Compare the presentation of Pip and the Convict in Chapters 1 and 39 from 'Great Expectations' (when they first meet and when they are re-united) looking at; the settings; the atmosphere; the socio-historical interest and the characters themselves.

Dickens is attempting to make the reader empathize with Pip and feel sorry for him. This is so that as Pip tells the story we believe that what ever he does he is good person. By making Pip an orphan which is a life that many people would associate with loneliness Dickens has made us appreciate what we have that he doesn't and that makes us empathize with Pip. 'I pleaded in terror' Pip tells us this just after the Convict has threatened to cut his throat. By making Pip admit to being frightened, Dickens has ensured that the reader believes Pip fully. This makes Pip's future confessions of his faults 'ring true' so that as the reader we do not 'suspect' him of admitting to them purely for sympathy. Charles Dickens has cleverly manipulated the reader by doing this, because we do not feel that Pip wants our sympathy we immediately give it to him and this in turn involves us in the story.

In the first chapter, Pip meets an escaped Convict who is presented as a man who has little or no social standing. We can tell that the Convict (Abel Magwitch) doesn't have a high social standing, through the way that he is dressed and the way that he speaks. 'A man with no hat, and with broken shoes...' In the socio-historical context of the book, if a man had no hat then he was considered unimportant and indecent, with the addition of 'broken shoes' the reader can tell that he is poor or homeless. Dickens achieved this by using stereo-types, many people would think of the words: 'tramp' and 'homeless' if they were told the description of the Convict that dickens gives us. Furthermore the presentation of the Convicts' dialogue could alert the reader to a difference in his social background. In 1860 (the era the book is set in) if a man was a proper gentleman- or even polite no matter their social background- then he would speak the 'Queens' English pronouncing words properly and speaking in full sentences. Abel Magwitch however does not; 'Now lookee here... the question being whether you be let live. You know what a file is?' This quote shows us the way that the Convict speaks- in broken and not properly structured sentences. This would indicate to the reader that he is a rough and impolite person alerting us to his apparent lack of social class.

We can also learn from the way that Magwitch speaks that he is very 'imposing,' 'imperative' and at times threatening. 'Keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat!' This extract shows the lengths that the Convict is willing to go too just to try and secure his freedom. When we realise that Magwitch is willing to kill an innocent young boy just to stay free, we immediately think very little of him and take a disliking to him. This may have been Charles Dickens aim, as it will add to the atmosphere later in the story when Pip and Magwitch are reunited.

In Chapter thirty-nine, Dickens has used a repetition in weather and setting to link it to the first chapter. In the first chapter the weather is glum and in chapter thirty-nine, the weather is extremely bad 'It was wretched weather stormy and wet, stormy and wet...' This is an example of Dickens allowing the reader an insight into the story without actually telling them what is about to happen, as many people would link 'stormy weather' to something dreadful. As in the first Chapter, the bad weather is signifying the arrival of the Convict. Dickens has been clever by using this technique because he has 'conditioned' the readers' sub-consciousness into pre-empting the Convicts' appearance. This adds to the atmosphere of the book as you are starting to try and guess what is about to happen. By doing this Charles Dickens has made the reader want to read on.

In Chapter One, the Convict was the one with all the power over Pip, but in chapter thirty-nine Pips' the one with all the power over the convict. '...I should of a certainty be hanged if took.' By telling Pip this, the Convict has told him that if anyone were to find that he had come back to England then he would be hanged as he was transported for life. This is closely related to the socio-historical context of the Victorian era. There were many crimes that a man or woman would be deported for most of them in this day and age would just be laughed at, but the fact that the convict has been deported once, shows the reader that Abel Magwitch had sung to a low level in standards and morals. Once again this links in with the first chapter, as we are alerted to his lack of social class. With the knowledge that the Convict is committing a 'punishable by death' crime, Pip could turn in the Convict and get rid of him once and for all- just like in the first chapter the Convict had a chance to get rid of Pip and had indeed threatened to do so '...or I'll cut your throat!' But once again Pips' good nature comes through and he does not tell the 'authorities' about the presence of the Convict. This means that the roles of Pip and the Convict have been reversed, from Pip relying on the Convict for safety, to the Convict relying on Pip for safety. This increases the dramatical atmosphere of the book and encourages the reader to read on further.

In conclusion, I feel that Charles Dickens has used many similarities between the two chapters (one and thirty-nine) to make it easier for the reader to cotton on that the characters are the same people in both chapters, but also to make the differences between the chapters more distinguishable. For example he makes the weather similar to make the 'settings' contrast with one-an-other - marshes to city. He also has an absence of 'light' in both chapters so that the reader can notice the difference between the characters- convict with no hat to a convict with a hat, marking that he has progressed in the world and has some sort of social class. Finally I believe that Charles Dickens has made the presentation of the characters Pip and Abel Magwitch in Chapters 1 and 39 both different and similar to increase the atmospheric tension, and uses the socio-historical context of the 1860s era; the settings; and descriptions of the characters themselves to do so.

By Adam Taylor