blog




  • Essay / Charles Dickens' exploration of first impressions in his work David Copperfield

    Lifelong memories born from first impressions In all aspects of life, one must cooperate with others to succeed, but the success of All relationships and social interactions can simply be summed up as “first impressions”. In "David Copperfield," Charles Dickens explores how first impressions tend to be lasting impressions, as certain physical impressions predict the social chemistry of a relationship and even leave vivid, permanent memories of first meeting someone. Society's sense of value from first impression is strongly evoked when David Copperfield arrives at Aunt Betsey's cottage as the two individuals develop lasting impressions of each other. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay As soon as David arrives at his aunt's cottage, his aunt and uncle create these lasting impressions of their nephew, while David develops a sense of who her aunt really is. Dickens characterizes David's pitiful situation, particularly through physical descriptions of David's clothing, which clearly seem to make a lasting first impression on David's uncle who looks out the living room window in disgust. David appears to be in a "lamentable state" as his "soles have gradually come loose" and he wears "a shirt and trousers stained with heat, dew, grass and Kentish soil". Although David knows he is rather "broken down", he feels even worse when his uncle seems unimpressed or even disappointed in his nephew, as evidenced by him looking at David in a "grotesque way" and shakes his head repeatedly. Additionally, Miss Betsey, David's aunt, tells David to "go away" at first sight, but continues to act quite rude when she realizes he is her nephew. Despite David calling her "Auntie", Miss Betsey still feels dismay and annoyance towards David as she exclaims "Oh, Lord", perhaps reflecting how disheveled the appearance of David gave him a negative and lingering first impression. Finally, David's crystal-clear memories of meeting his aunt reflect how this first impression of his aunt led him to see her this way for the rest of his life. Since Miss Betsey speaks rather rudely to David at first glance, her memories describe her less fondly as a stubborn "hard-featured lady", with "an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her walk and bearing". This negative first impression leaves David with a negative view of his aunt, unlike the first time when he describes her "very neat little house with cheerful bow windows" and how he approaches her "gently". Furthermore, these memories left lasting impressions on David because he retained these first impressions of Miss Betsey in great detail, even though he wrote this account at a later age. Although Dickens presents rather negative first impressions of the characters in this scene, these first impressions clearly remained with David throughout his life. In this passage from “David Copperfield,” Dickens successfully explains the social dynamics between the characters as each forms lasting opinions about one another. And these first impressions seem to have greatly affected the way in which, in middle age, David remembers Miss Betsey as a rough and stubborn woman instead of someone more pleasant, because he does not see his aunt as a friendly and caring person in his memories. In conclusion, the..