This poor little series has been pushed aside in the past few weeks (and probably will continue to be neglected for some weeks more, since I have quite a few posts in the works), but here is part 3 of my series of posts on reading David Copperfield: Chapters 21-30. (If you missed my other installments, here are the posts on chapters 1-10, chapters 11-20, chapters 31-40, and chapters 41-50, respectively.) I can’t think of anything else particularly enlightening or amusing to say in way of introduction, so let’s dive right in, shall we?
(By-the-by, this post is rather spoilerific. You could probably read my thoughts on chaps. 24 and 26 without much being given away, but that’s it.)
Chapter 21
Ugh. Steerforth is going to steal Little Em’ly away from Ham while not actually caring about her at all. I can see it all now. (I still find Little Em’ly a little annoying, by-the-by. I think Ham could probably have done better. But that does not mean I want Steeforth – a hundred times worse than Little Em’ly could ever be – coming in and ruining everything.)
I have to say, though, Steerforth’s taking the trouble to be charming to the Peggottys doesn’t quite line up with how I pictured him. Obviously he doesn’t actually care anything about them, but I had sort of imagined he wouldn’t even pretend he did – wouldn’t think it worth his while. I have to re-arrange my mental picture of him a bit.
Chapter 22
Ah, I see…this is “Dickens, The 3D Villains Edition.” Now we see that Steerforth has some complexity too. (And Steerforth is quite right, by-the-by. He needed some taking in hand as a child, for sure.)
Miss Mowcher isn’t terribly classy, is she now? So is she going to be some sort of go-between for Steerforth once he’s not in the area, so he can continue going after Little Em’ly? (Speaking of whom, of course now that we see trouble looming ahead for her, Dickens starts making us feel sorry for her and liking her more. OF COURSE.)
Chapter 23
Well, well, we shall have to see how David likes his profession. I’m not sure if he will…I fear that it may bore him after awhile. The law doesn’t have a very good track record as an enjoyable or constructive profession in Dickens’ books.
Also, I am rather curious about this creepy fellow who is capable of exhorting money from Betsey Trotwood! (Apparently NOT Uriah Heep. A different creepy fellow.)
Chapter 24
Second-hand embarrassment made this chapter hard to read. David, David. We love you, but please. Just stop being an idiot.
Chapter 25
I do wish David would be more polite to Uriah Heep…he’s not the sort I think it would be wise to antagonize. Remember how he weaseled everything about your past life out of you years ago, David? Good grief, is David oblivious sometimes. I do wish that boy would watch his step at least a bit.
I probably should have seen it coming with Uriah’s plans regarding Agnes…
Chapter 26
“…I could…resign myself to coffee – which I seem, on looking back, to have taken by the gallon at about this period of my existence.”
How is David so relatable.
(But, BUT. When he keeps harping on how there’s nothing to do all evening and how dreary it is…DAVID. MY FRIEND. READ SOMETHING. Remember how you devoured all those books in your father’s library as a child? You’re a grown man now (theoretically, anyway; you don’t always act like it), and you can buy things! Buy yourself some books!!)
I do hope David realizes that Miss Murdstone gets by far the better end of their deal to keep quiet about their past connections. Of course she knows that she’ll look like a total freak if David tells people how she behaved towards him when he was a child.
Chapter 27
Aw, Traddles is even sweeter as an adult as he was as a boy. (He reminds me rather of Herbert Pocket, actually. Although Traddles is a good bit more naïve than Herbert ever was.)
By-the-by, here is as good a place as any to admit that I knew before I went into this the basic gist of how David’s romantic life turns out, so you won’t get to hear my speculations on that front…I have no speculating to do, since I have Knowledge. Sorry.
Chapter 28
DAvId!!! Do you in fact have no eyes at all?? Can you not see that Steerforth is in Yarmouth for no good reason? Does it not strike you as the slightest bit suspicious that he was so set on your postponing your journey there by a day?? Who exactly decided that you were fit to ever be out of sight of a competent adult?
Also. STEERFORTH. No one talks smack about Traddles in MY hearing. Got it?
Chapter 29
I must say that I’m becoming very interested in Miss Dartle’s backstory. (Also, it’s quite obvious that she’s got a few more brain cells up and running than David does, fond of him though I am.)
In any case, whatever David finds in Yarmouth, it Won’t Be Good.
Chapter 30
Um, yes, of course Em’ly seems unsettled. It’s because she’s gallivanting around with Steerforth when she’s supposed to be about to marry Ham. WHY CAN NO ONE SEE THE MOST OBVIOUS THINGS.
And aw, poor Barkis made me tear up. It does seem rather hard on poor Pegotty that after marrying so late in life, her husband should die so soon. (And I was glad that his last words pertained to Peggotty, and not his chest of money – or, should I say, his “old clothes.” Much more touching.)
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Well, there is part 3 of reading David Copperfield: chapters 21-30! Do you find Little Em’ly slightly annoying? Do you find Uriah Heep more amusing or irritating? Does David drive you crazy sometimes with how oblivious he is?
