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Copperfield Text / Essays & Tools / Dickens Resources / Forum / Creative Writing | Donate |
Page 12
So David, Ham and Em’ly can be seen as a symbol for the orphans at the time of Dickens in general. Children that were left alone, because their parents either died from cruelty in their own families or from the cruelty of the bad living conditions in their environment, leaving their children all alone in a world they could not face. Thus Dickens also shows his devotion and affection to those children and clearly criticizes society for not doing anything against it. However, Dickens does not criticise anything without giving at least the hint at a possible solution. Even though the character of David is “saved” for other things to happen, at least Ham and Em’ly are given a perspective. They are adopted by their uncle Mr Peggotty. However this raises other topics. How does society react to adoptions in general and, as Mr Pegotty is not married, to single parents? Dickens does not give a real answer to these questions in his book. Obviously it works out with Mr Peggotty, there is no problem in adopting Ham and Em’ly and nobody criticizes him for being a single parent. However, the Peggoties are on a lower social level, Mr Peggoty is only a fisherman himself, and obviously society does not care much for those on a lower social standing.
To sum it up, in his book David Copperfield, Dickens clearly criticizes the fact that there are so many orphans in a society that have lost their parents because of the bad work and health conditions in their time, and evidently shows his devotion, love and affection for them. He offers adoption as a solution, however leaves it to the reader, to decide, whether this would work out in the typical 19th century society or if the problems caused by it would be so devastating that the children would end up in the streets again, where everything began.
