Blogging David Copperfield: Chapter 2,"I Observe"
Didn't think I'd be back, did ya? Work and school are keeping me busy, and I haven't exactly been chomping at the bit to explain Chapter 2. Most of it is a "Wonder Years"-esque look back on the sights and sounds of his childhood. He mentions that he has a great memory and a powerful observer (and that children are naturally powerful observers; adults who have this skill have retained the power rather than acquiring it.) As if to prove it, he remembers his house and his church in lots and lots of detail. Not the most exciting stuff, but there are some funny bits here and there.
There's some helpful coloring-in of Peggotty (the servant) and David's mom.
- David remembering "my mother with her pretty hair and youthful shape, and Peggotty with no shape at all, and eyes so dark they seemed to darken their whole neighborhood in her face, and cheeks and arms so hard and red that I wondered the birds didn't peck her in preference to apples"
- Peggotty's forefinger is "roughened by needlework, like a pocket-nutmeg grater"
- David reads to Peggotty from a book about crocodiles; she believes they are "a kind of vegetable". Then David asks her if she ever was or intends to get married, which causes her to have a minor freakout. She says no. Davy then asks if someone whose husband dies can marry someone else. Pegotty says emphatically that "she MAY".
- In moments of high emotion or exertion, Peggotty busts buttons off of the back of her gown, sending them flying to places unknown.
- Peggotty, Davy and Clara have a very close relationship and are always hanging out together in the parlor all cozy and family-like.
Following the crocodile book incident, Clara comes home with her date,black-haired Mr. Murdstone from church, who greets Davy patronizingly and generally has an ominous, intrusive presence. Once he leaves, Clara and Peggotty get into a big fight, Davy gets pulled into it, everybody cries and then hugs, but nobody really feels better. Clara keeps seeing Murdstone, and he becomes familiar enough around the house that he gets to take Davy on an outing (not that Davy has started liking him any better). They go to a beachside hotel and meet a couple of Murdstone's unsavory friends, who start asking him about the "Bewitching Mrs. Copperfield", the "pretty little widow". Murdstone does a neat job of commenting about Davy even though he's standing right beside him by calling him "Brooks of Sheffield". All three have snarky personalities, but it seems to be understood that the other two may only snark when Murdstone approves,and Murdstone doesn't seem humorously inclined.
When Davy gets home, he tells Clara all about it, and Clara makes him tell her about the "bewitching" part over and over again, and laughs herself silly. She also advises him not to fill Peggotty in on that bit.
Not long after, Peggotty takes Davy on another trip to the sea to visit with her son Ham and various other relatives. Clara will be spending this time with Mrs. Grayper (as Davy objects, "She can't live by herself, you know.") When he and Peggotty leave, Clara gets emotional and makes them stop the cart for one more kiss goodbye (Murdstone tasks her to task for being so emotional). Grown-up David remarks "how eager I was to leave my happy home; to think how little I suspected what I did leave for ever." The chapter closes with Davy thinking that "if [Peggotty] were emplyed to lose me like the boy in the fairy tale, I should be able to track my way home again by the buttons she would shed."