In which novel does the character Wilkins Micawber appear?

In which novel does the character Wilkins Micawber appear? The answer is David Copperfield. Micawber is one of the best-known characters in Charles Dickens’s 1850 novel, where he becomes a warm-hearted but chronically indebted friend of the young David.

David first encounters Micawber in London, when he lodges with the Micawber family. Wilkins is eloquent, optimistic, and perpetually convinced that “something will turn up,” even as unpaid bills lead to his imprisonment in the King’s Bench debtors’ prison. His wife, Emma, remains fiercely loyal and famously insists that she will never desert him.

Micawber later becomes connected with Uriah Heep’s schemes at Wickfield and Heep. Although Heep initially treats him as useful and easily controlled, Micawber eventually exposes his employer’s fraud and helps bring about Heep’s downfall. He later emigrates to Australia, where he finds greater stability as a sheep farmer and magistrate.

The character was partly based on Dickens’s father, John Dickens, whose financial troubles also led to debtors’ prison. Micawber’s name has since become associated with hopeful optimism despite poverty.