Blogging David Copperfield, Chapter 1
Chapter 1, "I Am Born", starts off with David letting us know he was born on the stroke of midnight, and how the townfolk considered it an omen of bad luck. He was also born with a membrane covering his head, and the fact that he survived long enough to have it removed is a sign that he will never drown. Someone, I guess his mom, tries to auction the membrane off in the classifieds, but they only get one bidder, who offers to pay 2 pounds of the 15-guinea asking price, and make up the rest in sherry. Not good enough; ten years later they raffle off the opportunity to buy it for 5 shillings. An old lady wins, pays in small change and comes up short, but gets to keep the membrane anyway, and she dies "triumphantly" in bed, having not drowned (nor ever traveled on water "except on a bridge"). David brings up that she disapproved of people "meandering" all over the world, which he uses as a segue to get back to the point.
His father , also named David, died before he was born, and David's earliest memories include seeing his dad's gravestone (through his window?) and feeling bad that his poor dead dad was locked out of the house. Then he brings up his dad's aunt, Miss Betsey, "the principal magnate of our family", who scares David's mom shitless (you'll eventually notice this is not all that hard to do). Miss Betsey married a younger man; he beat her, and she more or less paid for a separation, which wasn't done much back in the mid-1800s. She loved David's dad but didn't approve of his marriage, citing that his mother is "a wax doll". He was twice her age and she was under 20...David is born a year and a half later, and six months after his dad's death.
On the day David is born, Miss Betsey drops in for a visit and basically hectors David's mom into labor. David's mom (who I'll start calling Clara now, although her name isn't given in this chapter. David almost always calls her "my poor, dear mother") is sort of a jellyfish to start with, but Miss Betsey further discombobulates her when she make her presence known by pressing her nose against the window until it is "perfectly flat and white". This causes Clara to hide behind a chair until Betsey gestures that she wants to be let in. Miss Betsey continues to alternately grandstand, command and criticize, and all Clara can do in response is cry. She asks why the house is called the Rookery; Clara says David Sr. named it that because there were rook's nests in the trees. Clara stupidly voltuneers the information that they never saw any rooks take up residence in the nests, though, which makes Betsey bust a nut. "David Copperfield all over!...David Copperfield head to foot! Calls the house a rookery when there's not a rook near it, and takes the birds on trust, because he sees the nests!" According to David, Clara has an instant's thought of "committing an assault and battery" on Betsey, but then faints.
When she comes to, she's clearly going into labor, but doesn't quite seem to know what it's all about. Miss Betsey tells Clara it's all in her head and calls Peggotty, the servant, to bring some tea. "Your mistress is a little unwell," she says.
Miss Betsey goes on to insist that the baby will be a girl, according to her own premonition. She declares herself the godmother and names the baby Betsey Trotwood Copperfield, and states her intention not to let what happened to her happen to this baby. And then she has a severe twitch, which Clara is to a-scared to ask about.
Then Betsey interrogates her about her married life. From that we find out Clara was an orphan and a nursery-governness in a house where David Sr. came to visit. In short, he was really nice to her and they got married. "Ha! Poor baby!", says Miss Betsey. Things disintegrate from there until Peggotty, the servant, finally comes in with the tea and sends for a doctor. (She sends out her nephew Ham, who'd been staying in the house secretly, to fetch him). The doctor takes over and Miss Betsey sticks cotton in her ears.
David says that the doctor is such a meek character that "he couldn't have thrown a word at a mad dog". ("He might have offered him one gently, or half of one, or a fragment of one...") Anything he says to Miss Betsey gets a "Ba-a-ah!" or a "Nonsense!" in response; she generally makes as much mincemeat out of him as she does out of Clara. Still, he manages to get Clara and David through the birth all right, and goes to give the news to Betsey. All he can manage is a scared grin, so Miss Betsey asks "Well, how is she?" He says Clara is fine. "And she," demands Betsy. "What about she?"
Obviously, though, it's a he, and at this discovery Aunt Betsey walks out of their house forever.
His father , also named David, died before he was born, and David's earliest memories include seeing his dad's gravestone (through his window?) and feeling bad that his poor dead dad was locked out of the house. Then he brings up his dad's aunt, Miss Betsey, "the principal magnate of our family", who scares David's mom shitless (you'll eventually notice this is not all that hard to do). Miss Betsey married a younger man; he beat her, and she more or less paid for a separation, which wasn't done much back in the mid-1800s. She loved David's dad but didn't approve of his marriage, citing that his mother is "a wax doll". He was twice her age and she was under 20...David is born a year and a half later, and six months after his dad's death.
On the day David is born, Miss Betsey drops in for a visit and basically hectors David's mom into labor. David's mom (who I'll start calling Clara now, although her name isn't given in this chapter. David almost always calls her "my poor, dear mother") is sort of a jellyfish to start with, but Miss Betsey further discombobulates her when she make her presence known by pressing her nose against the window until it is "perfectly flat and white". This causes Clara to hide behind a chair until Betsey gestures that she wants to be let in. Miss Betsey continues to alternately grandstand, command and criticize, and all Clara can do in response is cry. She asks why the house is called the Rookery; Clara says David Sr. named it that because there were rook's nests in the trees. Clara stupidly voltuneers the information that they never saw any rooks take up residence in the nests, though, which makes Betsey bust a nut. "David Copperfield all over!...David Copperfield head to foot! Calls the house a rookery when there's not a rook near it, and takes the birds on trust, because he sees the nests!" According to David, Clara has an instant's thought of "committing an assault and battery" on Betsey, but then faints.
When she comes to, she's clearly going into labor, but doesn't quite seem to know what it's all about. Miss Betsey tells Clara it's all in her head and calls Peggotty, the servant, to bring some tea. "Your mistress is a little unwell," she says.
Miss Betsey goes on to insist that the baby will be a girl, according to her own premonition. She declares herself the godmother and names the baby Betsey Trotwood Copperfield, and states her intention not to let what happened to her happen to this baby. And then she has a severe twitch, which Clara is to a-scared to ask about.
Then Betsey interrogates her about her married life. From that we find out Clara was an orphan and a nursery-governness in a house where David Sr. came to visit. In short, he was really nice to her and they got married. "Ha! Poor baby!", says Miss Betsey. Things disintegrate from there until Peggotty, the servant, finally comes in with the tea and sends for a doctor. (She sends out her nephew Ham, who'd been staying in the house secretly, to fetch him). The doctor takes over and Miss Betsey sticks cotton in her ears.
David says that the doctor is such a meek character that "he couldn't have thrown a word at a mad dog". ("He might have offered him one gently, or half of one, or a fragment of one...") Anything he says to Miss Betsey gets a "Ba-a-ah!" or a "Nonsense!" in response; she generally makes as much mincemeat out of him as she does out of Clara. Still, he manages to get Clara and David through the birth all right, and goes to give the news to Betsey. All he can manage is a scared grin, so Miss Betsey asks "Well, how is she?" He says Clara is fine. "And she," demands Betsy. "What about she?"
Obviously, though, it's a he, and at this discovery Aunt Betsey walks out of their house forever.