Name : Hidayatul N
Student : English Literature
Date of submission : 5th May, 2011
University of Respati Yogyakarta
Title of Book : David Copperfield
Author : Charles Dickens
Publisher : Addison Wesley Ltd and Penguin Book Ltd 1996
Year of publication : 2008
David Copperfield is a story about how weak people need the help of strong, good people. Charles Dickens started to write this story in 1849, when he was thirty-seven years old in England. This story is not only show about suffer, unfairness life and the seriousness of the problems but also shown how everyone search for happiness. David Copperfield, like the other poor children in Dicken’s stories, is a good person but he suffers terribly. He is badly hurt in love and hated by his new father and even his friend is dishonest with him. Most of the places taken from this story are in Yarmouth, which is Pegotty’s home, London where David stays, Canterbury where David’s aunt live and most of the story takes place in England. (sources: David Copperfield story book, Charles Dickens, Addison Wesley Ltd and Penguin Book Ltd 1996).
Major Characters : Give a brief description of each character.
1. David Copperfield
He is the major character in the story, a protagonist character. This story belongs to him because this story tells about his adventure such as his suffer, his love story and his struggle to find happiness in the terribly life he has at that time. He has a bad life since the first time he was born, his aunt dislike him. His struggle begins when he sent to Salem House to get school, there he met his friends Steerforth and Traddles and built the story into sadness and happiness.
2. Agnes Wickfield
She is Mr. Wickfield’s daughter. She is pretty and an educated woman, full of cares to David, especially when David tried to help his father’s company by the crime from Uriah Heep. She becomes dull when his father got broke and Uriah Heep started to own the company arrogantly. But then David saved her company by the help from Mr. Mickabear. Agnes felt in love to David but David feels sister to her at the first time, so she decided to keep her feeling until someday Dora whose David’s wife ask her to marry David before she dead and Agnes then marry David in the end.
3. Miss Trotwood
She is David’s aunt whose dislike him at the first time he was born. But, she takes the important role in David’s life because from her David could survive his life from his terrible new father then makes David meet Mr. Wickfield whose finally brings David to meet Agnes, David’s most important woman ever. From Miss Trotwood, David can get protection from strong and good people. There the statement “weak people need the help of strong, good people”. She is Miss Trotwood who gives protection, even though she fails in the middle of the story because Uriah Heep cheated on her, but finally she found her money back and had happy life with David’s new family with Agnes.
