Dora the Exploited

I just finished “David Copperfield” and I have my regular post-partem feelings. I always feel empty when I finish a book I enjoy. I’m left with the “now what” feel.

I was going to read the autobiography of Marv Levy, the former coach of the Buffalo Bills. My mom sent me that over the summer. I just don’t feel like picking that up yet. I read the Tim Russert book earlier this year – I enjoyed that because it was a positive reflection on a father (we need more of those!) and I recognized many of the references to Buffalo.

I should take a break from Dickens – I re-read “Tale of Two Cities,” “Hard Times” and “Bleak House” this year and, of course, “A Christmas Carol” over the holiday. Maybe “Moby Dick.” A friend at work, who is a huge Melville fan, prodded me recently on this. I did read it many years ago and remember almost nothing.

Any suggestions on what to read?

So, until I decide, I’ll fall back on the old favorites. I’ll read some poetry by Robert Browning and William Butler Yeats and refresh my mind on the Upanishads.

“Copperfield” critique

I’ve read “David Copperfield” four times and each read gives me a new perspective.

When I read it in high school, it was just new and exciting.

Then, I read it in college for a class and critiqued it with a Marxist eye. This puts Uriah Heep in a new light, almost making him the real victim in the story.

Then, just out of college, I read it again with an eye of a young man on his way up in the world (so I thought) with literary aspirations. I saw David as heroic and striving.

Now, I read it as a middle-aged, work-worn man with the joys of parenthood and a long, happy relationship with my wife (now married 15 years but together more than 20 years). I was angered by David’s rashness of rushing into a relationship with Dora (how could he not see Agnes?) and his blindness to Steerforth’s treachery. I now think Mr. Peggoty is the real hero.

What’s interesting, besides the autobiographical elements for Dickens, is how I now see David as wanting to “marry” his mother through Dora. He was trying to show himself that a man could wed a “beautiful child” and make her a responsible woman. That failed, both with Murdstone and David. This time, I wasn't just annoyed at Dora, I felt she was badly used and paid with her life.

Also, Dickens treats Micawber sympathetically and comically here, but in other works, like “Bleak House” with Harrold Skimpole, or even Joey Bagstock in “Dombey and Son,” people who are debtors or leaches get worse treatment.

The book is all about relationships, many of them failures (Little Em’ly and Steerforth and Ham, Steerforth and Rosa Dartle and his mother, David’s aunt and her estranged husband), and growing up (David’s bout with the butcher is classic and his learning about love and Agnes). Also, besides me crying over young David’s loss of his mother (I think of my children here!) and his painful life, there is fantastic humor here. I love David’s aunt and her assault on donkeys (metaphorically, men) and Tom Traddles’ love life and the description of his hair. Mr. Dick is hilarious in his manuscript work and kite flying – a great foil for David’s aunt.

And, of course, the death of Steerforth is still moving with all the foreshadowing and symbolism of Ham’s struggle to rescue him. I think only the scene in “Dracula” when the ship is described coming to England do a I shiver as much as I did when Ham strapped on the life line to rescue the stranded sailor.

Thought: The sign of a good book: Read it over and over and come away with something new each time.