Pat’s answer to “A lot of reviewers have called this book "Dickensian." What is it about The Goldfinch that reminds …” > Likes and Comments
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Exactly, Pat and Luca.
Interesting--I have been reading "David Copperfield" for the first time during the same period as "The Goldfinch," and it honestly would never have occurred to me to compare the two. I can see some thematic parallels as you've pointed out, but I don't think themes like orphans, class, tragedy, coincidence, etc are unique to Dickens (see: Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charlotte Bronte, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Eliot, Neil Gaiman, L.M. Montgomery, etc). Dickens' language is evocative and descriptive, and while he is wordy, it is always to paint a scene upon which we are about to enter along with his characters. Tartt on the other hand ignores the writer's adage "show, don't tell." Instead of setting the tone for a scene, she over-explains the actions going on both within and without to the point where there is nothing left for the reader to connect on his/her own. Also, Dickens can paint bleak pictures, but in his stories there is always a shining embodiment of Good that serves as an example to be followed--even if the person has moments of naivete or immaturity.
David Copperfield is beset with hardships, yes, but rarely of his own doing. He strives to do and be the best. Theo Decker, on the other hand, makes one bad choice after another and seems hell-bent on doing the least and being the worst.
All that said, I'm only 3/4 finished with DC so can't comment on how it ends! However I've read a dozen other Dickens novels so I have a pretty good guess. ;)
David Copperfield suffered a lot of setbacks that were not his fault, but he also had gumption. When his greedy stepfather sent him to work in an ink factory, he hated it, but he did it. Later, he worked his butt off to learn shorthand so that he could earn a decent living and support a wife. True, he marries the wrong woman, just as Theo gets engaged to the wrong woman, true he has bad taste in best friends, like Steerforth, but he works his way through his problems, both accidental and self-inflicted.
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Debe
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Jan 26, 2015 12:45PM
Exactly, Pat and Luca.
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Interesting--I have been reading "David Copperfield" for the first time during the same period as "The Goldfinch," and it honestly would never have occurred to me to compare the two. I can see some thematic parallels as you've pointed out, but I don't think themes like orphans, class, tragedy, coincidence, etc are unique to Dickens (see: Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charlotte Bronte, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Eliot, Neil Gaiman, L.M. Montgomery, etc). Dickens' language is evocative and descriptive, and while he is wordy, it is always to paint a scene upon which we are about to enter along with his characters. Tartt on the other hand ignores the writer's adage "show, don't tell." Instead of setting the tone for a scene, she over-explains the actions going on both within and without to the point where there is nothing left for the reader to connect on his/her own. Also, Dickens can paint bleak pictures, but in his stories there is always a shining embodiment of Good that serves as an example to be followed--even if the person has moments of naivete or immaturity.David Copperfield is beset with hardships, yes, but rarely of his own doing. He strives to do and be the best. Theo Decker, on the other hand, makes one bad choice after another and seems hell-bent on doing the least and being the worst.
All that said, I'm only 3/4 finished with DC so can't comment on how it ends! However I've read a dozen other Dickens novels so I have a pretty good guess. ;)
David Copperfield suffered a lot of setbacks that were not his fault, but he also had gumption. When his greedy stepfather sent him to work in an ink factory, he hated it, but he did it. Later, he worked his butt off to learn shorthand so that he could earn a decent living and support a wife. True, he marries the wrong woman, just as Theo gets engaged to the wrong woman, true he has bad taste in best friends, like Steerforth, but he works his way through his problems, both accidental and self-inflicted.
