‘The Darkness Out There’ overall is designed to be an easy read with Lively using short sentences; “She looked at the floor, at her own feet, neat and slim and brown”, short and easy sentences give an effective, immediate impact on the reader.
‘Great Expectations’ on the other hand has very long, detailed sentences; “The same opportunity saved me for nothing that Mr Pumblechook appeared to conduct his business by looking across the street at the saddler, who appeared to transact his business by keeping his eye on the coach maker, who appeared to get on in life by putting his hands in his pockets and contemplating the baker…”, very contemporary use of language, deliberate in order to give a detailed impression.
Various themes are also very similar in the two texts and are effective in relation to the morals of the texts. A supernatural theme is expressed in ’The Darkness Out There’ regarding Packer’s End; “After they were twelve or so the witches and wolves went away. Then it was the German plane”, effective in portraying superstition and errie surroundings.
Similarly, in ‘Great Expectations’ Pip sees ghostly phantoms; “I saw a figure hanging there by the neck. A figure all in yellow”, here Pip sees ghostly phantoms which beneath may be much worse, phantoms are effective in rousing superstition.
The theme of war is present in ‘The Darkness Out There’; “ ‘ There were a lot of tragedies in the war ‘ ”, in this case the war issue is used to add depths to the story rather than to add moral issues.
‘Great Expectations’ on the other hand also uses the theme of war but in a different way; “ ‘ You can break his heart ‘ ”, Miss Havisham is using Estella as a weapon in her war against men, this adds to the morality of the novel.
‘The Darkness Out There’ uses the theme of hidden secrets heavily regarding Mrs Rutter; “ ‘ I thought, oh no, you had this coming to you, mate, theres' a war on ‘ ”, Mrs Rutter killed men, although clues are given, this is not discovered until the end of the story.
‘Great Expectations’ also uses the theme of hidden secrets; “ ‘ You can break his heart ‘ “ although not as secretive, Miss Havisham’s dialogue leaves clues regarding her secret that she is bringing Estella up to kill men emotionally.
Probably the most heavily used theme in both pieces of text is the theme of the past. In ‘The Darkness Out There’ Mrs Rutter is portrayed as holding on to aspects of the past; “The cupboard, stacked with yellowing newspapers, smelt of damp and mouse”, Lively depicts Mrs Rutter as living in the present but still holding onto the past, this is effective and important to the moral of the story as it explores the consequences of people’s behaviour and attitudes in the past and how they affect people living in the present. The theme of the past is also what ties together the meanings and morals of the story, and is used effectively throughout the text.
In ‘Great Expectations’, the theme of living in the past is used more literally by Dickens; “I took note of the surrounding objects in detail, and saw that her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine”, like Lively, Dickens is portraying Miss Havisham as holding on to the past, but unlike Lively he is also portraying Miss Havisham as living literally in the past and dragging the future into the past with her by using Estella as a weapon in her war against men. The theme is used effectively throughout chapter 8 of ‘Great Expectations’ in order to portray the deeper character depths of Miss Havisham, and also to explore how she being hurt in the past can now hurt those in the present such as Pip and Estella.
The final theme used by both Lively and Dickens is the theme of darkness. Lively uses darkness to illustrate the moral of the story; “and there was a darkness that was not the darkness of tree shadows and murky undergrowth and you could not draw the curtains and keep it out because it was in your head”, Lively’s emphasis that the darkness inside people is more fearful than anything else is very appropriate and ironic to the whole story.
Dickens however uses the theme of darkness to add to the overall theme of the chapter; “The great front entrance had two chains across it outside, - and the first thing I noticed was that the passages were all dark, and that she had left a candle burning there”, this gives the overall impression of being dark and unwelcoming and ties in with the overall chapter.
The settings in the two texts are important in relation to the morals of the texts. In ‘The Darkness Out There’, the countryside is the overall setting; “Ox – eyed daisies and vetch and cow parsley, keeping to the track at he edge of the field, she could see the cottage in the distance”, by using the countryside as a setting Lively is giving the impressions of secludedness and bright surroundings. The setting used in ‘The Darkness Out There’ provides great irony as the bright and peaceful surroundings were Mrs Rutter lives contrast greatly Mrs Rutter as a person and the dark secret she is hiding.
‘Great Expectations’ on the other hand has an industrial setting; “and all the brewery beyond stood open, away to the high enclosing wall; and all was empty and disused”, the overall impression created in the setting is one of neglection and an unwelcoming atmosphere, the opposite to the setting in ‘The Darkness Out There’.
Although the two pieces of text have differing settings, they both represent isolation. In ‘The Darkness Our There’ isolation is represented in the positioning of Mrs Rutter’s house; “Beyond the spinney reached up to the fence, a no – man’s land of willow herb and thistle and small trees, growing thicker and higher into the full density of woodland”, Lively’s depiction of Mrs Rutter living isolated and away from it all relate effectively to the overall characterisation of Mrs Rutter as holding onto the past.
In chapter 8 of ‘Great Expectations’ isolation is represented by the surroundings of Miss Havisham’s house; “We came to Miss Havisham’s house, which was of old brick, and dismal, and had many great iron bars to it, some of the windows had been walled up”, Dickens uses effective images of walled up windows and bars in order to portray Miss Havishams’ isolation from the outside world.
A major difference between ‘The Darkness Out There’ and ‘Great Expectations’ is the use of deceptive images used by Lively and the more direct images favoured by Dickens.
In ‘ The Darkness Out There’ Mrs Rutter’s house is described as being stereotypical of an old woman’s house; “The alcove by the fireplace was filled with china ornaments: big – eyed flop – eared rabbits and beribboned kittens and flowery milkmaids and a pair of naked children wearing daisy chains”, Mrs Rutter’s house overall is portrayed as being cosy, welcoming and old fashioned. Lively also uses the stereotypical image of an old woman’s house to provide a great contrast between how Mrs Rutter lives and acts and the kind of person she really is.
However in ‘Great Expectations’ Miss Havisham’s house is described as being cold, dark and unwelcoming; “ that the passages were all dark and that she had left a candle burning there. She took it up and we went through more passages and up a staircase”, Dickens uses the cold, dark images of the surroundings to tie in with Miss Havisham herself.
Both Lively and Dickens portray over-grown and neglected gardens in their pieces of text.
Mrs Rutter’s garden in ‘The Darkness Out There’ is described as being largely over – grown; “out over a bedraggled garden with the stumps of spent vegetables and a matted flower – bed and a square of shaggy grass”, Mrs Rutter’s garden is uncarred for, maybe because she is too old to look after it, the over – grown garden also re-enforces Mrs Rutter’s isolation.
Miss Havisham’s garden in ‘Great Expectations’ similarly is over – grown and neglected; “the rank garden was the garden of the house, and that it was overgrown with tangled weeds”, Dickens’ portrayal of the garden being deserted and having a lack of life relates to the way Miss Havisham lives, in the past and shut away from it all.
Overall the setting in ‘The Darkness Out There” is warm and cosy with a countryside feel. Mrs Rutter’s house is stereotypical of an old woman’s house and provides a direct contrast to ‘Packer’s End’. Mrs Rutter’s house also detracts from what she is really like and provides irony by proving that things are not always as they seem.
‘Great Expectations’ on the other hand uses setting devices in order to give a greater impact on the reader rather than to provide irony or contrasts. The setting is overall very relevant to the meanings behind the characters and the moral of the overall text. The setting in chapter 8 is cold and unwelcoming with eerie surroundings like Miss Havisham’s character.
Mrs Rutter and Miss Havisham are both the main characters in the two pieces of text as they instigate the overall morals of both pieces. Similarly the two women both believe that because they have lost love they can destroy life. In the case of Mrs Rutter this is literally true as she left men to die. In the case of Miss Havisham however, she destroys life through emotions rather than physical harm.
Lively’s depiction of Mrs Rutter at the start of ‘The Darkness Out There’ is very stereotypical; “ ‘ Tea my duck ‘ ”, “ ‘ Well, you’re a pretty girl ‘ ”, very complementary and kind and also visually very stereotypical; “a cottage loaf of a woman”. The imagery and descriptions of Mrs Rutter is ironic as at the end of the story we find that she is the opposite of a stereotypical old woman.
In ‘Great Expectations’ however, Dickens is much more direct in his portrayal of Miss Havisham as being callous and bitter; “ ‘ Begger him ‘ “, Dickens’ illustration of Miss Havisham is extremely strong and effective.
In comparing Mrs Rutter with Miss Havisham it is clear that there are many similarities between them both. Mrs Rutter in ‘The Darkness Out There’ appears largely to be oblivious to, and dismisses others feelings; “ ‘well I expect you get all sorts, in your club thing ‘ ”, this portrays Mrs Rutter as offensive and inconsiderate towards others.
Miss Havisham also is depicted as being dismissive of the feelings of others; “ ‘ come again after six days. You hear? ‘ “, this portrayal of Miss Havisham as being resentful and disregarding of others is mirrored throughout the entire novel.
Mrs Rutter is also very alert in ‘The Darkness Out There’: “Her eyes investigated quick as mice”, Mrs Rutter’s alertness and awareness of others portrays her as intelligent and quick for her age.
Similarly, Miss Havisham is portrayed as being alert in ‘Great Expectations’; “seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me”, despite her being oddly and lacking in contact with the outside world Miss Havisham is still very alert and overpowering.
Both Mrs Rutter and Miss Havisham have an evilness and callousness about them. Mrs Rutter has left men to die, and finds it amusing; “ ‘ we were cheering I can tell you ‘ ”, Mrs Rutter shows a lack of emotion and realism regarding her actions in the past.
Miss Havisham also is portrayed as callous and evil; “ ‘ You can break his heart ‘ ”, Miss Havisham is conducting a war against men and shows no emotion.
Another similarity between the two old women characters is that they are both incredibly patronising and manipulative.
Mrs Rutter is very superior and condescending of Kerry; “ ‘ Well, I expect that’s good steady money if you’d nothing special in mind ‘ ”, shows disregard for Kerry and is also very dismissive.
Miss Havisham also is manipulating and contriving towards Pip; “ ‘ Let me see you play cards with this boy ‘ ”, like Mrs Rutter, Miss Havisham shows great disregard and disdain.
The two women both display the signs of holding on to the past, Miss Havisham more literally than Mrs Rutter.
Mrs Rutter keeps newspapers dating back from the war; “stacked with yellowing newspapers”, still holding on to aspects of the past which are close to her heart such as the war.
Miss Havisham lives literally in the past; “that Miss Havisham put down the jewel exactly on the spot from which she had taken it up”, living in the past, still in her wedding dress, also dragging the present into her past with stopped clocks and later on in the novel her annual wedding anniversary ceremony.
Miss Havisham and Mrs Rutter similarly live vicariously through others. In ‘Great Expectations’ Miss Havisham uses Estella as a weapon in her war against men; “You can break his heart”, needs Estella to kill men emotionally so that she can feel satisfied that she has got revenge against men.
Mrs Rutter in ‘The Darkness Out There’ tries to live vicariously through Sandra; “well now, fancy! You’re a little dressmaker, too, are you? I was good with my needle when I was younger”, trying to see life through Sandra.
Both characters are also incredibly bitter. Mrs Rutter lost her husband so she considers it acceptable that others can die; “ ‘ Nobody did anything for my Bill did they ‘ ”, bitter because her husband was killed in the war.
Miss Havisham is also bitter as she was left at the alter; “ ‘ Your heart, broken ‘ ”, bitter against men.
Despite the many similarities between the two characters there are also some major differences.
Mrs Rutter is very hypocritical regarding herself; “ ‘ I’ve got sympathy with young people ‘ ”, ironic as she left young people to die.
Miss Havisham on the other hand is more direct and doesn’t make any effort to hide her intentions; “ ‘ Beggar him ‘ ”, overall very cruel and insensitive.
Mrs Rutter also shows no remorse for her actions; “Mrs Rutter’s chins shook”, is proud and amused at what she has done.
Miss Havisham is much more driven and calculating than Mrs Rutter; “ ‘ I want diversion and I have done with men and women. Play ‘ ”, insensitive and controlling of Pip’s feelings.
Mrs Rutter unlike Miss Havisham acts false even at the end of the story; “ ‘ That was nice of you to see to my little jobs for me ‘ ”, consistent in her friendly demeanour throughout the whole story even though it is false.
Miss Havisham on the other hand is much sterner and dismissive; “ ‘ There! There! I know nothing of days of the week; I know nothing of weeks of the year. come again after six days. You hear? ‘ “, incredibly disconcerted with others and makes no efforts to disguise her feelings and intentions.
The two women characters overall are very similar, both with the opinion that because they have lost love they have the right to destroy life in different ways. They both also live vicariously through the two girl characters and are both incredibly bitter and dismissive of the feelings of others.
The underlining difference between the two characters is that Mrs Rutter is very deceptive and deceiving; she hides her callous and evil nature behind a pleasant demeanour.
Miss Havisham on the other hand makes no effort to disguise her intention of making Estella capable of destroying men.
Overall the two women characters in both pieces of text are essential to the morals of the pieces, Mrs Rutter defies our ideas of stereotypical old women in her pleasant demeanour, whereas Miss Havisham contradicts our ideas by overall her overall demeanour and ways.
In both pieces of text the two young girl characters are important in the overall morals of the texts.
There are many similarities between Sandra in ‘The Darkness Out There’ and Estella in ‘Great Expectations’.
Sandra is very stereotypical of a teenage girl, and is extremely vain; “she looked down at her own legs”, very confident of herself.
Similarly Estella is portrayed in ‘Great Expectations’ as being pretty; “ ‘ I think she is very pretty ‘ “, sees herself as superior because of her good looks.
Sandra also comes across as patronising; “ ‘ mum said boys matured later in many ways ‘ ”, views herself as superior and more mature which is ironic as she is the opposite.
Estella also is portrayed as patronising towards Pip; “ ‘ He calls the knaves Jacks this boy ‘ ”, insulting and wrongly views herself highly, this is the affect Miss Havisham has had on Estella.
In ‘The Darkness Out There’ Sandra is portrayed as being insulting and judgmental; “ ‘ some people you only need to look at to know they’re not up to much’ ”, disregarding of Kerry.
Estella like Sandra also is insulting towards Pip; “ ‘ And what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots! ‘ ”, “Boy”, insulting and disregarding of Pip.
In ‘The Darkness Out There’ Sandra is also very egotistical; “ ‘ Actually I did ‘ ”, considers herself better than Kerry, more intelligent and mature, although she is neither.
Estella similarly is egotistical and proud; “ ‘ With this boy? Why he is a common labouring boy ‘ “, views herself superior to Pip even though they are of similar age.
Sandra is also portrayed as being easily lead; “ ‘ She’s all right. What’s wrong with her, then; ‘ “, Sandra is easily fooled by Mrs Rutter and isn’t perceptive like Kerry.
Estella also has been easily lead by Miss Havisham although she doesn’t realise it; “ ‘ You can break his heart ‘ ”, Estella can’t see that Miss Havisham is using her as a weapon to get revenge on men.
As well as similarities, there are also significant differences between Estella and Sandra.
Sandra is very idealistic; “She would go to places like on travel brochures”, considers that she will live a perfect life.
Estella however is much colder than Sandra; “ ‘ you do, you have been crying, til you are half bind, and you are near crying now ‘ ”, contemptuous, takes pleasure in seeing Pip weak.
Sandra dramatically changes at the end of the story and feels guilty; “you could get people all wrong”, realises that things are not always as they see.
Estella however doesn’t change, and is scornful towards the end of the chapter; “She threw the cards down on the table when she had won them all, as if she despised them for having been won of me”, shows great disdain for Pip.
Towards the end of ‘The Darkness Out There’ Sandra also sees Kerry in a different light; “ he had got older and larger”, sees her views of Kerry were insignificant, she is now more realistic; “but everything is not as it appears oh no”.
Overall the two characters of Estella and Sandra are very similar. They are both vain, proud and patronising of characters in the pieces of text.
The biggest difference between the two characters is that Sandra changed at the end of ‘The Darkness Out There’ and became more realistic and mature.
Although Estella did not change greatly in chapter 8 of ‘Great Expectations’, she becomes more realistic and aware of how she has been used at the end of the novel.
Like the two women characters in both pieces of text, Sandra and Estella are of great importance to the morals of both pieces. Sandra substantiates our images of a stereotypical teenage girl, whereas Estella proves our ideas in some ways but also disproves them.
In the two pieces of text the two boy characters of Pip and Kerry are very influential with regard to the morals of both pieces. There are a number of similarities between the two characters, both in their physical appearances and their personalities.
In ‘The Darkness Out There’ Kerry’s physical appearance is stereotypical of a teenage boy; “His chin was explosive with acne; at his middle, his jeans yawned from his T-shirt, showing pale chilly flesh”, image of Kerry as being scruffy and low in Sandra’s estimations.
Similarly, in ‘Great Expectations’ Pip is described as being nothing more than a common labouring boy; “ ‘ And what coarse hands he has. And what thick boots! ‘ ”, like Sandra in ‘The Darkness Out There’, Estella thinks little of Pip and describes him as scruffy.
Kerry is also portrayed as being very perceptive; “ ‘ I don’t go much on her ‘ ”, he is a good judge of character and sees through Mrs Rutters’ facade before Sandra does.
Pip is also described as being perceptive; “I discovered a singular affinity between seeds and corduroys”, more perceptive and aware of specific surroundings, although he knows there is something strange about Miss Havisham he is too courteous to question it.
In ‘The Darkness Out There’ Kerry is portrayed as being respectful and helpful towards Mrs Rutter; “ ‘ What’d you like us to do ‘”, good-natured and hard working.
Pip in a similar way is respectful towards Estella and Miss Havisham; “ ‘ After you Miss ‘ “, depicts Pip as respectful of others and their social class.
Another similarity between Pip and Kerry is that they are very emotional, especially towards the end of both pieces of text.
Kerry shows emotion when he considers Mrs Rutter’s actions; “he shook slightly”, “ ‘ That poor sod ‘ ”, depicts Kerry as caring and considerate of others.
Pip also shows emotions towards the end of chapter 8 of ‘Great Expectations’; “tears started to my eyes”, this also represents a difference in the two characters as Pip turns his emotions to tears and Kerry holds it back.
Both Pip and Kerry appear to be quite good-natured and content with life.
Kerry is kind towards people; “ ‘ Didn’t know you were in the good neighbours ‘ ”, polite and pleasant.
Pip is also perceived as being content and good-natured; “ ‘ I think she is very pretty ‘ ”, Pip is kind when talking of Estella, even though she is nasty and diminishing to him.
Despite their many similarities, Pip and Kerry also have a great number of differences between them.
In ‘The Darkness Out There’, Kerry is portrayed as being focussed and mature; “ ‘ I’m leaving, July. They’re taking me on at the garage, the Blue Star, I been helping out there on and of, before ‘ “, Kerry is focussed on his future and is more mature than Sandra, even though she doesn’t see that.
Pip on the other hand describes himself as childlike in chapter 8 of ‘Great Expectations’; “it may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small and its rocking – horse stands as many hands high according to scale, as a big – boned Irish hunter”, Pip calls himself a child unlike Kerry, small things hurt him. At he end of chapter 8 of ‘Great Expectations Pip is still confused and sensitive, this changes at the end of the novel where Pip is portrayed as mature and less bitter.
In ‘The Darkness Out There’ Kerry is described as not being self – conscious; “……his jeans yawned from his T-shirt”, confident and unconcerned about what others think of him.
Pip however is very self – conscious at the end of ‘Great Expectations ; “…… that I was a common labouring – boy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick”, Pip has become aware of his class and his image because of Estella and her behaviour towards him.
Kerry’s character in ‘The Darkness Out There’ is unaccepting of Mrs Rutter; “ ‘ I’m not going near that old bitch again ‘ ”, disgusted at Mrs Rutter’s actions.
Pip however in ‘Great Expectations’ is very pitiful of Miss Havisham; “ ‘I am very sorry for you ‘ ”, accepting and considerate of Miss Havisham.
Overall, the main similarities between Pip and Kerry are that they are both sensitive, perceptive and good-natured. There are also differences between Pip and Kerry, Pip is childlike and immature, whereas Kerry is much more mature and focussed. Kerry is also much more angry an unaccepting of Mrs Rutter, whereas Pip is much more considerate towards Miss Havisham.
In conclusion, ‘The Darkness Out There’ and ‘Great Expectations’ are both moral tales contemporary to their writing date and audience.
The settings in both pieces of text are similar in some aspects such as isolation and living in the past, however the setting in ‘The Darkness Out There’ of a warm and cosy cottage and ‘Great Expectations’ of a deserted and cold house differ.
Despite the differing settings they both still relate back to the morals behind the pieces of text. Both pieces of text have very similar themes such as the supernatural and hidden secrets which provide irony and relate to he morals of the text.
Language is probably the most differing device between ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘the Darkness Out There’ as Penelope Lively uses short, simple sentences and dialogue to portray characters, settings and atmospheres in ‘The Darkness Out There’. Charles Dickens on the other hand uses long, complicated sentences and description rather than dialogue to portray characters, settings and atmosphere in ‘Great Expectations’
There are many similarities between the characters in the two pieces of text, both having the some character base – one old woman character and two young people characters.
Mrs Rutter and Miss Havisham both believe that because they have lost love they have the right to destroy life. Both characters are portrayed in different ways in order to portray irony and hidden morals within the pieces of text.
Both Estella and Sandra portray stereotypical images of superior and image – conscious teenage girls. They are very similar and help to draw the morals of he texts together in their behaviour with different characters.
Similarly, Pip and Kerry effective characters, and are portrayed as being good – natured and caring. They also add to the morals and ironies of the texts.
Overall, ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘The Darkness Out There’ are effective moral tales with hidden meanings and ironies expressed through characters, setting and language devices.
