Autobiographical Elements: David Copperfield
David Copperfield contains many autobiographical elements. At a surface level it is easy to notice that even the name of the main character, David Copperfield, has the inverted initials of its author, Charles Dickens.
David's employment at Murdstone and Grinby's is drawn from Dickens's own painful experiences at Warren's Blacking Factory. Even their careers, reporter and then novelist are similar. David's love for Dora Spenlow is modeled after Dickens's youthful fascination for Maria Beadnell.
Various versions of Dickens's parents surface in the novel. Both his father and Mr. Micawber were imprisoned for debt. Mr. Dick, good hearted but unable to deal with the world, may represent another incarnation of Dickens's father.
David's pretty young mother, was inspired by Dickens's mother, who attended a ball on the very night she gave birth to her son Charles. Perhaps also the death of David's mother represented the change Dickens felt toward his mother when she was eager for him to work at Warren's Blacking Factory.
Themes
Dickens, through the voice of David Copperfield, shares with us some of the values that he believed lead to his success in life:
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This is the place to learn about the life and work of Charles Dickens. It's also home to the largest collection of Dickens quotations on the web as well as the Daily Dose of Dickens.
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