pulls away, David notices that Jack is holding one of Annie’s cherry-colored ribbons. When Annie comes to in front of her husband, David reflects on the complexities of her facial expression, which simultaneously suggests “Penitence, humiliation, shame, pride, love, and trustfulness” (584).

David writes to Peggotty about his new life and receives a reply soon after. Though Peggotty struggles to express herself in writing, David notes that the letter is covered in small blots that indicate that she has been crying over the page.

In her letter, Peggotty writes that the Murdstones have vacated the house and auctioned off all the furniture. She also sends fond regards from all her family members except for Little Em’ly. David reflects that this is probably due to the unspoken class divide that has grown between him and Em’ly, who used to visit him in Canterbury at odd hours. During these visits, they found they had less and less in common.

Both Miss Betsey and Mr. Dick visit David frequently. With his charming, eccentric personality, Mr. Dick becomes a folk hero among David’s schoolmates, and a beloved friend to Doctor Strong’s family. On one of these visits, Mr. Dick tells David of an unsettling encounter Miss Betsey had with a man when they were out walking. He reports that this man frightened Miss Betsey. When the man returned on another night, Mr. Dick saw Miss Betsey give him money though he did not seem to be a beggar).

One day when David is out walking, Uriah Heep runs into him and re-invites him to tea. David reluctantly goes to visit him and his mother. Uriah’s mother is every bit as eccentric as he is, constantly apologizing for her modest home environment. David also observes that even though Mr. Heep has been deceased for some time, Mrs. Heep still wears mourning weeds. Throughout the visit, the two Heeps attempt to ply David with wine and sweets, asking invasive questions about Agnes and her father. David feels as though they are “worm[ing] things out of [him] that [he has] no desire to tell” (606).

David escapes from tea with the Heeps when he notices Mr. Micawber passing by their window. Mr. Micawber calls out to him, and they depart for a visit with Mrs. Micawber. Both Micawbers are happy to hear of David’s improved circumstances. Though their own financial situation has not improved (they came to Canterbury with the hope of a job), they offer a much more enjoyable dinner atmosphere than Uriah Heep and his mother.

The next day, David receives a farewell letter from Mr. Micawber. In this letter, he explains that he and his wife must leave to seek opportunity elsewhere. He gloomily signs the letter, “From the Beggared Outcast” (624). The tone of this letter so distresses David that he runs back to the Micawbers’ apartment. On the way, he sees them getting into a coach, and notices that they both seem very content. Relieved, David heads toward school, unseen by the Micawbers.

Chapter 18 is a summary retrospective of David’s years in Doctor Strong’s school. He recounts his various experiences with young love, including with the young Miss Shepard and the somewhat older, more sophisticated Miss Larkins. He also describes an ill-fated fistfight with a butcher—“the terror of the youth of Canterbury” (630)—who gives him two black eyes and a swollen lip.

Throughout these schooldays, David remains faithful to his studies. He also notes that Agnes remains his faithful friend. By the end of the chapter, David has graduated from school at the age of 17.