Countering the “contract-bargain”: Credit, debt, and the moral economy in David Copperfield

Ballinger, Gill

Abstract

This essay argues that personal credit and debt relations play a vital role in David Copperfield. David's circle of family and friends is economically interdependent; the way this group functions does not endorse the concept of the possessive individual, which is a central tenet of modern economic thought. Instead, personal relations inform the credit individuals give one another as part of a moral economy in the novel. In particular, Micawber's “pecuniary liabilities” function within this system of exchange that relies on trust and mutual obligation. The interdependent unit that Micawber is part of can be linked usefully to older systems of exchange prioritizing gifting behaviors and the obligations these incur. Conversely, the portrayals of Heep and Steerforth serve to expose self-interested economic behavior that denies the claims the moral economy makes.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Aug 12, 2015
• Journal: Dickens Studies Annual: Essays on Victorian Fiction
• Print ISSN: 0084-9812
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 167-184
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7756/dsa.046.007/167-84
• Keywords: Dickens, David Copperfield, credit, debt
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/830296
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7756/dsa.046.007/167-84