At the very start of the novel, we are introduced to the main character, Pip. The name Pip makes him sound small and vulnerable. Dickens describes him as a ‘small bundle of shivers’ and he is juxtaposed with the vast and expansive landscape. The author also uses the pathetic fallacy to present Pip as a part of the landscape. The mist symbolises Pip’s inability to see and this inability takes place throughout the novel, all the way until Pip’s adulthood.
At first, the convict is introduced as a fearful character and Dickens makes him shocking by listing his fearful features in a short concise paragraph using short sentences, which read in a rhythmic way. ‘A man with no hat, and with broken shoes and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped and shivered, and glared and growled’ Although this does make the convict seem fearful presence into one that makes us feel sympathetic towards him. Another way the convict makes Pip scared is by the way he speaks to him, he talks to Pip in an aggressive way and threatens him with death. “Hold your noise! … Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat”. These words are aggressive and frightening, also, this is the first we hear of the convict and the fact it is speech makes it shocking.
The setting for the first chapter is in a graveyard, this shows us that the novel will not be light hearted. Dickens uses figurative language to make the landscape and the mood of the first chapters sound heavy. “Low leaden line” this phrase readers to lead a literal heavy substance.
At home, Pip is not treated well by his sister, Mrs Joe. However, Pip accepts this and is not self-pitying. He assumes everybody lives like he does, everybody is part of a universal struggle. We also learn that Pip has an overdeveloped sense of guilt; the way he feels about the theft suggests that this is true. He also has a very expansive imagination; “I thought I heard the voice outside, of the man with the iron on his led who had sworn me to secrecy.” And “The cattle came upon me with like suddenness, staring out of their eyes, and steaming out of their nostrils, ‘Holloa, young thief’” both show that Pip has a vast imagination and an overdeveloped sense of guilt. He even thinks the cattle are against him.
From a completely different lifestyle comes the wealthy Miss Havisham. However, she is also struggling in her own separate way, despite the fact she is well off and privileged. Miss Havisham has attempted to seal her self away from the harsh realities of life and shuts herself off from human company. Unfortunately, by blocking out all of this it doesn’t help her. In fact, because she is dwelling on the pain that has been put upon her from past events, it has made her feel worse off and more miserable. The blocking out of daylight is symbolic of her unhappiness. She has not succeeded in insulating herself from the pain.
The name of Miss Havishams house, Satis House, Latin for enough house. This is ironic because Miss Havisham does not have enough to satisfy her needs. The words Dickens uses to describe her such as ‘waxwork … skeleton … faded’ and ‘withered’ all make Miss Havisham seem aged and worn. These words are significant because Dickens wants us to know these words are significant because Dickens wants us to know that is emotionally dead. Another feature that is symbolic is the wedding cake. Dickens describes it in such a way that it shares similar characteristics as Miss Havisham; he uses phrases such as ‘heavily overhung with cobwebs … undistinguishable’ to make it sound old and to portray it as falling apart.
When Pip meets Magwitch for a second time, out on the marshes, Magwitch is seen physically suffering from cold and starvation. There are many phrases that Dickens uses to describe the terrible in which he is suffering.
“I half expected to see him drop down before my face and die of deadly cold…he shivered all the while, so violently”
These phrases show us how cold the convict is, but on the other hand Dickens uses imagery to describe the convict’s hunger. He compares Magwitch’s way of eating to that of a dog.
“A man who was putting it [the food] away somewhere in a violent hurry…he was gobbling mincemeat…I had often watched a large dog of ours eating his food; and I now noticed a decided similarity between the dog’s way of eating and the man’s.”
All of these suggest that dickens wants us to see Magwitch as an animal and not a human and the word “gobbling” gives him an even more animal like characteristic.
The novel is written in the first person through the eyes of an adult Pip. Because he is older he is also wiser and he now realises the mistakes he made. Also, it makes the novel more personal and almost sounds as if it is a diary of Pip’s life.
In the early chapters of “Great Expectations” Dickens describes life in Victorian England as a “universal struggle”. I strongly agree with this assessment after reading the opening chapters of the novel. He does this in numerous ways; one important point he makes is that Pip is led to believe everybody lives in the same way he does and accepts it. Because everybody is struggling it is universal. Another is that even though Miss Havisham is incredibly wealthy, she is still struggling with the harsh realities of the time; but by shutting herself away she is let to dwell on the pain and no material goods are able to convince her that her life is full of opportunities to find new happiness. Finally, the way Magwitch is given animal characteristics to show how much he is struggling to keep nourished and also the way he is described to portray how he is almost physically dead, whereas Miss Havisham is emotionally dead.
These first chapters show that Dickens was truly concerned with the lives of the less fortunate. His two most important reasons for writing were to inform people of the harsh reality of the Victorian era but still provide an interesting, gripping and emotional piece of narrative that is factual yet at the same time contains fairytale aspects.
Today, the need for human compassion and just are still as relevant as they were over a hundred years ago. Without these in your life, as Dickens makes clear, you will be part of an epic struggle to overcome the cruelty of life.