Great Expectations Coursework

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 Great Expectations Course Work:

Introduction:

We are studying the novel Great Expectations which was written by Charles Dickens. In this novel Dickens shows his concerns about injustices within the society that he lives in and he intends to describe to us what his childhood and past life may have been like. This novel is written in first person narration. The form it’s written in is called bildungsroman. It means the protagonist of the book i.e. Pip is now grown up and is looking back on his life. I intend to compare the similarities between Chapter 1 and Chapter 20 focusing on the differences between both of them.

Section 2:

In the beginning of the novel Pip is standing lonely and desolate in a graveyard overlooking the graves of his parents and five brothers. He appears poor and vulnerable and lives with his sister and Joe Gargery (blacksmith). Since his parents died his sister has been raising him by hand. Dickens uses the weather and the fact that Pip feels lonely to create a frightening atmosphere and environment around Pip.

When Pip is standing in the graveyard he is scared and caught by a convict called Magwitch. Magwitch catches Pip and hangs him in thin air whilst asking him his name and where he lives. Pip is terrified yet he replies with him name and tells Magwitch that he lives with the blacksmith. Magwitch shakes Pip a couple of times to empty out his pockets and he searches for any food he may be carrying. He then threatens Pip and makes him promise to bring him food tomorrow. He makes him swear he shall not tell anyone his location or a man Magwitch claims as his accomplice will find Pip and tear out his heart and his liver. Magwitch describes this man as brutal and says it will be hard to keep him away from Pip if Pip doesn’t follow his instructions. Pip returns to his house and is insulted and hit by his sister while Joe defends him from her. He’s told to steal some food for the escaped convict. Dickens wants the reader to fell sorry for both Pip and Magwitch in this Chapter as they are both feeling lonely and need help.

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Section 3:

Pip and Magwitch and both very vulnerable and scared characters. Pip is scared of Magwitch not knowing that he in turn is also scared of the soldiers that have been sent out to capture him. Pip gives the file and the food to Magwitch telling him that there is also another escaped convict in the nearby area and that the soldiers are close by searching as the gunshots are being heard by everyone.

Quotations: Missing

Dickens intends to reflect the real Victorian society by showing that instead of       Mrs .Joe sending ...

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