Word: steerforth
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...Storey describes is not only social, but literary: beside the stolidity of a Lawrentian mining village, he sets the formal rigidity of a Dickensian public school, with its masters almost comic in their severity. Through this landscape flits the mystical figure of Stafford, Colin's foil, who, like Dickens' Steerforth, sloughs off the spoils of his prosperity and talent with the same ease with which they accrue...
...cheat, is Lewis Stone. An obscure actress named Jessie Ralph performs magnificently as Nurse Peggotty, who comforts David when his mother dies and cares for his household when he marries. As Peggotty's brother Dan, who sets out to avenge Little Emily when David's friend Steerforth betrays her, Lionel Barrymore wears the chin whiskers of a Yarmouth fisherman. David's widowed mother (Elizabeth Allen); Mr. Murdstone (Basil Rathbone) who marries her, frightens her to death and packs David off to earn his living; violent Aunt Betsey (Edna May Oliver), who befriends David and beats such visitors...
...especially violent dispute centered about Character Steerforth, a friend of David Copperfield. Councilor Jack Salmon demanded to know "who he was before we name a street after him." Answered Councilor Hill, a dignified and venerable resident of Yarmouth, "Mr. Salmon, you will find out all about Steerforth by reading David Copperfield! . . . Although Dickens knew his Yarmouth and immortalized it, you don't seem to know your Dickens...
...Alderman Ferrier eventually opined, "Steerforth brought disgrace upon little Em'ly, a Yarmouth girl. Although he himself came to a tragic end, it is not advisable to perpetuate his name unduly." The Council agreed; banished "Steerforth Avenue" from its deliberations...
With puritanic prudence, the council felt they could not name a street after the rakish Steerforth. "Tis a pity, for what more appropriate designation could be found for some dark lane on the outskirts of the town. Although Steerforth must remain in Yarmouthian oblivion, the other characters will be immortalized on street corners. The councillors may well be satisfied with their work. In one stroke, they have protected public morals and preserved the memory of Dickens...