David Copperfield Chapter 58

Absence

• David travels away from England for the first time.
• Slowly, he comes to realize how far he is from everything he loves.
• He feels this immense and deepening grief over the loss of Dora.
• Feeling worse and worse, David roams from place to place.
• When he feels at his darkest, he thinks he should die.
• David travels like this for months.
• He winds up in Switzerland, where he is impressed by the scenery.
• As David walks down a mountain pass one evening , he feels a sense of calm that pushes aside his sorrow for a time.
• David finally weeps for Dora's death as he is surrounded by all of this beautiful, natural scenery.
• Once David arrives at his destination, he finds a bunch of letters.
• The letters are from Agnes.
• Agnes is happy, and praises David for his strength in the face of his own misfortunes.
• David feels a sudden flowering of love for Agnes.
• He writes to her, saying that, without Agnes, David can never be the kind of man he wants her to be.
• David spends three months in Switzerland trying to recover his spirits, to be a better man.
• He works hard on his writing during this period.
• David sends a completed story to Traddles, who has it published.
• His fame as a fiction-writer is growing day by day.
• Furthermore, David is exercising all the time, so his health is much improved.
• During this time, David becomes sure that he must already have thrown away the possibility of Agnes's love.
• Even if she once had those kinds of feelings for David, he is sure that they can't have survived his marriage to another woman.
• As David tries to become a better man, he hopes that, some day, he might still marry Agnes.
• But as time goes on, he slowly gives up on this hope. He feels that he is not worthy of her.
• David realizes that the years of trials Dora had foreseen (and died before experiencing) are happening to David now, and he has no partner to help him.
• It's been three years since Mr. Peggotty traveled with Emily to Australia (so David must now be in his mid to late twenties).
• David sails home.