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Caley Jacobs

Mr. Garner

Language & Literature 8B

13 December 2017

David Copperfield’s Childhood Abuse and How It Changed Him

My heart leaps up when I behold,

A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the man;
I could wish my days to be bound each to each by natural piety. (Wordsworth 1)

“My Heart Leaps Up”, a famous poem by William Wordsworth, symbolizes the

relationship between childhood and adulthood. Wordsworth essentially argues that your adult

self is a manifestation of the childhood events that shaped you. The book, David Copperfield by

Charles Dickens, is a near perfect representation of how a poor, abusive childhood can create a

changed adult. David’s sense of inadequacy as a child, stemming from multiple events involving

Mr. Murdstone, Miss Betsey, and his mother, leaves him, as an adult, seeking reaffirmation of

his worth from a more helpless character, which he finds from his most successful love interest,

Dora Spenlow.

As children, our experiences are often engraved in our memories and influence our

actions, with or without our knowledge. David’s juvenile years of displeasing others begins even

before his birth when Miss Betsy flies off in a rage on the fateful day of his arrival. She had just
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discovered that the young girl she planned on adopting was in fact a boy, thus beginning David’s

unfortunate youth (Dickens 23). As David grows older, he continues to feel inadequate in the

face of familial issues among himself, his mother, and his new stepfather. His stepfather, Mr.

Murdstone, was the only somewhat father figure that David had ever known, and David was

immensely affected by his harsh actions. The beatings that Mr. Murdstone gave David were

often for very little reason, and Mr. Murdstone seemed to relish in David’s pain. While beating

David, Mr. Murdstone simultaneously feeds David’s feelings of insufficiency, and makes

himself a more powerful and important figure in David’s life.

Additionally, Mr. Murdstone’s physical abuse often came along with harsh words that

allowed David to assume that he was undeserving and inferior. For example, Mr. Murdstone

says, “David [...] if I have an obstinate horse or dog to deal with, what do you think I do? [...] I

beat him.” (Dickens 50). In this quote, Mr. Murdstone compares David to a dog or horse, which

allows David to accept the analogy. At this point, David begins to feel as though he is weak and

insignificant enough to compare to a dog. David was further convinced of his inadequacy after

the death of his mother and brother. He was forced to believe that had he been good enough for

his late family members, they would not have met their end as they did (Dickens 113-121). The

combination of these events are ingrained in David’s adult mind, and whether he notices it or

not, he seeks to be reaffirmed that he is adequate, and to find a person whom he could shape to

fulfill this need.

Our adult selves are most greatly influenced by the events that occur while we are

children. David’s early life was nothing short of dreadful, and it had a great psychological

impact on his adult personality and actions. As an adult, David is left yearning for a feeling of

worthiness of which he could find from creating close relations with a weaker figure that might
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need his help. As David continues on, he is overcome by a need to find a suitable mate that

could support him in this way. David fails twice at this, once with Miss Shepherd and once with

Miss Larkins, and is left broken hearted both times (Dickens 170-175). While David continues

searching, it is obvious that he has very little knowledge on how to express love, as his

experience is limited. The only romance he had ever really known was the unpleasant

relationship between Mr. Murdstone and his mother. Thus, David’s subconscious begins to take

on the tendencies of Mr. Murdstone. In a sense, David begins to think that in order to be

successfully married, like Mr. Murdstone, he must make his partner a lesser figure than him, as

Mr. Murdstone did. He assumed that this would achieve all of his goals for romance, and it leads

him to seek out Dora, who meets his requirements. Being as childish as she is, she is easily

impressionable, so she is the ideal person that David could manipulate into becoming a

dependant figure for him to “love”. The character he unintentionally transforms her into is no

longer the heedless character she was, instead, she is clingy and requires David’s complete

attention. David thrives off of her dependence because it allows him to feel more important, and

therefore fulfills his need to be adequate.

The type of change from childhood to adulthood that David experiences is commonly

experienced by others as well. This sparked the thoughts of the lifelong psychologist, Alfred

Adler, who came up with his own psychological explanation. Adler believed that human beings

have a single goal, to feel significant in their own, and others’, lives (Adler Graduate School 1).

He believed that nurturing a child’s belief that they are competent and valued would create a

more successful and confident adult whereas allowing a child to feel inferior would create an

adult who is constantly overcompensating for others. In doing so, these people are trying to feel

as if the subject of their overcompensation needs them, and therefore they feel valued and
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adequate (How To Adult 1). David is such a character. He unnecessarily supports Dora, despite

her absolute worthlessness. She is unable to do simple activities, and commonly proceeds to cry.

(Dickens 452-455). This is, however, exactly how Mr. Murdstone seemed to view David as a

child. Since we read the book through David’s perspective, it is certainly obvious that this is

how David sees Dora. Therefore, David has taken on, in a much more gentle sense, Mr.

Murdstone’s way of expressing his emotions.

Wordsworth’s “My Heart Leaps Up” very literally represents the idea that the child is the

father to the man. This means that the impact of one’s childhood almost foretells their end.

David’s abusive childhood not only leads him to bring Dora to a lower level, but it also causes

him to surround himself with other weak figures. He ensures that the people closest to him are

not more significant than him. For example, Mr. Micawber uses money poorly and David has

control over him because he has paid most of his debts off. He also is good friends with

Traddles who has always been made fun of, and Mr. Dick who is too odd to be taken entirely

seriously (Dickens 523 & 58). Even Steerforth, whom may have been more powerful than David

for a time, shows his true colors when he runs off with Emily, proving that David is the most

important figure in his own life (Dickens 290-291). These adult tendencies and actions that

belong to David, all stem from a single section of his life, which influenced him more than any

other. The child truly is the father to the man.

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Works Cited

“Alfred Adler: Theory and Application.” Alfred Adler: Theory and Application | Adler Graduate

School.

“Alfred Adler's Theory of the Psychological Development in Children.” How To Adult.

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Collier, 1917.

Wordsworth, William. “The Child Is The Father To The Man.”Wordsworth, William. 1888.

Complete Poetical Works.,