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Chapter 12
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in David Copperfield, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age and Personal Development
Ambition, Social Mobility, and Morality
Memory and Nostalgia
Womanhood and Gender Roles
Home and Family
Summary
Analysis
After stopping briefly to catch his breath, David continues on down the Kent Road toward Greenwich. He is worried about having so little money (three halfpence) on hand, so he stops outside clothing shop and, approaching the owner, offers to sell his waistcoat. The owner examines the garment and asks David to name his price, but quickly turns down David's initial proposal and offers ninepence instead. David reluctantly accepts, since he is in a hurry.
Despite knowing he ought to get more for his waistcoat, David quickly yields to the shopkeeper. This is in keeping with his overall passivity as a character, which is a trait he must work to overcome as he grows older.
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Leaving the shop, David decides to spend the night outside the walls of his old school. Once there, he falls asleep and dreams about lying in his bed at Salem House, waking up "with Steerforth's name upon [his] lips." He is momentarily frightened, but eventually falls back to sleep. The next morning, he rejects the idea of trying to visit Traddles as too risky and continues along the road to Dover.
David's decision to spend the night near Salem House reflects his tendency toward nostalgia: he thinks that by being close to the students, he can recapture the feeling of being at the school himself. His nightmare, however, is a sign of how circumstances have changed, as well as a moment that foreshadows Steerforth's later betrayal of David's trust.
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The sound of church bells ringing causes David to remember the sound of similar bells long ago in Yarmouth. In his present state, the memory distresses him, and he is only able to keep going by once again calling to mind Miss Betsey comforting Clara. All told, he covers 23 miles that day, eventually lying down to sleep near a river in Chatham, as he is afraid to spend any money on lodgings.
David is tired and sore the next day, and decides to sell his jacket before heading on. He scans the shops in the area and—intimidated by the larger and wealthier ones—eventually enters one that is small, out-of-the-way, and dirty. The shopkeeper is a drunken old man who grabs hold of David and asks him what he wants. David and the man discuss the price for the jacket, and David—frightened—quickly takes up an offer of eighteenpence. The owner begs him to trade with him instead, however, so David refuses, and says he will sit outside the shop until he is paid. This turns out to take all day, and David still does not manage to get the full amount of the owner, who pays him one halfpence at a time.
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After his ordeal selling his jacket, David buys something to eat and then settles down to sleep under a haystack. He continues on the next day, admiring the orchards and fields he passes through but disturbed by the other "trampers" he encounters. One man threatens to "rip [David's] young body open" if he won't stop to talk to him, and David complies. The man is traveling with a woman he has clearly beaten, and questions David angrily about his destination and intentions. Finally, he demands that David hand over enough money for a pint of beer, but David refuses when he sees the woman shake her head. The man therefore steals David's handkerchief and—seeing the woman urging David to run away—strikes her to the ground.
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After this experience, David goes out of his way to avoid fellow travelers, and focuses on a mental image of Clara in order to push on; as a result, he later comes to associate the image with his journey down a "sunny street of Canterbury." Finally, on the sixth day, David arrives in Dover, and the image "deserts" him, leaving him "helpless and dispirited."
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David asks several people for information about where Miss Betsey lives with little success: some joke about her, while others refuse to speak to David because of his dirty appearance. Just as he is growing desperate, David comes across a carriage driver with a "good-natured" look, and repeats his inquiry. The driver tells him to travel up the cliff toward the houses facing out on the sea and also gives David a penny, since he warns him that Miss Betsey is "gruffish" and unlikely to help him. David follows the man's directions, eventually stopping in a shop to ask for more information. A young woman shopping there overhears David's question and identifies herself as Miss Betsey's servant. She is suspicious of David, but tells him he can follow her back to her mistress's house.
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David and the maid eventually come to a "very neat little cottage" with a beautiful garden, and the woman goes inside. David is left standing outside, anxious and disheveled. His nervousness grows when he notices a man in an upstairs window laughing, nodding at David, and "shutting up one eye in a grotesque manner." Just as David considers leaving, Miss Betsey emerges from the house and, catching sight of him, tells him to leave because she wants "no boys" around. David, however, tentatively approaches her and introduces himself as her nephew, causing her to fall over backwards in shock.
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David recounts the circumstances that have brought him to Miss Betsey, and then bursts into tears. Miss Betsey then pulls David inside the cottage, gives him several disgusting "restoratives," and seats him on a couch, before telling the maid to summon Mr. Dick. This turns out to be the man David saw in the upstairs window, and Miss Betsey—after warning him not to be a "fool, because nobody can be more discreet than [he] can"—explains who David is and that he has run away. She then asks Mr. Dick what she should do with him, and Mr. Dick ponders this before saying that she should wash him.
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While Miss Betsey and Mr. Dick are talking, David observes his surroundings. His aunt is "austere" but good-looking and wears plain, practical clothes that include a man's pocket watch. Mr. Dick, meanwhile, is "grey-headed and florid" with a "vacant manner." David suspect he may be slightly crazy. The maid (Janet) is pretty and tidy, and David later learns that she is a "protégé" Miss Betsey hopes to dissuade from ever marrying. The room itself is neat and airy, and smells of both flowers and the sea.
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Janet leaves to prepare a bath, but is immediately called back by Miss Betsey crying "Donkeys!" Janet and Miss Betsey then hurry outside to shoo away a group of donkeys (and riders) who had wandered across the grass in front of the cottage. This happens two more times before David actually has his bath, and he ultimately learns that keeping the lawn free of donkeys is a constant preoccupation for his aunt.
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After David's bath, Miss Betsey wraps David up in Mr. Dick's old clothes and sets him down on the couch to rest. He dozes off, but thinks he notices his aunt brushing his hair away from his face and speaking softly to him.
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When David wakes up, he has dinner with Miss Betsey, who then calls Mr. Dick down to join them. She asks David more about himself and his history, before getting into a dispute with Mr. Dick over Clara, whom she feels should not have remarried, even for love: "A mighty pleasure for the poor baby to fix her simple faith upon any dog of a fellow, certain to ill-use her." This segues into complaint about Clara's failure to have a daughter, as well as the ill-effects her remarriage likely had on David's character. She also speaks disparagingly of Peggotty's marriage, at which point David jumps in to defend Peggotty, only to start crying. This seems to impress Miss Betsey, but she is distracted by the arrival of more donkeys before any "softer ideas" can be expressed.
Later that day, David, Miss Betsey, and Mr. Dick have tea, and Miss Betsey again asks what she should do with David. Mr. Dick suggests putting him to bed, and Miss Betsey and Janet take David up to his room. He is still somewhat anxious about his future and spends some time looking out over the sea, imagining he can see either his fate or Clara there. He is grateful to be indoors and in a bed, however, and soon falls asleep.
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