The Victorians
1830 – 1880
 Queen Victoria was crowned at age 18. This
era marked the climax of England’s rise to
economic and military supremacy. Queen
Victoria had very high moral values.
 2. Great extremes existed wit h English society
at this time. Charles Dickens’ novels point out
the great contrasts between the rich and the
poor.
 3. The Industrial Revolution caused
great unrest for the lower classes, but
many writers of the time believed that
through this revolution “the ordering and
creating God” had caused the English to
become “the greatest and most highly
civilized people the world ever saw.”
 4. At this time in England, reading (not
theatre or music) was the most popular
form of entertainment, as well as the
primary venue for information gathering.
 5. The dominant literary form of this era
was the novel, which dealt with the
middle-class world; financial struggles;
social acceptance; and love and
marriage. Authoring a literary work had
finally become financially rewarding (i.e.
there was no longer a need for patrons to
sponsor a writer’s work).
Charles Dickens
1812 – 1870
 1. After Shakespeare, Dickens is the
most popular English writer. During his
lifetime, he completed 14 novels.
 2. His boyhood was a struggle for
survival.
Charles Dickens
1812 – 1870
 3. His father was charming, but irresponsible
about money matters, and his family suffered
for it. By the time he was ten, the family was
penniless. He had to go to work at twelve
years old. His family was living in a slum.
 4. His parents found him a job at a
warehouse. He called this experience, “the
secret agony of my soul.”
Charles Dickens
1812 – 1870
 5. After about a year and a half, kind relatives
rescued his family from poverty and Dickens
went back to school filled with hope.
 6. At fifteen he began a career as a law clerk;
he used his stenography skills to record
speeches in Parliament. By the age of twenty
he had become a successful newspaper
reporter.
Charles Dickens
1812 – 1870
 7. He first became famous for his short
and comical, fictional sketches known as
Pickwick Papers, which appeared in a
monthly London magazine.
 8. He wrote all his novels for serial
publication. Each new novel brought him
a wider readership.
Charles Dickens
1812 – 1870
9. Dickens’ work always combines
the comic and the tragic; and he has
a comprehensive view of human life.
His writing provided him a vehicle to
raise his voice against the injustice
and suffering of his era.
Charles Dickens
1812 – 1870
 10. His plots are rich with incident, complex,
and full of suspense. His characters live and
stay clearly imprinted on the memories of his
readers. The excerpt from his novel David
Copperfield is an excellent example of Dickens’
ability to create wonderfully memorable
characters.
From David Copperfield
1. Who is the narrator of the story?
David Copperfield
 2. What does the narrator mean when he says,
“I was a posthumous child”?
He means that his father died before he was
born
From David Copperfield
 3. Of whom are David’s earliest memories?
His mother and Peggotty
 4. What three items does David recall being in
his backyard?
 A pigeon house, a dog kennel, and a
“quantity of fowls”
From David Copperfield
 5.
Why does the best parlor seem doleful
to David?
 He has been told the story of his
father’s funeral in that room
 6. What memories does David have about the
churchyard?
He remembers it as green, shady and quiet
From David Copperfield
 7. What happens to David in the church?
He falls asleep and falls out of the pew.
 8. David says that the fruit on the trees in his yard
were “riper and richer than fruit has even been since,
in any other garden.” What does this reveal about his
view of those early years?
 It reveals that David’s memories of his
childhood have become romanticized
From David Copperfield
 9. What is David’s reaction to the gentleman with
“beautiful black hair and whiskers” who walked his
mother home?
 He is jealous of the man touching his
mother’s hand and he has an instinctive
dislike for him
From David Copperfield
 10. What causes the argument between David’s
mother and Peggotty after David has fallen asleep?
Peggotty and David’s mother argue over
the suitability of this man for David’s
mom
 11. What proposal does Mr. Murdstone make
regarding David?
He proposed to take David with him to
Lowestoft to see a yacht.
From David Copperfield
 12. List three characteristics of Murdstone’s
face that David sees upon close scrutiny.
“shallow black eye,” square jaw, ,”dotted
indication of the strong black beard,”
“regular eyebrows”
 13. What joke did Murdstone, Quinion, and
Pasnidge make at David’s expense?
 They referred to him as “Brooks of
Sheffield” so they could laugh at him
without his being aware of it
From David Copperfield
 14. What is David’s mother’s reaction when David
tells her what the men had said about her?
 She was pleased, and asked him to
repeat the conversation for her benefit
 15. In the same passage, what does David’s
mother caution him not to do?
 She cautioned him not to tell Peggotty
about what the man had said
From David Copperfield
 16. What plan does Peggotty talk of with
David?
She tells him that they will go to visit her
brother at Yarmouth
 17. What is revealed about David’s future?
 David says that he “little suspected what I
did leave forever.” His way of life is to be
permanently changed
From David Copperfield
 18. What does Mr. Murdstone do, as David’s mother
stands in the road watching the cart carrying David
away?
He chided her for being so moved by
David’s departure
 19. What surprises David about his reception
when he arrives home?
 Not his mother, but a strange servant
meets him at the door
From David Copperfield
 20. Who informs David that he has a new
father? When is he told?
Peggotty tells David that he has a new
father after the marriage has already
taken place
 21. What does Mr. Murdstone tell David’s
mother to remember about her behavior?
 He tells her to remember “to control
yourself, always control yourself.”
From David Copperfield
 22. What has happened to David’s bedroom
while he was away?

His room has been moved to the
farthest part of the house
 23. Who does David’s mother blame for
David’s attitude toward the marriage?
 Peggotty
From David Copperfield
 24. What implied threat does Mr. Murdstone make to
David in an attempt to force him to succumb to his
authority?
He implies that he will beat David into
submission, like a stubborn horse or
dog
 25. What happens to make a bad situation
worse for David?
 Miss Jane Murdstone, Mr. Murdstone’s
sister, comes to live with the family
From David Copperfield
 26. What purpose does David feel his imposed
lessons really served?
 He feels they were used as occasions
for teaching his mother firmness
 27.
What does Mr. Murdstone do when David
is not able to recite his lesson correctly?
 He boxes David’s ears with a book or
throws the book at him.
From David Copperfield
 28. In what way does David believe he has changed
by the end of six months with his new father?
 He has seen himself grow “sullen, dull,
and dogged.”
 29. What keeps David from becoming “almost
stupefied”?
 he reads books that his father had left in
the house
From David Copperfield
 30. According to David, what do the books do
for him?
 The books feed his imagination and
“kept alive…hope of something beyond
that place and time.”
31. What does David do when Mr. Murstone
beats him?
 David bites Murdstone’s hand
From David Copperfield
 32. How is he punished for his action?
 He is imprisoned in his room for five
days.
 33. What plan for David’s future does Peggotty
reveal to him? How does she communicate
with David?
 Peggotty tells him that he will be sent away to
school the next day. She communicates with
him through the keyhole in his door.
From David Copperfield
 34. What promise does Peggotty make to
David?
 She promises to watch over and care
for his mother as she has him
From David Copperfield
 35. To what source does David attribute his mother’s
tears when he sees her just before leaving for school?
 He believes she is crying because she
has been convinced that he is wicked,
rather than because he is leaving.
From David Copperfield
 36. What does that comment of David’s indicate
about his attitude toward and understating of life?
 David’s comment about the reason for
his mother’s sorrow indicates that he
has become cynical and less naïve.
From David Copperfield
 37. How well do you think Dickens succeeds in telling
things from a child’s point of view? Explain.
 Very well. Many times he shows things
from a child’s visual perspective or
limited understanding of events.