is sent off to Salem House school for biting Murdstone. He is met on the road by Mr Mell, one of the teachers, who accompanies him to the school. Young David is forced to wear a sign on his back that warns other students and teachers he is a biter. He befriends an older boy, the arrogant but charming James Steerforth, and the humorous Tommy Traddles. David reveals personal information about Mr Mell to Steerforth, who gets the young teacher fired. When he learns that his mother is pregnant, David is very happy, and is able to see his mother and his (unnamed) baby brother during the holidays. Jane Murdstone is furious when she sees David holding the baby one day, and commands him never to touch Murdstone's child. Clara and Peggotty are still forbidden to treat David kindly (as the Murstones view this to be weakness) but are able to sneak occasional happy moments together. Another term at Salem House begins and David settles into his role as a student as best he can, despite the unorganized teaching and frequent lashings. On his ninth birthday the headmaster's wife informs David that his mother and half-brother have died, and David returns home for the funeral. Mr Murdstone and Jane, unwilling to care for the hated orphan, decide to send David to work in the family bottling factory. Life at the factory is miserable, but David is befriended by the penniless Wilkins Micawber, a humorous character based on Dickens' father John Dickens. He lives with the Micawbers in poverty, and attempts to save money for his escape. After an unhappy year at the factory (which he refuses to describe in any detail) David runs away in hopes of finding his great-aunt Betsey Trotwood in Dover. His reception is frosty, but not unkind, and Miss Trotwood prevents Mr Murdstone from taking David back to the factory. Aunt Betsey quickly adopts David and sends him to Dr Strong's private school in Canterbury. There, David resides in the house of Mr. Wickfield; and his daughter Agnes becomes David's friend and confidante. David also makes acquaintance of cunning and treacherous Uriah Heep, a clerk of Mr Wickfield. The rest of the novel deals with David's struggles through life and his involvement in other plotlines, including his friendship and consequent disillusionment with unworthy and self-serving Steerforth, his assistance to the destroyed Peggotty family; his concern for