补充阅读 Plot Summary -- David Copperfield

David Copperfield (Novel)Author: Charles DickensCountry: United KingdomLanguage: EnglishGenre(s): NovelDavid Copperfield or The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (which he never meant to publish on any account) is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1850. Like all except five of his works, it originally appeared in serial form (published in monthly installments). Many elements within the novel follow events in Dickens own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of all of his novels.citation needed It is also Dickens favorite child.Plot summaryI make myself known to my aunt. Etching by Phiz.The story deals with the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity. David is born in the England in about 1820. Davids father had died six months before he was born, and seven years later, his mother marries Mr Edward Murdstone. David dislikes his stepfather and has similar feelings for Mr Murdstones sister Jane, who moves into the house soon afterwards. Mr Murdstone thrashes David for falling behind with his studies. During the thrashing, David bites him and is sent away to a boarding school, Salem House, with a ruthless headmaster, Mr. Creakle. Here he befriends James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles who leaves and then reappear later on.David returns home for the holidays to find out that his mother has had a baby boy. Soon after David goes back to Salem House, his mother and her baby die and David has to return home immediately. Mr. Murdstone sends him to work in a factory in London of which he is a joint owner. The grim reality of hand-to-mouth factory existence echoes Dickens own travails in a blacking factory. His landlord, Wilkins Micawber, is sent to a debtors prison (the Kings Bench Prison) after going bankrupt, and is there for several months before being released and moving to Plymouth. David now has nobody left to care for him in London, and decides to run away.He walks all the way from London to Dover, to find his only known relative - his eccentric Aunt Betsy Trotwood - who agrees to bring him up, despite Mr Murdstone visiting in a bid to regain custody of David. Davids aunt renames him Trotwood Copperfield, soon shortened to Trot, and for the rest of the novel he is called by either name, depending on whether he is communicating with someone he has known for a long time, or someone he has only got to know recently.The story follows David as he grows to adulthood, and is enlivened by the many well-known characters who enter, leave and re-enter his life. These include his faithful housekeeper Peggotty, her family, and their orphaned niece Little Emly who lives with them and charms the young David; his romantic but self-serving schoolfriend, Steerforth, who seduces and dishonours Little Emly, triggering the novels greatest tragedy; and his landlords daughter and ideal angel in the house, Agnes Wickfield, who becomes his confidante. The two most familiar characters are Davids sometime mentor, the constantly debt-ridden Mr. Wilkins Micawber, and the devious and fraudulent clerk, Uriah Heep, whose misdeeds are eventually discovered with Micawbers assistance. Micawber is painted as a sympathetic character, even as the author deplores his financial ineptitude; and Micawber, like Dickenss own father, is briefly imprisoned for insolvency.In typical Dickens fashion, the major characters get some measure of what they deserve, and few narrative threads are left hanging. Dan Peggotty safely transports Little Emly to a new life in Australia; accompanying these two central characters are Mrs. Gummidge, and the Micawbers. Everybody involved finally finds security and happiness in their new lives in Australia. David first marries the beautiful but nave Dora Spenlow, but she dies after failing to recover from a miscarriage early in their marriage. David th