Summary — Chapter XI. I begin Life on my own Account,
and don’t like it
I wonder what they thought of me!
(See Important Quotations Explained)
David’s companions at Mr. Murdstone’s business dismay
David. They are coarse, uneducated boys whose fathers work in blue-collar professions.
David meets Mr. Micawber, a poor but genteel man who speaks in tremendous
phrases and makes a great show of nobility despite his shabby appearance.
Through an agreement with Mr. Murdstone, David goes to live with
Mr. Micawber, his wife, and four children. The Micawbers befriend
David and openly tell him of their financial troubles, each time
becoming overwhelmingly upset and then recovering fully over good
food and wine.
David gets very little pay at his factory job and lives
primarily on bread. In retrospect, David wonders what the waiters
and shopkeepers must have thought of him, so independent at so young
an age. At the factory, David is known as “the little gent” and
gets along fine because he never complains. Eventually, Mr. Micawber’s debts
overwhelm him. He is thrown into debtors’ prison, where he becomes
a political figure among the inmates, lobbying to eliminate that
establishment.
Summary — Chapter XII. Liking Life on my own Account
no better, I form a great Resolution.
Mr. Micawber is released from jail and his debts are resolved.
The family decides to move to look for work. David decides he will
not stay in London without the Micawbers and resolves to run away
to his aunt Betsey. He borrows some money from Peggotty and hires
a young man to help him move his box to the coach station. Along
the way, the young man steals David’s money and possessions.
Summary — Chapter XIII. The Sequel of my Resolution
David sells some of the clothes he is wearing in order
to buy food. The shopkeepers who buy the clothes take advantage
of him, and travelers abuse him on the road. David arrives at the
home of his aunt, Miss Betsey Trotwood, who initially tries to send
him away.
When he tells her that he is her nephew, she consults
with Mr. Dick, the man who lives upstairs in her home. Mr. Dick
suggests that before she do anything, she give David a bath. Miss
Betsey repeatedly compares David to the sister he never had and
concludes that his sister would not have done the stupid things
David has done.
Miss Betsey is a tough, sharp woman obsessed with keeping
donkeys off the grass in front of her house. She bathes and feeds
David and speaks to Mr. Dick at length about David’s mother, whom
she pitied very much. David is nervous about whether his aunt will
keep him or will send him away.
