David Copperfield Group

Question:

aniketaniket
aniketaniket
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In David Copperfield, why did Miss Trotwood leave in anger (at the beginning)? How is her disappointment removed at the end?

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Posted by aniketaniket on Tuesday July 7, 2009 at 12:44 AM and tagged with 1st chapter, characters, miss trotwood.

Answers:

  1. parkerlee
    parkerlee Teacher

    eNotes Editor

    You must be referring to the passage where Miss Trotwood drops out of sight when she learns that her self-appointed godchild (and namesake, probably!) is a boy instead of a girl.  Here Dickens is obviously playing around with the idea of the absurdity of sexual preference (always a boy!) in many cultures.

    Well into the the story line (from Chapter 12 onwards) David looks up his long-lost aunt because he has been robbed while travelling and has nowhere to go.  His aunt receives him, and after looking him over sees to it that he is washed up and put to bed.  This breaks the rather rigid mold she was formally cast into as the busybodyish, dogmatic, and tyrannical spinster who must always get her way or else.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/david-copperfield/characters
    http://www.enotes.com/david-copperfield/summary

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    Posted by parkerlee on Tuesday July 7, 2009 at 2:11 AM