David Copperfield Book Review

Charles Dickens began writing David Copperfield in 1849, when he was thirty-seven years old. He was already famous for many earlier stories, like Oliwer Twist(1838), Nicholas Nickleby(1839) and A Christmas Carol(1843). David Copperfield was an immediate success.

Dickens' stories are often about children with no parents (Oliwer Twist) or with only one parent (Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield). In a hard world, strong-often rich-people are cruel to these children. David Copperfield like other poor children in Dickens' stories, is a good person, but he suffers terrible. He is badly hurt in love, he is hated by his new father, and even his best friend (Steerforth) is dishonest with him. There are other good people in the story, too, but they also suffer. Dickens' story shows that weak people need the help of strong, good people. Without this help, they cannot win the fight against people who are strong and cruel.

David Copperfield deals with life in England in the wake of the industial Revolution. Dickens writes about child labour, the gap between rich and poor, and bad schools.

Dickens' book gave a true picture of the hard life that poor children suffered in those day. They also showed people the importance of good friends and families. More importantly, perhaps, they showed readers that things had to change. Sometimes, as a result of Dickens' work, they did. After Nicholas Nickleby, for example, the government shut many bad schools in the north of England.

The main characters in the novel are
David Copperfield= The youthful, narrator, who experiences many vicissitudes before he becomes a successful novelist.
Betsey Trotwood= David's eccentric but kind-hearted great aunt.
Mr. Murdstone= David's cruel stepfather
Jane Murdstone= mr. Murdstone's grim sister.
Peggoty= is Davids fat, jolly nurse.

David Copperfield, of course, is not just about the unfairness of live and the seriousness of its problems. I is also a story about everyone's search for happiness. It is an exciting adventure story and is often very amusing. It is popular today as it was in the 1840's, and there have been many films of the story.

I really enjoyed reading David Copperfield. It was easy to understand and very entertaining. Moreover, I learned about life in England after the Industrial Revolution. This was particualarly interesting because we have read quite a lot about this period in our history lessons.

Furthermore, I would like to read more of Charles Dickens' literary works, now that I've learned many thing about this famous British author, and his books. I can recommend the book to people of all ages.