In this blog post, we’ll briefly introduce the life of Charles Dickens to readers of ‘David Copperfield’ and explore the similarities between their lives.
Readers of ‘David Copperfield’ will quickly realize, upon briefly reviewing the life of Charles Dickens (1812–1870), that it bears a striking resemblance to that of the novel’s protagonist, David.
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, a naval port on the west coast of England. His father, John Dickens, served as a junior civil servant in the Navy and was an outgoing yet spendthrift man. His mother was kind-hearted but somewhat lacking in practical wisdom. Dickens portrayed his father’s character through the character of Micawber in his novel.
Dickens enjoyed a relatively happy childhood, but around the age of nine, his father’s debts grew so large that the family was forced to move to a run-down neighborhood. Eventually, when he was eleven, his father was imprisoned for debt, and the entire family had to live there for about a year.
As the eldest son, Dickens had to drop out of school to work in a shoe-polish factory. He attended school only until the age of fifteen and began his working life as a clerk at a law office. He later learned shorthand and became a newspaper reporter; after working as an editor for a magazine, he began serializing novels in magazines at the age of twenty-four, gradually building his reputation as a novelist.
Although there are fictional embellishments, the broad outline of Charles Dickens’ life and that of David Copperfield are virtually identical. Consequently, this work is regarded as Dickens’ autobiographical novel, fully imbued with his life experiences and worldview. For this reason, many people choose this novel when asked to name Dickens’ most representative work, and Dickens himself held this work particularly dear.
The most striking aspect of ‘David Copperfield’ is the protagonist’s strong will to stand on his own. That will becomes the power that transforms the misfortunes he faces into opportunities.
I was no longer discouraged. I resolved to turn the misfortunes that had befallen me into opportunities.
First, it was an opportunity to prove that the kindness my great-aunt had shown me was not bestowed upon an ungrateful person. Second, it was an opportunity to show that the hardships I endured in my childhood were by no means in vain. Third, it was an opportunity to prove that I had the ability to take an axe in hand and cut my way through the forest of adversity.
And he really works hard.
I pushed my natural talents to the absolute limit. Whatever I started, I strove to complete it with all my might. Furthermore, once I set a goal, no matter how difficult it was, I did my absolute best to achieve it. It is a timeless truth that no matter how much natural talent one possesses, nothing can be accomplished without sincerity, humility, and diligence. To hope for success in this world without these qualities is truly shameless, and such a thing will never happen. Innate talent and luck are merely the two rungs of a ladder. Without the foothold of effort, one can never climb upward. When one must give one’s all—and when one is fully capable of doing so—to merely rest one hand lightly on the rung, or to regard the task at hand as trivial—I have made these two things absolute taboos that I must never commit in my lifetime, and I am convinced that these taboos are precisely what have made me who I am today.
Through David’s voice, the novelist Dickens conveys to the reader, in its entirety, the wisdom of life he gained from his own experiences. We are moved by the sincerity of that delivery alone. If we are moved by that wisdom and learn something from it, that alone makes reading this novel well worth the effort.
I believe that the wisdom about life which Dickens conveys through David stems directly from his love for his own life. Regarding the phrase “love for one’s own life,” while everyone naturally assumes they love their own life, in reality, this is often not the case.
People often unquestioningly accept values instilled by others; they are accustomed to succumbing to adversity and blaming others for their own misfortunes. Even such people feel they love themselves, but strictly speaking, their lives lack pride in and a sense of responsibility for their own lives.
The reason Dickens is able to confidently convey life’s wisdom in ‘David Copperfield’ is that he himself lived his life with pride and a sense of responsibility.
The theme of this novel can be summarized in a single question: “How can I become the protagonist of my own life?” The novel itself begins with the question, “Will I be the protagonist of my own life? Or will someone else take that place?” prompting readers to make their own judgments.
Although the protagonist was born into wealth, he was rejected by his great-aunt from an early age, and since his mother was unable to protect him, he lived a life cast into a harsh world. David’s situation was one where he could easily have fallen into the abyss.
Yet he does not give up. He boldly sets out to find his great-aunt, even though he doesn’t know her address and has only seen her once. What made this possible? While courage and determination certainly played a part, the decisive factor was his love for his own life. That love—which refused to simply accept his circumstances and instead sought to steer his life in the direction he desired—made his life uniquely his own and gave it meaning.
So, what kind of life is a meaningful life, one in which you are the protagonist? It’s a very difficult question, and the answers vary. A socially successful life, a life spent helping others, a life lived virtuously, a life that leaves a meaningful legacy in the world, or a life marked by profound enlightenment—all of these are meaningful lives. None of them are easy to achieve.
However, after reading ‘David Copperfield’, we can add one more item to that list: a life filled with memories and cherished moments. The fact that we hold countless memories and cherished moments from our lives is evidence that we loved our lives—and it may mean that we came closer to being the protagonists of our own lives.
In a fast-paced society like today’s, most of us go through life in a blur. We have neither the leisure to stop and reflect deeply nor the time to look back. When we do happen to look back, only major events remain, and every day can feel the same. Then, our lives seem ordinary and unremarkable.
However, there is no such thing as an ordinary or unremarkable life. Every life is filled with special moments. This isn’t the exclusive domain of exceptional people—it applies to all of us. It’s just that we aren’t aware of it and don’t remember it.
There are people around us who remember even the smallest details of the past. It’s easy to say that such people “are just smart,” but memory is distinct from mere intelligence. Remembering isn’t just a matter of the mind; it involves the whole body, emotions, and heart.
Even when experiencing the same events, some people let them slip by, while others carefully store them away in their hearts. For the former, yesterday and today seem identical, but the latter, because they feel the present with their whole being, greet tomorrow with a fresh perspective. Remembering the past and the present is the surest way to live in the world anew.
So remember. Engrave these moments in your heart so that you can reflect on them at any time—whether by speaking, writing, or expressing them through art. Live a life worth looking back on. That is one way to make us the protagonists of our own lives and to give life meaning.
Charles Dickens is called the most quintessentially British author. It is often said that while Shakespeare is the writer most respected by the British, Dickens is one of the writers they love the most. He was a successful author in the 19th century and continues to be consistently loved by readers around the world in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The reason is simple: his novels are entertaining. Even when conveying a moral lesson, he has the power to draw readers in with both emotion and entertainment. Just think of his masterpiece, ‘A Christmas Carol’, and you’ll surely nod in agreement. Dickens never forgot that a novel is, ultimately, an entertaining story.
Another reason is that his stories are composed of events that could easily happen around us. Even when dealing with love, he depicts love that occurs in reality, not love that is detached from reality. That is why his novels are described as realist.
However, British realism differs from French realism. French realism focused on objectively depicting reality, sometimes even attempting to erase the “I.” In contrast, British realism aims to depict “the reality I have experienced” exactly as it is. If French realism records reality observed from a distance, British realism records what is experienced by diving right into reality. Dickens’ works epitomize this British-style realism.
Dickens gained significant attention at the age of 25 when he serialized ‘Oliver Twist’ in a magazine, and he achieved great success by publishing a series of masterpieces in quick succession, including ‘David Copperfield’ (written at age 37), ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, ‘Great Expectations’, and ‘Little Dorrit’. Along with France’s Victor Hugo, he was regarded as a literary giant during his lifetime.
Noted not only for his writing but also in social circles, he died of a heart attack on June 9, 1870, at the age of 58, a consequence of his excessive activity. He was honored with burial in the Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey, and countless people visit his grave every year. Although he had wished for a simple funeral and a quiet grave near a church, his fame did not allow for it.
For reference, “David Copperfield” has been adapted into seven silent films in the early 20th century, followed by five additional films, numerous television dramas, and 25 stage plays; it has also been reimagined in various comics and animated series, continuing to be widely loved.
