Mr. Omer: The Overlooked "Hero" in David Copperfield

Abstract: This article considers Mr. Omer, generally regarded as a minor character in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield (1850), and finds that he is actually a candidate for the title of "hero" of the novel. Mr. Omer teaches David a series of lessons about the nature of self and the importance of community that equip him to be a better man and, ultimately, a novelist like Dickens. At the same time the article considers the possibly Middle-Eastern origins of Mr. Omer's name, and the affinities between his world-view and the Perso-Arab values instilled by The Arabian Nights , a text highly valued by David and Dickens himself. This argument can be seen as part of the ongoing project of "undisciplining" Victorian studies.