[00:00.23] David Copperfield.
[00:02.48] Chapter one, A bad child.
[00:07.90] My life has been full of ups and downs, and during my childhood, the downs seemed to rain on me like a never-ending storm.
[00:16.18] When I look back on those years, I can't believe that any grown-up would behave in that way to a child.
[00:21.80] But they did.
[00:24.83] My story starts in Sufolk with the first noise I ever heard, the slamming of our front door.
[00:33.65] My great aunt, Betsy Trotwood, had been quite sure I was going to be a girl.
[00:39.15] When she was told I was a boy, she got up in a rage and stormed out.
[00:45.64] My poor mother.
[00:48.77] She was all alone in the world except for me and our housekeeper, Pegatti.
[00:54.94] My father had died six months before I was born.
[01:00.77] My early childhood was very happy.
[01:04.85] I remember watching geese swaddle around our backyard and reading picture books with Pegatti.
[01:14.03] Pegatti was not pretty like my mother, Clara, but she was kind and loving, and I adored her as much as I adored my mother.
[01:22.70] Then, one evening, at a friend's house, my mother met Mr. Murdstone.
[01:30.48] He had black hair and a hard, cold, handsome face.
[01:36.46] My mother seemed to light up in his company, but even though I was very young, I could tell Mr. Murdstone didn't like me at all.
[01:46.89] And I didn't like him.
[01:49.47] Before long, this unpleasant man began to visit our house more and more often.
[01:58.27] So I was very happy when Pegatti took me on a holiday to the seaside, where her brother, Dan Pegatti lived.
[02:08.19] I fell in love with his house, which was in an upside down boat, a large black barge with an iron funnel blowing out chimney smoke.
[02:20.14] I also fell in love with his little orphaned niece, Emily, who lived with him.
[02:27.53] She was bold and pretty with a wildness that completely captured my heart.
[02:36.81] I often think that if I hadn't met Emily, some of the terrible things that happened to her in later life may never have taken place.
[02:46.78] But you can't know these things at the time.
[02:52.98] Dan Pegatti also looked after an orphan nephew named Ham, a tall lad with a wide smile, who was several years older than I was.
[03:04.95] After Mr. Murdstone's coldness, the friendliness of Dan's family made me very happy.
[03:11.96] Best of all, I loved playing on the beach with little Emily.
[03:18.59] I had a very heavy heart when Pegatti and I had to leave them all and return home, but nothing could have prepared me for the awful news that was waiting for me.
[03:32.18] While I'd been away, my mother had married Mr. Murdstone.
[03:41.13] From now on, he was going to live with us.
[03:45.60] I felt as if the air had been strangled out of me.
[03:50.66] Mr. Murdstone was the kind of man that smothers all hope and happiness.
[03:58.78] Now that they were married, he ordered my mother around and bullied her until I couldn't bear to watch.
[04:08.06] If she showed me kindness, he'd say, "Don't be so weak, Clara, you must be firm with the boy."
[04:16.53] He said I was a bad child and that he was determined to crush me.
[04:22.97] David, he said one day, beckoning me over to him.
[04:28.82] What do you think I do if I have a dog or a horse that doesn't do what I tell them?
[04:37.79] I don't know, I whispered nervously.
[04:42.77] I beat it, he replied with an evil glint in his eyes.
[04:49.05] I shivered with fear, knowing that if I gave him the slightest excuse, he would beat me.
[04:57.81] Pegatti was very upset about Mr. Murdstone, and she tried talking to my mother.
[05:04.64] But my mother was too afraid of her new husband to do anything that might make him angry.
[05:11.05] She was totally in his power.
[05:15.73] I could never get my mother on her own anymore.
[05:20.13] Mr. Murdstone was always there.
[05:27.89] Things got worse when Mr. Murdstone's sister came to live with us.
[05:34.04] Miss Murdstone looked just like her brother.
[05:38.45] Her face was full of gloom and cruelty.
[05:44.94] I don't like boys.
[05:49.94] were the first words she spoke to me, and it seemed that whatever I said or did was wrong in her eyes.
[05:59.13] If it were possible, she was even harsher towards my mother than her brother.
[06:07.27] My poor mother now had two jailers instead of one.
[06:12.50] The Murdstones scolded her day and night.
[06:17.50] I never saw my mother speak her mind again, unless she had first checked with those two that they agreed.
[06:29.45] I was not allowed to play with other children because the Murdstones thought all children were vipers.
[06:40.17] The only escape I had was to lose myself in the small collection of books my father had left us.
[06:49.11] As I read, I imagined myself as the hero of each story, and the Murdstones as the evil characters, always getting into trouble.
[07:04.53] Mr. Murdstone insisted I did lessons with my mother, but he and Miss Murdstone would stand over me, frowning and telling my mother to be firmer.
[07:19.52] Every day I found it harder to work with these two evil people watching my every pencil stroke.
[07:27.12] And every day they would punish me for being stupid.
[07:34.72] One morning, Mr. Murdstone looked even sterner than usual, and I saw he was gripping a thin cane in one hand.
[07:45.50] "You must be extra careful today," he warned me, twitching the cane.
[07:53.42] That day, I made mistake after mistake.
[07:58.15] My body was shaking with fear.
[08:01.65] Before long, Mr. Murdstone jumped up, shouting, "We can't expect Clara to put up with the worry David is causing her today."
[08:13.66] My mother started crying and reached out towards me.
[08:19.33] Stop it at once, Clara, ordered Miss Murdstone.
[08:25.42] My mother fell silent as Mr. Murdstone turned his steely gaze on me.
[08:32.71] "You and I will go upstairs now, David," he said.
[08:39.52] I walked up the stairs with my knees trembling.
[08:44.43] Mr. Murdstone's heavy footsteps followed right behind me.
[08:49.65] As soon as we entered my bedroom, he shut the door.
[08:55.84] Why are you doing so badly in your lessons?
[09:00.68] He demanded.
[09:02.62] I shook with terror.
[09:05.60] I had to give an answer, but the only one I could think of was the true one, and I knew it would end in disaster.
[09:15.20] I I can't do my work, I spluttered.
[09:23.12] when when you and Miss Murdstone are there.
[09:29.79] No sooner had these words left my mouth than he grabbed hold of my head and began slapping me.
[09:37.70] I had to fight back.
[09:40.45] I had to.
[09:42.85] All those weeks of bullying and loneliness exploded in me.
[09:49.22] I sank my teeth deep into his right hand, the one holding my neck, and tasted the salty and sour texture of his skin.
[10:00.08] He yelped in pain and sprang backwards, letting go of my head in shock.
[10:06.63] He stared down in horror at the deep bite marks on his hand.
[10:13.69] The next instant, he rushed at me, hitting me with both hands on my head, on my back, on my chest.
[10:23.12] I held my arms over my face, dizzy with pain and shock.
[10:29.97] I was only 10 years old, and I couldn't defend myself against a fully grown man.
[10:38.70] I heard my mother and Pegatti screaming on the stairs outside my room, begging Mr. Murdstone to stop.
[10:48.06] But he took no notice.
[10:52.93] How long the attack lasted, I don't know, but by the time he finished, I collapsed in a heap on my bedroom floor.
[11:05.04] For five days, I was kept a prisoner in my room, with Miss Murdstone acting as jailer.
[11:15.01] On the fifth night, I heard Pegatti outside my room.
[11:21.29] They're sending you away to a boarding school in London, she whispered through my door.
[11:30.70] When am I going?
[11:33.07] I asked.
[11:34.89] Tomorrow, she answered, first thing in the morning.