Dickens' portrayal of the family in David Copperfield

Dickens' portrayal of the family in David Copperfield is an interesting one; almost none of the characters has a complete family. There are countless examples of orphans, single parents, and even completely heretical perversions of the traditional family. The effect of these fragmented homes is to emphasize characters' loneliness, the fragility of the family, and the importance of forming other bonds of friendship and responsibility. Dickens came from a large, poor family and argues that …

…are not always reliable as several examples of flawed families demonstrate. Many families in the novel are joined together by other means, by several individuals' need for each other. Dickens believed such families could grow stronger ties than blood. Families need not be traditional, for even if they are traditional that does not mean they will be happy, they need only to be loving and the members need only share bonds of responsibility and happiness.