Comparing the depiction of Men throughout Charles Dickens “Great Expectations” with Laurie Lee’s “Cider with Rosie”.

        In “Great Expectations” the main Men I am going to look at are Mr Joe, Mr Wemmick, Herbit Pocket and Magwitch the convict. Magwitch is an escaped convict from the local prison near where pip lives. The first man described in this book is on page 2 of chapter 1, it is Magwitch the convict. Pip meats him in the church yard looking at his mothers tomb stone this is the first encounter of Magwitch for Pip it would be terrifying for the young boy. Magwitch is described in this scene as “A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, broken shoes and with an old rag tied round his head”. This shows the first description of a male in “Great Expectations”. It gives the reader a very clear image of what this convict would have looked like and been like to meet in person.

The next description is one of Joe Gargery on page 6 chapter 2 of “Great Expectations”. Joe is married to Pips sister so he is Pips Brother-in-law but Pips looks up to him as his father as he does not have one. They are very good friends and spend a lot of time together. This is the description of him, “Joe was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have some how got mixed with their whites.” This is from Pips point of view and shows you what Pip thought and sees of his brother-in-law. Joe is Pips father figure, a kind of replacement for Pips Dad, which Pip looks up too.

        The next male I am going to describe is Mr Wemmick. He is Mr Jaggers clerk and lives and works in the London area. He is a poor man but is happy as he have his small castle to get away from the world and his old Dad who is dependent of him. In “Great Expectations” Mr Wemmick is frequently is involved in helping Pip in London. A description of Mr Wemmick is on page 165 chapter 21. “ Casting my eyes on Mr Wemmick as we went along, to see what he was like in the light of day, I found him to be a dry man, rather short in stature, with a square wooden face, whose expression seemed to have imperfectly chipped out with a dull-edged chisel. There were some marks in it that might have been dimples, if the material had been softer and instrument finer, but which, as it was, were only dints.” This shows what Pip thinks of Mr Wemmick when he first sees him in Mr Jaggers office in London. It is a very depictive description of Mr Wemmick and you can vividly imagine what Mr Wemmick would look like to meet in person. Mr Wemmick is closely involved in what Pip does in London and helps him financially and none-financially.

        The last male I am going to look at in “Great Expectations” is Herbert Pocket. Pip first encounter with Herbert Pocket in “Great Expectations is when they meet at Mrs Havishams after Pip has been round Mrs Havishams playing. When Pip leaves her house he runs into Herbert Pocket in which they have a play fight. This is in chapter 11  page 87, after playing at Mrs Havishams. When Pip see’s Herbert Pocket he is described as a “pale young gentleman”. Which is what he is described as for a while longer. After the fight Herbert is described as “not very healthy-having pimples on his face and breaking out of his mouth, these dreadful preparation appalled me”. The next time pip meats Herbert is in London when they a older and about to share a flat together in London. Herbert is now described as “still a pale young gentleman. He had not a handsome face, but it was better than handsome: but extremely amiable and cheerful. His figure was a little ungainly”. This description of Herbert is more descriptive and is described in a grown-up way instead of the way he was described earlier in the book. This is on page 172 chapter 22.

In “Cider with Rosie” there are not many men in the book as it is a female dominated book and there are very few males in the book as his father deserted him and the rest of his family at an early age of so he dose not have many males in his life. The only males he really sees in his life at an early age is at school, his brothers and men around the village he lives in. described main men that I am going to look at that are involved someway with Laurie Lee’s life are mostly in the chapter “The Uncles”. The first male in this chapter to be described is