The Story Archive

David Copperfield

Charles Dickens · 1850 CE · Novel · English · Victorian

A boy born after his father's death loses his mother to a cruel stepfather, is put to work in a London warehouse, and runs away to an aunt he has never met. School, articles, a first marriage and a slow apprenticeship in writing follow, alongside the improvident Micawber and the creeping clerk Uriah Heep. Dickens's own childhood transfigured; an orphan writing himself into a life.

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Lineage

Attributes

Genre
Coming-of-Age
Theme
Coming of AgeClass & InequalityMemory & TimeSuffering & Endurance
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
EverymanMentorVillain / Tyrant
Plot structure
BildungsromanRags to RichesEpisodic
Emotional arc (story shape)
Rise–Fall–Rise (Cinderella)
Symbol / motif
The SeaThe JourneyThe Letter
Conflict
vs Societyvs Self
Mode / tone
RealistComicElegiac
Culture / tradition
English

Closest analogues