Chapter 1: What is the purpose of this podcast episode?
Hello and welcome to Storytime for Grownups. I'm Faith Moore and this season we're reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Each episode I'll read a few chapters from the book, pausing from time to time to give brief explanations so it's easier to follow along. It's like an audiobook with built-in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's Storytime!
Hi there, welcome back. Oh my gosh, that was quite a chapter. I love it when we have chapters like this because I get so many letters from you guys. This was another one, Uriah Heep. Oh my gosh, what a slime ball. We're going to talk about him today and what's going on there.
But before we do that, I have been starting to get some questions, which I completely understand. I've been starting to get some questions about what book are we going to do next? What's going to happen over the summer? Just some logistical questions, which I understand because this is the time... in the year when normally we would be finishing up a book.
And that's when I normally get these questions. And so I wanted to just kind of keep you updated. And I know that some of you, this is your first book with Storytime for Grownups, which is fantastic. And so, you know, you're asking, how do we find out what the next book is going to be and all of that.
So I just wanted to give a quick update, which is that to remind you that because David Copperfield is so long, There won't be a summer session this summer. Summer session is what we normally do in between the book that begins in January and the book that begins in September. And we do it because I'm a stay-at-home mom, my kids are home from school with me during the summer, and
Normally, I am not able to put out two episodes of a book every week the way that we do during the school year. And so we do summer session, which is a kind of I always say it's kind of like a college class only fun, but the show goes to once a week. And we pick a topic and we explore that for the summer. Last summer, it was fairy tales. We had a fairy tale summer that was really fun.
The summer before that, we took a really deep dive into Jane Eyre, which was the book that we had started this whole show with and the only book we'd done at that point. And this summer, though, we're not doing that because we will still be reading David Copperfield. So this book is going to take us through the middle or even the end of August. So we won't have summer session.
I have rearranged the other work things that I do so that I can be home with my kids and not have to work instead of being with them, but also be able to keep doing the two episodes. So I've worked it out this time. And so there won't be a summer session this summer. We will come back to summer session the following summer when we read a book that's less long than David Copperfield.
So no summer session. It will just finish in mid to late August. There will be a week or two off, and then we will begin in September with the next book. And for those of you who don't know, I don't reveal the next book. until a couple of weeks, maybe a month or so before we begin it. And I like to drop a trailer. I like to build up the suspense.
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Chapter 2: What insights does Faith share about Uriah Heep?
It takes that long. So I have started to prep for September's book already and I do know, but... insert maniacal laughter because I'm not going to reveal it to you yet. But I will. And I promise to let you know when the trailer is going to drop when we get closer to when that will be. So... That's where we are. That's where things stand.
And let's get into this episode because we have to talk, I think, about Uriah Heep. So just all the usual things. Please make sure you're subscribed. Please make sure you tap the five stars. Please leave a positive review if you can. Please tell all your friends about the show so that we can have more and more people join us because the more the merrier.
And don't forget that Tea Time is coming up this week. It's on Thursday, so May 28th. at 8pm Eastern over in our online community, The Drawing Room. If you don't know anything about The Drawing Room, there's a link in the show notes where you can click on that and learn more.
You have to be a member of the Landed Gentry membership tier to participate in Tea Time, so if you'd like to join us for a really fun hour of just chatting about the book, about life, about questions that you have for me, whatever it might be, please do Check that out and sign up to be a part of the drawing room at the Landed Gentry level if you'd like to join, and I hope you will.
I love chatting with all my old friends, but I am really also excited to get to meet some new ones. So join us for Tea Time May 28th, this Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern. Okay, last time we read chapter 39. Today is going to be chapter 40. So let's just review what we read last time and then talk for a bit and then we will read. So here is the recap. Okay, so where are we left off?
Miss Betsy suggests that David go down to Canterbury and look in on the tenants of her cottage. mostly to give him a change of scene because he's so upset about Dora. So he goes, and after making sure that everything's going well at the cottage, he goes to the Wickfield's house.
He finds Mr. McCobber in the office, and while he's very glad to see David, there seems to be a divide between them because Mr. McCobber refuses to speak about Uriah Heep or the business of the law office in general. David goes inside and finds Agnes, whom he's very glad to see because she always makes him calmer and he always feels guided by her advice.
He tells her everything about what happened with Dora and Agnes suggests that he write a letter to Dora's two aunts asking to be allowed to write to her and visit her. He sees this as good advice and he decides to write the letter but first he looks in on Uriah who has essentially taken over the law firm and Mr. Wickfield who is a shadow of his former self.
David then tries to spend the rest of the day with Agnes but Mrs. Heap won't leave them alone together. Finally David goes out for a walk but Uriah catches up with him and essentially says that he sees David as a rival in his plan to marry Agnes. So David explains that he's engaged to somebody else and he sees Agnes as a sister, but he also says that Agnes can do much better than to marry Uriah.
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Chapter 3: How does David's relationship with Agnes evolve?
He's so awful, and he now seems to have a lot of the main characters under his thumb. Mr. Wickfield, potentially Agnes, now Mr. Macabre. None of this bodes well at all. And the second one comes from Tony Souza. He says, what a slimy, repulsive snake. How low can he get?
He purposefully got Mr. Wickfield drunk, purposefully brought up marriage for no other purpose than to demonstrate his power over Wickfield. And he did it in front of David to demonstrate his power over him. This is the chapter when David should finally have realized that he is the one who should marry Agnes, and it should have ended with him proposing. Seriously, Dickens is so good.
I'm a 45-year-old father of six getting angry at a fictional character for choosing the wrong girl to marry. What is the world coming to?
Okay, well, I think the world is coming to be a much better place if that's what's going on in it, right?
This is what I mean when I keep saying that reading and talking about these books will make the world a better place. When we feel this deeply for characters that were invented by a human imagination, we are experiencing what it is to be truly human, and that's important. now more than ever, I think.
So I'm thrilled that you're feeling that way about David, and I completely agree that things are looking pretty bad on the Uriah front at the moment. So let's talk about it now, okay?
So remember, when we first met Uriah, we weren't sure, and David wasn't sure, if he was just kind of really weird and socially awkward or and he deserved our sympathy, or if there was something more sinister going on. And I think every time Uriah has shown up in the story since then, the scales have tipped just a little bit more toward sinister.
And every time that David has encountered him, Uriah has kind of implied more and more strongly that, that he's actually after something. He's not just sort of going along, doing his work, and being rewarded by various advancements. He is actively social climbing.
He's actively trying to take over Mr. Wickfield's law firm and marry his daughter, and in this way, rise above his station and become a much, much, higher person socially than he really has any right to be. And this whole humble thing, we've come to see it's really just a means to an end.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of David's letter to Dora's aunts?
into the background, and Mr. Wickfield calls Uriah his torturer, and he says, here's a quote, before him I have step by step abandoned name and reputation, peace and quiet, house and home. Okay, so he's saying that Uriah has sort of systematically insinuated himself into every facet of Mr. Wickfield's life, such that he now runs the law firm and lives in the house.
So he's taken over Mr. Wickfield's whole life, essentially, and far from being happy about it, as you might be. I mean, there's a version of this in which, you know, you've taken on a promising new partner and he's taking the reins of things. That could be good. But Mr. Wickfield is not that. He feels that he's being tortured. And then, of course, there's Agnes. Agnes is...
the final piece of Uriah's puzzle, I think. She's kind of like the biggest prize, because marrying her is the thing that would truly elevate Uriah out of his lower-class station and into her middle-class one. And that's not to say that he doesn't love her. He may love her, or he might think he loves her. I mean, she's wonderful, so who wouldn't love her?
But I also think, and we talked about this before a while ago, But I also think that marrying Agnes is the final step, because in doing that, he will completely take over the family. He becomes the family, essentially. He'd be the head of the family when Mr. Wickfield is gone, and his children will be firmly middle class when he himself was firmly lower class.
So this feat of social climbing that he has attempted would be truly accomplished if he were able to marry Agnes. But, as Tony points out, this is a horrifying thought. I mean, first and foremost, it's horrifying because Uriah is such an awful, icky, slimy, sort of eel-like person.
It's awful to think of her having to spend her life with him, having to sleep with him, making his meals, bringing him his slippers, whatever it is that they would do as a married couple is awful to think about, just period. But also, as Tony says... It's awful because I think many of us are hoping that at some point David will screw his head on right and realize that he should marry Agnes.
Now, I want to point out that David has absolutely no intention at this point of doing that. He is engaged to Dora. According to him, he is madly in love with Dora. According to him, he thinks of Agnes as his wonderful sister. But I know that many of you are thinking that Agnes would be a much better match for him.
And also that perhaps all his going on and on about how Agnes is his good angel and his best friend and his home and all of this, that is actually his way of saying, without knowing that he's saying, that he's actually in love with her. I mean, the way that he talks about her does kind of sound like romantic love. He says, this is a quote, I don't know how it is, Agnes.
I seem to want some faculty of mind that I ought to have. You were so much in the habit of thinking for me in the happy old days here, and I came so naturally to you for counsel and support that I really think I have missed acquiring it.
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Chapter 5: What challenges does Mr. Peggedy face in his search for Emily?
And interestingly, David has this weird reaction to hearing Mr. McCobber say that. He gets deja vu, essentially. Here's what he says. We have all some experience of a feeling that comes over us occasionally of what we are saying and doing, having been said and done before in a remote time, of our having been surrounded dim ages ago,
by the same faces, objects, and circumstances, of our knowing perfectly what will be said next as if we suddenly remembered it. I never had this mysterious impression more strongly in my life than before he uttered those words. So it's almost like Mr. McCobber saying that David should marry Agnes is something that David already knew, but didn't know he knew, or something.
But he doesn't take it that way at the time at all. He just thinks a weird thing is happening. But the other person... who thinks that David might actually have feelings for Agnes, is Uriah. The other really slimy thing that Uriah does in this chapter is essentially turn his mother into a spy, such that David and Agnes can never be alone together.
And he does this because he's worried that David plans to propose to Agnes one day, and he's trying to prevent him from doing that. And Uriah has also clearly set his mother the task of talking him up to Agnes in the hopes that Agnes will start to develop feelings for him, right? David says, this is a quote, once she asked for a particular ballad, she being Mrs. Heap, right?
She asked for a particular ballad. which she said her uri who was yawning in a great chair doted on and at intervals she looked round at him and reported to agnes that he was in raptures with the music but she hardly ever spoke i question if she ever did without making some mention of him it was evident to me that this was the duty assigned to her
So Uriah clearly feels that it would be only natural for David to want to marry Agnes, and he also obviously feels that there's a danger that Agnes would say yes if David asked her. And because of this, Uriah has made the whole house kind of incredibly oppressive because he can't bear the closeness that David and Agnes share. Here's what David says.
"'To have seen the mother and son like two great bats hanging over the whole house and darkening it with their ugly forms,' made me so uncomfortable that I would rather have remained downstairs knitting and all than gone to bed." I mean, that is a real villain, right? He has taken over the Wickfields' lives, and he's after the one last thing he doesn't have, which is Agnes' hand in marriage.
And he's not even subtle about it. He's very clear with David that he's trying to keep David away from Agnes, that he sees David as a rival. Because when David reveals that he's not going to marry Agnes and he's engaged to somebody else, this is what Uriah says. I'm sure I'll take off mother directly and only to happy. I know you'll excuse the precautions of affection, won't you?
Okay, so he's admitting it. He's been guarding Agnes like some sort of awful troll because he didn't want David to swoop in and take her away. And all David can really do is tell Uriah that even though he, David, isn't going to marry Agnes, he feels that she's far too good for Uriah to marry him.
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Chapter 6: How does Mr. Peggedy's journey illustrate themes of love and loss?
And the drama is heightened by the fact that when David tries to get Agnes to promise him that she won't ever agree to marry Uriah, she won't do that. She won't make that promise. David says, oh, long, long afterwards, I saw that look subside as it did now into the lovely smile with which she told me she had no fear for herself.
I need have none for her and parted from me by the name of brother and was gone. Okay, so yeah, things are not looking so great for the Wickfields or for Mr. Macawber. They've got this horrible eel bat guy, Uriah, hanging over them with really not much at all standing in his way. But David is going to write to Dora's aunt, so maybe he'll be able to see her again at some point. So there's that.
But hopefully all of this will get sorted out somehow. Hopefully somehow good, not somehow bad. But Actually, there's only one way to find out, and that is to keep reading. So let's do that. Let's read the next chapter. But of course, don't forget to write to me. It's faithkmore.com and then click on contact or you can scroll into the show notes. That same link is there. Please do get in touch.
Things are getting exciting around here. So please do get in touch with all your thoughts and your questions and your reactions because I love to hear from you. All right, let's get started with chapter 40. of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's story time!
Chapter 40 The Wanderer We had a very serious conversation in Buckingham Street that night about the domestic occurrences I have detailed in the last chapter. My aunt was deeply interested in them, and walked up and down the room with her arms folded for more than two hours afterwards.
Whenever she was particularly discomposed, she always performed one of these pedestrian feats, and the amount of her discomposure might always be estimated by the duration of her walk. On this occasion, she was so much disturbed in mind as to find it necessary to open the bedroom door and make a course for herself, comprising the full extent of the bedrooms from wall to wall.
and while Mr. Dick and I sat quietly by the fire, she kept passing in and out along this measured track at an unchanging pace with the regularity of a clock-pendulum. "'When my aunt and I were left to ourselves by Mr. Dick's going out to bed, I sat down to write my letter to the two old ladies. By that time she was tired of walking, and sat by the fire with her dress tucked up as usual.
But instead of sitting in her usual manner, holding her glass upon her knee, she suffered it to stand neglected on the chimney-piece, and, resting her left elbow on her right arm and her chin on her left hand, looked thoughtfully at me.'
as often as i raised my eyes from what i was about i met hers i am in the lovingest of tempers my dear she would assure me with a nod but i am fidgeted and sorry i had been too busy to observe until after she was gone to bed that she had left her night mixture as she always called it untasted on the chimney-piece she came to her door with even more than her usual affection of manner when i knocked to acquaint her with this discovery
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of Uriah's character in the story?
On the steps of the church there was the stooping figure of a man who had put down some burden on the smooth snow to adjust it. my seeing the face and my seeing him were simultaneous i don't think i had stopped in my surprise but in any case as i went on he rose turned and came down towards me i stood face to face with mr Then I remembered the woman.
It was Martha, to whom Emily had given the money that night in the kitchen. Martha Endell, side by side with whom he would not have seen his dear niece, Ham had told me, for all the treasures wrecked in the sea. We shook hands heartily. At first, neither of us could speak a word. "'Master Davy,' he said, gripping me tight. It do my heart good to see you, sir. Well met, well met.
Well met, my dear old friend, said I. I had my thoughts a-coming to make inquiration for you, sir, tonight, he said. But knowing as your aunt was living along with you, for I've been down yonder, Yarmouth way, I was afeared it was too late. I should have come early in the morning, sir, afore going away. Again, said I. Yes, sir. he replied, patiently shaking his head. I'm away tomorrow.
Where were you going now? I asked. Well, he replied, shaking the snow out of his long hair, I was a-going to turn in somewheres.
in those days there was a side entrance to the stable-yard of the golden cross the inn so memorable to me in connection with his misfortune nearly opposite to where we stood i pointed out the gateway put my arm through his and we went across two or three public rooms opened out of the stable-yard and looking into one of them and finding it empty and a good fire burning i took him in there
When I saw him in the light, I observed not only that his hair was long and ragged, but that his face was burnt dark by the sun. He was grayer, the lines in his face and forehead were deeper, and he had every appearance of having toiled and wandered through all varieties of weather. But he looked very strong, and like a man upheld by steadfastness of purpose, whom nothing could tire out.
He shook the snow from his hat and clothes and brushed it away from his face while I was inwardly making these remarks. As he sat down opposite to me at a table, with his back to the door by which we had entered, he put out his rough hand again and grasped mine warmly. I'll tell you, Master Davy, he said, where all I've been and what all we've heard.
I've been far and we've heard little, but I'll tell you. I rang the bell for something hot to drink. He would have nothing stronger than ale, and while it was being brought and being warmed at the fire, he sat thinking. There was a fine, massive gravity in his face I did not venture to disturb. "'When she was a child,' he said, lifting up his head soon after we were left alone.
She used to talk to me a deal about the sea, and about them coasts where the sea got to be dark blue, and to lay a-shinin' and a-shinin' in the sun. I thought, odd times, as her father bein' drownded made her think on it so much. I dunno, you see, but maybe she believed, or hoped, he had drifted out to them parts where the flowers is always a-blowin' and the country bright.
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Chapter 8: How does the episode conclude and what is next for the characters?
I asked. A matter of four days, said Mr. Peggedy. I sighted the old boat after dark, and the light a-shinin' in the window. When I come nigh and looked in through the glass, I see the faithful creature Mrs. Gummidge sittin' by the fire, as we had fixed upon, alone. I called out, "'Don't be afeard, it's Dan'l,' and I went in. I never could have thought the old boat would have been so strange."
From some pocket in his breast he took out, with a very careful hand, a small paper bundle containing two or three letters or little packets which he laid upon the table. This first one come, he said, selecting it from the rest, afore I had been gone a week. A fifty-pound banknote, in a sheet of paper, directed to me and put underneath the door in the night.
She tried to hide her writing, but she couldn't hide it from me. He folded up the note again, with great patience and care, in exactly the same form, and laid it on one side. "'This come to Mrs. Gummidge,' he said, opening another, "'two or three months ago.' After looking at it for some moments, he gave it to me, and added, in a low voice, "'Be so good as to read it, sir.' I read as follows.
oh what will you feel when you see this writing and know it comes from my wicked hand but try try not for my sake but for uncle's goodness try to let your heart soften to me only for a little little time
try pray do to relent towards a miserable girl and write down on a bit of paper whether he is well and what he said about me before you left off ever naming me among yourselves and whether of a night when it is my old time of coming home you ever see him look as if he thought of one he used to love so dear oh my heart is breaking when i think about it
I am kneeling down to you, begging and praying you not to be as hard with me as I deserve, as I well, well know I deserve, but to be so gentle and so good as to write down something of him and to send it to me.
you need not call me little you need not call me by the name i have disgraced but oh listen to my agony and have mercy on me so far as to write me some word of uncle never never to be seen in this world by my eyes again "'Dear, if your heart is hard towards me, justly hard, I know.
But listen, if it is hard, dear, ask him I have wronged the most, him whose wife I was to have been, before you quite decide against my poor, poor prayer. If he should be so compassionate as to say that you might write something for me to read,'
i think he would oh i think he would if you would only ask him for he always was so brave and so forgiving tell him then but not else that when i hear the wind blowing at night i feel as if it was passing angrily from seeing him and uncle and was going up to god against me
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