Great Expectations

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Jess Brooks                                             Great Expectations                                                                       10K

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

  • Visualise the Setting
  • Understand and appreciate the characters more fully
  • Learn more about Dickens 19th century world

Charles Dickens is a very well established author and many of his books are world-famous. He grew up in poverty, and his father, John, got into major debt, and as well as all of his household belongings being sold, he was thrown into the workhouse. Charles was forced to leave school to support his mother, Elizabeth, and sisters, and to insure that they did not end up where his father was. Charles worked at Warren's Blackening Factory. It was this personal experience that influenced Charles to write such books as 'Great Expectations' and 'A Christmas Carol'.

The significant chapters in great Expectations are 1,3, and 8. These are where the main storylines unfold. Chapter one - pip is introduced and you hear about his family history. You learn that his mother and five brothers have died. You get a very detailed description about the country where Pip lives and you also meet Magwitch, the escaped convict. He asks pip to bring him a file and some whittles (food). He threatens Pip with his 'friend' and says he will "...softly creep his way to him and tear him open...” (Page 8) Chapter 3 - you see Pip and Magwitch’s relationship develop during this chapter. Pip returns to the graveyard but this time he encounters another man. He thinks it is the young man, who Magwitch threatened him with, but he is wrong; that man never existed. When he finds Magwitch he gives him the food and notices how hungry he is. When Magwitch discovers that Pip has seen another man he becomes agitated and questions Pip, and asks him where he went. The last we see of Magwitch is as he is trying to file the filters off his leg. Chapter 8 - you meet Mr Pumblechook, Estella, and Miss Havisham. Pip goes to play at Miss Havisham's house and he meets Estella. He tells Miss Havisham that he thinks she is pretty but very insulting.

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You get a really good idea of the setting for this book, and you don't need to use much imagination. Charles Dickens uses a lot of detail and one of the most obvious ways is the long sentences. "...the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning ...

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