History Fridge / DavidCopperfield

* Agnes Wickfield gets a lot of flak from modern readers for her seemingly too-good-to-be-true nature...wise even as a child, self-sacrificing almost to a fault. This may seem like a saccharine Victorian cliche to modern readers, until you realize...her father Mr. Wickfield has been a heavy drinker almost as long as David has known him and Agnes. Many children of substance abusers feel the need to become the "good child", the caretaker, the adult in the family when their parent can't be the adult. They feel that if they're only good enough, their parent will get over their addiction...and even if that doesn't happen, their parent still needs someone whose support and help they can count on. Add to this, the fact that Agnes' mother died shortly after her birth and it's likely Agnes knew her mother's cause of death quite early. It's possible that she felt guilt in being the indirect cause of her father's sorrow, and therefore his drinking (even though her father never blamed her and was always affectionate towards her), and was all the more determined to be the angel in the house to make up for the sorrow she felt she had some part in causing. Modern psychology as we know it might not have been a science when Dickens wrote his novel, but Dickens may have had more of an idea of how it worked, and given it more of a role in creating his characters, than twentieth- and twenty-first-century critics give him credit for.

* Agnes Wickfield gets a lot of flak from modern readers for her seemingly too-good-to-be-true nature...wise even as a child, self-sacrificing almost to a fault. This may seem like a saccharine Victorian cliche to modern readers, until you realize...her father Mr. Wickfield has been a heavy drinker almost as long as David has known him and Agnes. Many children of substance abusers feel the need to become the "good child", the caretaker, the adult in the family when their parent can't be the adult. They feel that if they're only good enough, their parent will get over their addiction...and even if that doesn't happen, their parent still needs someone to depend on and to help them. Add to this, the fact that Agnes' mother died shortly after her birth and it's likely Agnes knew her mother's cause of death quite early. It's possible that she felt guilt in being the indirect cause of her father's sorrow, and therefore his drinking (even though her father never blamed her and was always affectionate towards her), and was all the more determined to be the angel in the house to make up for the sorrow she felt she had some part in causing. Modern psychology as we know it might not have been a science when Dickens wrote his novel, but Dickens may have had more of an idea of how it worked, and given it more of a role in creating his characters, than twentieth- and twenty-first-century critics give him credit for.

* Agnes Wickfield gets a lot of flak from modern readers for her seemingly too-good-to-be-true nature...wise even as a child, self-sacrificing almost to a fault. This may seem like a saccharine Victorian cliche to modern readers, until you realize...her father Mr. Wickfield has been a heavy drinker almost as long as David has known him and Agnes. Many children of substance abusers feel the need to become the "good child", the caretaker, the adult in the family when their parent can't be the adult. They feel that if they're only good enough, their parent will get over their addiction...and even if that doesn't happen, their parent still needs someone to depend on and to help them. Add to this, the fact that Agnes' mother died shortly after her birth and it's likely Agnes knew her mother's cause of death quite early. It's possible that she felt guilt in being the indirect cause of her father's sorrow, and therefore his drinking, and was all the more determined to be the angel in the house to make up for it. Modern psychology as we know it might not have been a science when Dickens wrote his novel, but Dickens may have had more of an idea of how it worked, and given it more of a role in creating his characters, than twentieth- and twenty-first-century critics give him credit for.

* Agnes Wickfield gets a lot of flak from modern readers for her seemingly too-good-to-be-true nature...wise even as a child, self-sacrificing almost to a fault. This may seem like a saccharine Victorian cliche to modern readers, until you realize...her father Mr. Wickfield has been a heavy drinker almost as long as David has known him and Agnes. Many children of substance abusers feel the need to become the "good child", the caretaker, the adult in the family when their parent can't be the adult. They feel that if they're only good enough, their parent will get over their addiction...and even if that doesn't happen, their parent still needs someone to depend on and to help them. Add to this, the fact that Agnes' mother died in childbirth and it's likely Agnes knew her mother's cause of death quite early. It's possible that she felt guilt in being the indirect cause of her father's sorrow, and therefore his drinking, and was all the more determined to be the angel in the house to make up for it. Modern psychology as we know it might not have been a science when Dickens wrote his novel, but Dickens may have had more of an idea of how it worked, and given it more of a role in creating his characters, than twentieth- and twenty-first-century critics give him credit for.

* Agnes Wickfield gets a lot of flak from modern readers for her seemingly too-good-to-be-true nature...wise even as a child, self-sacrificing almost to a fault. This may seem like a saccharine Victorian cliche to modern readers, until you realize...her father Mr. Wickfield has been a heavy drinker almost as long as David has known him and Agnes. Many children of substance abusers feel the need to become the "good child", the caretaker, the adult in the family when their parent can't be the adult. They feel that if they're only good enough, their parent will get over their addiction...and even if that doesn't happen, their parent still needs someone to depend on and to help them. Add to this, the fact that Agnes' mother died in childbirth and it's likely Agnes knew her mother's cause of death quite early. It's possible that she felt guilt in being the indirect cause of her father's sorrow, and therefore his drinking, and was all the more determined to be the angel in the house to make up for it. Modern psychology as we know it might not have been a science when Dickens wrote his novel, but Dickens may have had more of an idea of how it worked, and given it more of a role in creating his characters, than modern readers give him credit for.

* Agnes Wickfield gets a lot of flak from modern readers for her seemingly too-good-to-be-true nature...wise even as a child, self-sacrificing almost to a fault. This may seem like a saccharine Victorian cliche to modern readers, until you realize...her father Mr. Wickfield has been a heavy drinker almost as long as David has known him and Agnes. Many children of substance abusers feel the need to become the "good child", the caretaker, the adult in the family when their parent can't be the adult. They feel that if they're only good enough, their parent will get over their addiction...and even if that doesn't happen, their parent still needs someone to depend on and to help them. Add to this, the fact that Agnes' mother died in childbirth and it's likely Agnes knew her mother's cause of death quite early. It's possible that she felt guilt in being the indirect cause of her father's sorrow, and therefore his drinking, and was all the more determined to be the angel in the house to make up for it. Modern psychology as we know it might not have been a science when Dickens wrote his novel, but Dickens may have had more of an idea of how it worked than we give him credit for.

* Francis Spenlow brought up financial standing as one of his reasons for objecting to David's courtship of his daughter. Whether or not this was [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation a smokescreen for his real concern that she wasn't cut out for the domestic practicalities of marriage to a man of David's standing,]] Francis knew perfectly well how deeply in debt he was and what kind of state his finances were in. He must have figured (though of course he had no way of knowing he'd die so suddenly) that he might not have been able to leave Dora very much and that she'd need a husband who'd have the resources to look after her financially as well as emotionally.

** Plus, it makes him think he's doing her a favor and that he's useful. Betsey probably has already decided what to do on these matters when she asks Dick, but her asking him makes him feel she values his opinion, and boosts his self-esteem no end. The fact that she does so is one of the first indications that she's not as gruff as she came off in her first appearance.

** Plus, it makes him think he's doing her a favor and that he's useful. Betsey probably has already decided what to do on these matters when she asks Dick, but her asking him makes him feel as though he's got something valuable to contribute. The fact that she does so is one of the first indications that she's not as gruff as she came off in her first appearance.

* Betsey's habit of constantly asking Mr. Dick's advice on mundane matters isn't just one of her eccentricities - he's clearly shown to be less troubled by his delusions when he has something to distract him from them and keep his mind focused on the here and now, and this is one of her ways of helping to do that.