David_Copperfield

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am re-reading this as part of my refresher course in Dickens. This has always been on of my favorites, but this time I am paying especial attention to Dickens use of language to create a mood or define a character.

I thoroughly enjoyed this once again. Each time I read it, I catch more things that I missed. There are so many characters in this book that are so clear and well drawn, that it hardly seems possible they really didn't exist. Mr. Micawber is one of my favorites as well as Betsy Trotwood and the world would be a bit better if there were more Agnes' in it.

On the negative side, we have a cast of characters we love to hate beginning and ending with Uriah Heep. He is so despicable that we wonder that he ever fools anyone, but he does. His name is like an adjective for me, describing my feelings about people I have met. One need only compare the person to Heep and any person who has read this book will know exactly what the villein's personality is like.

To me Steerforth is the most interesting character in the book. One of my pet peeves is when writers, especially mystery writers, have a character turn out to be a villain in the last chapter of the book when there was no hint of it in the character's previous behavior. A clear example is the villain in Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. In Steerforth, we find hints being given all through the book as to his true character. In this, he reminds me of many politicians who fall from grace. I distinctly remember when scandals about the then Governor Bill Clinton were being reported during the election. Countless editorials put forth the notion that what he did in private had nothing to do with the way he would conduct himself as president. Four years later our government seemed to come to a screeching halt while those troubles pervaded everything he did. Just about any person who watches the news or reads a paper can give a list of politicians and businessmen who fall from grace. As we read their backgrounds, we find that the disgrace did not come out of nowhere and that there were hints all along. Dickens gives us a Steerforth who is callous, does not admit the rights of others to guide his actions. His early actions show that he lacks a conscience, and the troubled relationship with his mother shows exactly how it has been nurtured.

This is an excellent books and well deserves a reading every decade at least.

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Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Hard Times by Charles Dickens


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have been going back and reading all the Charles Dickens' books which I have either missed, or not read recently. I don't know how I missed this one, as some consider it one of his best.

The book begins with a speech by Thomas Gradgrind about, "facts, just plain facts," to "girl #20", a pupil in his school. She is a child of traveling horse riders, who move from place to place. He is upset that she can't define the word,"horse" by only using facts. (One can just hear Jack Webb in the background as he interviews a witness.) Grandgrind believes that children, in fact, everyone should learn to deal only with facts and ignore everything else. He not only teaches this, but deals with his own wife and children the same way.

Gradgrind lives in an industrial town in the north of England named Coketown. One of the people he associates with is Mr. Josiah Bounderby, a rich industrialist who sees the employees of his mill in exactly the same way. As the books proceeds, the results of Gradgrind's philosophy become apparent. He has married his daughter to Bounderby, a rich, pompous braggart 30 years her senior without any consideration of her feelings. She agrees without protest because she has barely any feelings left after a lifetime in his household and she thinks she can be of some help to her beloved brother, Tom. The marriage is a disaster, as is Tom's life.

As with all of Dickens books, there are a number of interesting subplots which revolve around the main action and eventually take their place in the solution. Eventually, everything unravels and in the end, Gradgrind is forced to see the damage he has wrought.

Dickens is a master at creating characters who seem to leap off the pages and become real. It is one of the things that I most love about his work. To me it seems as if Scrooge and Tiny Tim, Oliver Twist, the Artful Dodger and Fagan must have existed. It is hard to believe that they are only the product of paper and ink in a master's hand. This book also creates some characters that will stay with me forever. I look forward to continuing with my project.





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