David copperfield and marxism

David copperfield and marxism

David Copperfield is the title character of a Dickens novel about the injustices of the Victorian Era. The novel is somewhat autobiographical in nature, to the point where Copperfield actually becomes a famous novelist.
Since the theme of the novel is basically social injustice, it would not be out of place to expect some allusions to Marxist ideology, even if Marxism wasn't an ideology at the time the novel was written. When I did some cursory research, though, I found that only one or two commentators had noted some Marxist themes.
Personally, I found the novel to be a near-total embrace of Marxist and communist thought. The novel even seems to implicitly endorse the poverty that communism (as practiced in fact, not theory) engenders.
In the first place, the key characters of the novel (aside from David) are almost all from the lower classes. Although David himself is solidly middle class, his friends all hail from the bottom of the social pyramid. At a young age he associates himself with his maid, Clara Peggotty, becomes close friends with her nephew Ham, and falls in love with her niece, Emily.
When he visits the Peggottys' home, which is nothing more than dilapidated boat turned upside down for a roof and walls, he is charmed by it. Dickens takes pains to portray the life of the poor as one of simplicity and cheerfulness, even if a bunch of struggling fishermen in the Victorian Era could hardly have led such a happy and carefree life. Already, it's obvious that Dickens is encouraging a mindset that prefers poverty to wealth.
The Marxist denunciation of education as a way of preserving the bourgeouis can be seen when David goes to school. He is abused by his teachers, and manipulated by his "best friend", James Steerforth — a stereotypical rich kid.
Later, David is pulled out of school by his abusive stepfather and forced to work in his bottling firm. The way of life here is naturally presented as insufferable and horrid, but it seems that the only...

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