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Post by Ten on Apr 15, 2010 22:02:49 GMT -5
No, not the explorer.
Dora Spenlow, a character in the book David Copperfield (written in a Brittish accent! With too much of the letter "u" and big words like perambulate! ...not that I like pretentious verbosity; it's just amusing from people of different eras. Okay, end digression).
She drives me up the wall. Even though I never have liked any of the women that David has "fallen in love" with, Dora is the worst. More than once, I've taken a break from reading the book just because I can't stand her (I've also taken a break from reading the book because it can be wordy and dull at times, but that's beside the point).
If I told you she were girly and stupid, you wouldn't get the full idea. Girliness I can stand and stupidity I can stand. She's not much more feminine than any of the other women in the book, and it's not intelligence or knowledgeable-ness themselves that are the issue, though she does appear to be lacking in those.
I might even say that she's irrational, but that doesn't cover it. Many of the characters are irrational in their own way and they're not near so annoying.
What drives me up the wall is that she's so weak. She cries. A lot. Too much. She doesn't like it whenever anyone's serious. She wants life to be all flowers and... trying to teach tricks to her stupid dog. If David tries to be serious to her at all and talk about practical things, she calls him cruel and bursts into tears.
He talks to her about his current financial situation and asks her if she could still love a poor man? She bursts into tears. He asks her if she can handle cooking and domestic affairs? She bursts into tears.
Kind of spoiler-ish, as if anyone cares (note that I haven't finished the book myself)...
this is an example of what I'm talking about,
a little segment of a "quarrel" after they get married (David has horrible taste in women):
Do you see why I wish he had never married her?
It does make sense, though, considering David's background, that he would be attracted to that kind of girl... and it only makes me hate her more that he's so patient and adoring of her. He loves her far more than she deserves.
I read somewhere that venting doesn't do any good.
I'm thinking that theory is wrong.
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Post by Cloud on Apr 16, 2010 14:51:24 GMT -5
I'm thinking whoever wrote that has never been angry.
And now I really, really, really want to throw something at her head (not too hard) so that it connects a few axons so she can be INTELLIGENT, for fudgesakes.
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Post by Ten on Apr 16, 2010 23:54:20 GMT -5
"I'm thinking whoever wrote that has never been angry."
--
The author is Charles Dickens, and I'm sure he was angry at some point in his life. He wrote the book from the perspective of David, and I know that David has been angry before. Uriah Heep ticks him off so much. It's almost ironic. Dora makes me furious, but he loves her; Uriah makes him furious, but... ya lahwy, he's magnificent.
I like both David's and Uriah's characters, yet I'm so amused whenever David is concealing his hatred for the man while thinking about strangling him or throwing him over a banister.
Uriah is not an original character. But I don't mind it. His characterization works so well. He's this tall, bony, eyebrowless redhead with glittering nostril hairs and red eyes (What the hay, Charlie?) and he's a fawning little obsequious sycophant who's always professing how humble he is (but he can't pronounce the H, so it's "umble"). And when he's happy or anything like it, he writhes.
Yeah. He writhes. Miss Trotwood describes him as galvanic. He gets all "Oh, Master Copperfield, what an excellent man!" and squirms around like a big worm. David thinks it's disgusting, and I'm sure it would be, but it's hilarious.
I understand that he's supposed to be a cruel, manipulative, conniving fiend. And yet I don't begrudge anything he's done so far -- he's made a few folks unhappy, and that's about it... somehow, I don't care about these people's unhappiness, and that might be because it's at least some part their own faults.
Man, even without Dora as a contrast, Uriah is fun to read about. I keep getting this feeling, though, that Dickens might've meant for readers to hate him. I'm not sure. It doesn't affect my enjoyment either way, but I'm curious. Was he supposed to come off as a complete monster? ...because he doesn't.
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Post by Cloud on Apr 17, 2010 13:57:51 GMT -5
""I didn't marry to be reasoned with. If you meant to reason with such a poor little thing as I am, you ought to have told me so, you cruel boy!""
This is why I detest her.
Whiny characters can be funny, if they're done right. They can even be helpful in teaching the main character to put up with them.
But this...this is just...very strong word meaning idiocy to the ninth degree.
If she doesn't like being reasoned with, then how the flip does she get on in life? Ignore anyone who tries to argue sense when she makes a mistake? Does she cower at the awful injustice of logic? /sarcasm
She must really hate math and science. Not to mention intelligent conversation.
She's not even worth hating, she's so pathetic. All I can do is hope she drops dead soon.
Remind me again why David loves her. Is he masochistic or does he simply like dumb women?
About the villain guy...I'd have more input on him if I'd read David Copperfield (I have heard of it before now) but he sounds funny. He's probably smarter than David, too, if he's not married to someone like Dora.
I think I'm going to nickname her Dora the Deluded. Or maybe Dora the Dumb, Dora the Dopey, Dora the Dim, Dora the Dense, Dora the Deficient....lots of d-word synomyms for stupid.
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Post by Ten on May 1, 2010 14:08:44 GMT -5
"If she doesn't like being reasoned with, then how the flip does she get on in life?"
--
Playing with her dog, singing songs, smelling flowers, kissing David...
"Ignore anyone who tries to argue sense when she makes a mistake?"
--
Criticism makes her cry. Thank God she's dead now (confetti), along with another character I don't like.
"Is he masochistic or does he simply like dumb women?"
--
The latter. Guys tend to be attracted to women who are like their mothers (girls vice versa; yes, it's a generalization) and David's mother was a silly and weak but beautiful lady who married young, much like Dora.
So I've gotten to (and a little past) the part where Uriah drops his suck-up "mask" and starts snarling at folks as they corner him with proof of his... misdeeds. I know I'm supposed to hate him at this part, but (a) I don't really understand what all he did wrong, thanks to Mr. Macawber's way of explaining (although Mr. Macawber is great and he's fun to read when he's angry) and (b) even though Uriah's behavior is rude and nasty as they confront him, he just seems like a pitiful cornered animal and I don't hate him for any of it. I should dislike him, at least, for all the bad things he's done (frauding some folks out of their money or something), but I don't. How could I? He's adorable. And I sound so stupid for excusing him on that alone. In my defense, I mean his character, not his eyebrowless face. I'm still not sure how he's supposed to have red eyes.
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Post by duckyaisha on May 3, 2010 7:27:59 GMT -5
From what I've read of this conversation, Dora sounds a lot like Bella. Which makes me want to kill her too.
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Post by Ten on May 3, 2010 18:08:26 GMT -5
I was able to stand Bella the first time I read Twilight. Dora is much more annoying, but for different reasons.
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Post by duckyaisha on May 3, 2010 21:58:37 GMT -5
Really? I detested her.
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Post by Cloud on May 4, 2010 16:51:14 GMT -5
-.- I don't know how anyone reads Twilight without being bored out of their mind. I read the first hundred-odd pages of it and was thinking "when will something EXCITING happen?!" It's. All. Just. Bella. WHINING! I mean, who cares?
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Post by Ten on May 4, 2010 18:25:11 GMT -5
I like to think I'm more selective now, but somehow I liked Bella when I first read of her -- I'm thinking this was because of my situation at the time, which makes distasteful sense in hindsight. As the story progressed, I decided Edward was a big jerkwad, but somehow I still tolerated Bella... until one particular scene (in New Moon, was it?). So I decided not to read Eclipse because she's such a spineless moron and I was tired of yelling at her.
If Bella weren't Meyer's pampered Author Avatar, people would pity her, not hate her. In David Copperfield, the author knows that Dora is weak and stupid and he knows that she and David have a flawed, imbalanced, and problematic relationship that has practical detriments to their lives. When she annoys me, I'm not directing any dislike at the author for touting Mr. & Mrs. Copperfield's relationship as perfect and healthy. I'm focusing all my disdain on her alone, because she's the only one who earns it (although David does grate my nerves by putting up with her).
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