Charles Dickens composed this passage between 1845 and 1848 referring to the dark times of his youth when his family moved to London in the early 1820s. The imprisonment of his father forced the family to send the twelve-year-old Dickens to work in a blacking factory. This disruption to Dickens childhood and education remained a source of intense grief throughout his life. Dickens found these memories too painful to continue his autobiography; in fact, he jealously guarded the facts of his London youth. It was only after his biographer John Forster published his Life of Charles Dickens in 1872 that readers learned of his difficult youth and of the autobiographical nature of one of his finest creations, David Copperfield.
Originally published in serial form from May 1849 through November 1850, David Copperfield is the first of Dickens novels written entirely in the first person. Converting his autobiographical impulse into fiction allowed Dickens to explore uncomfortable truths about his life. David Copperfields time at Murdstone and Grinbys warehouse, his schooling at Salem House, and his relationship with Dora all have their bases in Dickens own life. But, it may be Dickens most autobiographical novel, David Copperfield is a work of fiction.