David’s coming of age is tied to his ethical development. The novel charts his growth from a youth with a black-and-white view of right and wrong to a capable adult who has had firsthand experience with moral complexity. At the start of the story, he is a headstrong country boy, quick to judge and confident in his ethical and political positions, “as good a Whig” (48), as the village priest was able to make him. However, even in the early episodes of the novel, he is thoughtful and observant. As David makes his way in the world, he begins to empathize with and understand the diverse ethical positions of the people he encounters.

During the novel’s second major episode, aboard the Covenant, David comes face to face with his biases, recognizing that the crew, whom he initially thought of as “unclean beasts” (37), are men like anyone else, capable in equal parts of kindness and cruelty. As he spends time with the sailors, he comes to understand that each “class of man […] has its own fault and virtues” (38).

David’s friendship with Alan further stretches the moral intuitions of his youth. Alan is a Jacobite and deserter from the English army who carries both labels with pride.