Great expectation

Authors Avatar
Essay title: Having read 'Great expectations' how effective is the opening chapter? Discuss the methods Dickens used to ensure his readers' continuing interest.

In this essay I will be focusing on the novel, 'Great Expectations.' Charles Dickens is a 19th century writer which affects his writing and language used within the novel. He has also written many other famous books such as "Oliver Twist", "The Christmas carols", and "David Copperfield". The Dickens family were of middleclass status and had sturdy finances until the father was unable to manage their money efficiently and was briefly sent to Prison. During this time, Charles was also punished for his father's mistakes. The young Charles was forced to quit school and was sent to work in a 'warrens blacking factory' for a few months, earning an unsatisfactory wage which was just enough to ensure his basic survival. Charles experienced poverty at first hand and for many years he was rather disturbed by that short episode of his life. However, it was the ever present memories of those difficult periods of his life which enabled Charles to write with such considerate feeling about some subjects in his novels. Much of Dickens' writing was based around life and hardships of the poor, because he was once poor himself. The novel, 'Great Expectations' is set in London in the 19th century. It is about a young boy called Pip, ambitious to become a gentleman; He starts off as a naïve, innocent, young boy growing up in a working class family who is then tainted by wealth, desire and pride. As the writer, Charles Dickens worked in a 'warrens blacking factory' he knew what life was like to live as a working class. This influenced his writing of Pip being a blacksmith. Who goes to London leaving his working class status developing the expectation to grow on to a higher class status, however he finds out human values are much more important than pride and wealth. In order to entice the reader to the rest of the novel Charles Dickens employs a variety of techniques and narrative hooks in the opening chapter. Within the opening chapter Charles Dickens exploits engaging characters such as Pip who is portrayed as a young, inexperienced and guiltless boy who subsequently goes on to the outside world where he meets Magwitch, in which he learns that the world was not as simple as he assumed it to be. Charles also uses dramatic action and mysterious setting in the first chapter to hook the reader to the rest of the novel. The use of pathetic fallacy is also developed in the first chapter, where Charles uses the presentation of nature possessing human qualities. The theme of crime, childhood, and class is explored throughout the novel largely through the characters.

In the novel, Philip Pirrip or Pip is the protagonist who expects great things from life. Great Expectations is told by Pip in his own semi-autobiographic voice, tracing his life from his early days of childhood until adulthood. Pip is an adult looking back on the growth and development of his younger self. The use of a first person narrator only allows the reader to see events from the perspective of Pip but he is a brilliant teller of his tale and holds the interest of the reader throughout. Pip is introduced in the opening chapter, where the fact that Pip had no parents is revealed early on. The quote which supports this is, "As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them'' this immediately captured the reader's sympathy for Pip because they knew what happened to orphans at the time of the Victorians, as they were not valued. Moreover, Pip makes a juvenile assumption on his parents appearance, "I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly" Pip's innocent mind hallucinates about the appearance of his parents from their tombstones; his misreading of the situation represents a lack of communication. This creates sympathy for Pip because the reader knows that Pip's childish assumptions are shadowed from the truth. Pip's gloomy and unpleasant surroundings transform him into a "small bundle of shivers". The reader is once again reminded of Pip's vulnerability and defenselessness. The readers were particularly worried that a little boy like Pip was all alone in a graveyard, "a bleak place overgrown with nettles". Obviously nobody cared for the sad, lonely graveyard, just like the fact that no one cared for Pip. Death surrounds him; Pip's dead brothers were buried beside their parents. The readers are now starting to guess what's going to happen. This is because many children died early in Victorian times, it was entirely possible that Pip would be joining his brothers very soon. Although very young, Pip had plenty of experiences with death; he had a limited ability to cope with what had happened. The evidence for this was when he had cried for no apparent reason. In paragraph 3 Dickens also uses the phrase "and that" 6 times, Dickens uses long lists instead of placing separate sentences to give the impression that Pip took everything in even though he was innocent. The odds were piled against him. Even the weather is bad, with the wind rushing. Pip, the main character of the book is described as very temperate, and polite this can be established by examining a quote from the first chapter where Pip spoke to the imminent convict, Magwitch in a civil manner, "If you would kindly please to let me upright, sir, perhaps I shouldn't be sick, and perhaps I could attend more." Even though Pip did not know Magwitch he still conceded on using his dialect in a very formal and proper manner; this particularly shows that Pip was apprehensively very humble and loyal towards Magwitch, even though he was a complete stranger to Pip and was described as a convict.

When Magwitch was first introduced, we were not given a warning. He just "started up from among the graves". The actual confrontation with Pip and the convict is sudden and is quite shocking, " Hold your noise!' cried a terrible voice, as a man started up" this quick, spontaneous meeting creates suspense and tension giving the convict a more frightening appeal.The fact that Magwitch was a convict was made clear by the "great iron" on his leg. The reader now has a very good reason to be afraid. The tension is growing because we are now scared for Pip. Dickens described events in a broad ways to begin with. The first three paragraphs were descriptions, nothing really happened in these first few paragraphs. Gradually as we learn more about a character and his capabilities, we begin to expect an event, or guess what might happen. In Magwitch's case, when he said "keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat" we now know that Magwitch will scare Pip into obedience, it also gives the reader the expression that Magwitch is rather spiteful and offensive. Dickens then continues to describe Magwitch as "A fearful man, all in coarse grey" This description is characteristic of a convict. The adjectives "fearful" and "coarse" force us to believe that Magwitch is terrifying, dangerous and to some extent a deadly character. This makes the readers feel very sympathetic towards Pip and his current situation pertaining to the convict at the mysterious graveyard. However, Magwitch's fearfulness is inflated because he is seen through Pip's eyes. The reader sees all of this through the eyes of a child, so the description of Magwitch is exaggerated since Pip had a limited knowledge of the world in general. As a child sees things differently they have known fewer people, each person they meet is scrutinized according to their short pasts. Moreover, Magwitch has a very strong cockney accent and Dickens picks up on this by spelling some words so that they are pronounced phonetically, 'Pint out the place' would be said as it is shown to get across the fact that he has a very strong cockney accent. Later on in the novel the technique of depicting speech phonetically also gives a comic twist to Magwitch's speech, "Thankee sir" this sense of humour in the 19th century was very assuming for the people at the time. Magwitch uses Formal language as well as informal, we see traces of Magwitch's intelligence as his formal language is well-spoken an example of this is, "The question is weather you are to let her live." Magwitch sounds intelligent saying this, however his intelligence has not come from education it has come from his own doing, what he has piled up in his own life time. We see informal language when he is frightening the boy, "hold your noise!" Dickens makes the readers foreshadow on what will happen next, so they continue on reading and hold interest in the novel. The fact that Pip was used to doing what he was told; He had agreed to help Magwitch because he was unaware of the dangers. This may mean that Pip could get himself tangled up in a criminal activity and be punished for it even if his intentions were good. The readers start to feel that is very unfair, and naturally are worried and then wonder what's going to happen next. Dickens secured the reader's interest by playing on their sympathy. The readers can't feel completely at ease knowing it was entirely possible for Pip to get into at awkward position in any time since children are less cautious. Innocence and trust is a hazard of childhood. Pip was both innocent and trusting.
Join now!


In contrast, Pip acts as a dynamic character throughout the novel and undergoes many changes through the course of the book. One of the causes for Pip's change in the novel was predominantly from after he met Magwitch in the first chapter. Pip, is a gentle character to begin with, his traits include humbleness, kindness, and lovingness and these traits are most likely the root of his childhood poverty and appreciating life where it stands. At the beginning of the novel Pip is a mild mannered, little boy who goes on with his own humble life but this ...

This is a preview of the whole essay