John O. Jordan
David Copperfield, Nos. XI-XII, Chapters 32-37
John O. Jordan is Research Professor of Literature at UC Santa Cruz and Director of the Dickens Project. His primary research interests include Victorian literature and culture, Charles Dickens, and narrative theory. He is the author of Supposing Bleak House (2010) and co-editor, with Robert L. Patten and Catherine Waters, of the Oxford Handbook of Charles Dickens (2018).
The first thing that stood out to in in this video was how Dr.Jordan said that these monthly numbers are the new beginnings of David and could be a story on its own. The second thing that I liked that Dr.Jordan did was mention very significant points in the story, and how these pints were important and their correlation with the title of each chapter. I once again think that listening to this video before reading the numbers would be extremely beneficial with remembering where to pay attention and looking for significance.
Dr, Jordan spoke about the fact that the novel may have started over again when Emily and Steerforth ran away with one another. This statement really stood out to me because it is very interesting to me to view the the departure of people from David’s life as a new start. I like this way of viewing this departure of Emily and Steerforth because David will have to continue life without them and it will essentially be a new aspect of his life’s journey. The other thing that Dr. Jordan spoke about that caught my attention is David’s dreams. the fact that David does have several dreams throughout the novel can tell the audience things about David and himself,especially when he is sleeping. Paying attention to the details of David’s dreams can reveal certain things about what David is thinking in that time or just overall things regarding David’s character.
Hello Dr. Jordan. What most caught my attention was when you said that it was almost like the novel restarted with these monthly numbers. I found that to be really interesting because we’re heading towards the end of the book and for it to just restart, to me at first i was confused. But after hearing your reasoning. There’s all these new beginning and fresh starts that come with this monthly number. Now i understand and it makes some sense to me why it would be. Almost as if the novel hit a reset button.
Thank you Dr.Jordan.What was most significant for me was the reminder to look at David’s dreams to obtain an insight into his character . I had quite forgotten his dreams. The cold water part as you spoke reminded me of John having to speak to Meg in Good Wives about the necessity to live within their budget.A good contrast between Meg and poor Dora here..Meg is made of sterner stuff.and Aunt Betsy is right, David cannot seek to change Dora , hurt her head over household accounts ,she is a true child wife with her dog Jip- both creatures of light and beauty to enjoy as they are without trying to reshape them.I am not sure whether we can quite say that of Jip as he certainly does not take a liking to David who is bent on stealing Dora away from him.