Micawber appeared for the first time: "His clothes are worn out, but he has a rather imposing shirt collar" and "He is holding a very imposing walking stick". A pair of monocles with handles hung in front of the coat.
In a few words, Mr. Micawber likes to pretend to be "elegant" when he is financially strapped. In the following description, the author repeatedly emphasizes this feature.
Such as "put your chin on the shirt collar", "walk out with a cane under your arm" and "he has the elegant demeanor of the past". The vanity of the characters has been well reflected in repeated reinforcement.
Mr. Micawber's character is described in his rapid transition from sadness to joy: when the creditor came to collect debts, he was "really sad, ashamed, and even unable to control himself, and made a gesture of suicide with a razor".
But "in less than half an hour", "he polished his shoes with special care, then hummed a tune, posed in a more noble posture than usual, and walked out the door".
When he talked about the debt burden on Saturday night, he burst into tears, but in the end he sang "Jack Loves His Lovely South" again. While sleeping, he calculated that one day, his luck would turn (this is his mantra) and how much it would cost to install a protruding belly window on the house.
In prison, he cried bitterly and immediately "borrowed a shilling from me to buy dark beer" after saying, "If a person earns twenty pounds a year and spends nineteen pounds and nineteen shillings and sixpence, he will be happy, but if he spends twenty pounds and one shilling, he will be miserable."
Then antics such as "getting happy" are extremely exaggerated, highlighting the character's personality characteristics of enjoying, lacking sense of responsibility, but optimistic in the face of difficulties.
Let's look at Mrs Micawber again. "Just like her husband", equally vain and equally "flexible".
Every time she appeared, she was very dramatic: she talked about her parents' glory all day. "I never thought I would have to hire a tenant to live with my parents." "When I lived with my parents, I really didn't understand what the word' difficult' means now."
She doesn't know how to keep a house, and she eats and drinks with the money from pawning tableware. "At 3 o'clock, she was anxious to pay taxes. At 4 o'clock, she began to eat fried lamb chops and drink hot ale."
Mr. and Mrs. Micawber, who are "heavily in debt and willing to know their destiny", have become typical in literature, and their character is called "Micawber Doctrine". The word "Micawber" has also been included in the English dictionary, meaning "an optimist who has no vision and dreams of luck".
Micawber doctrine
Micawber doctrine is a kind of "willing to know destiny" character and an optimistic and open-minded attitude.
The word Micawber comes from David's landlord Micawber and his wife in david copperfield. They have many children and are heavily in debt. They were thrown into the debtor's prison and wept bitterly.
Before leaving, Micawber asked David to remember his lesson: "If he earns 20 pounds and spends 19 pounds 19 grams and 1 penny, he will be happy;" If he spends twenty pounds a gram, he will be distressed. " Just after saying these words of wisdom, Micawber borrowed another gram from David to buy wine first, and immediately became happy.
This is exactly what Charles Dickens (18 12- 1870)' s father said to him before he went to prison.
Mrs Micawber always believed in her husband's ability, and this belief supported her to faithfully accompany her husband through the difficult days, and finally waited until the day when luck turned. Their character of "not worrying about debts and being willing to know destiny" has become a typical figure in literature and is called "Micawber Doctrine".