Great Expectations - Theme of class

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        Devang Gandhi 10P

DISCUSS HOW THE THEME OF CLASS IS DEVELOPED THROUGH PIP’S VISITS TO SATIS HOUSE.

Great Expectations is a bildungsroman written in 1861 by Charles Dickens. In the novel, we follow Pip throughout the early stages of his life, as he realises his own low social status in society. Pip has a working class background and is an aspiring blacksmith, but things change and he strives for a better lifestyle. The reader sees that these are unrealistic aims as he is growing up in an averagely poor family. His ultimate aim is to become a ‘gentleman’ and a respected person in society. Class separation is a common theme running throughout all of Dickens’ novels, where all the different classes are examined and criticized. He overemphasizes the differentiation between classes using his own experiences living during those times. Dickens, himself, always had to work hard throughout his life and witnessed the divisions between classes. In Dickens’ novels, he depicts the poor as extremely destitute and barely surviving. On the other hand, the rich live a lavish and luxurious lifestyle, looking down on the working class, in his books. He tends to exaggerate them as evil and uncaring, but he is portraying life in the Victorian era. This portrayal shows the divide between hard working poor and the comfortable rich.

        Pip is a stereotypical example of the so-called ‘common’ and is a working class boy. Often we see him lesser than that, for example, when we are introduced to him for the first time, our sympathy instantly appears for him. The way we see him is pathetically sad. Whilst looking over his parents graves, in unbearably cold weather and rain, the reader feels pity for him. Dickens’ has used a variety of writing techniques, such as the weather and use of description, so that we are sorry for his circumstances. This is an example of pathetic fallacy because the weather is reflected on the mood of the main character, Pip.

Pip describes his world as a ‘universal struggle,’ and we see how Pip looks at life and how his suffering has affected this. Dickens uses the metaphor to describe him as a ‘bundle of shivers’ and this shows that he is defenceless and vulnerable. The metaphor is assertive and makes the reader understand his conditions. It becomes clear that Pip will have to break the mould of manual labour and has a lengthy journey to go before achieving his aim of becoming a ‘gentleman.’

        The first chapter is where Dickens shows off his writing skills. The narrative hook of an orphaned boy living in a dire way is enough to draw any reader’s attention. This is a typical bildungsroman opening as we see an innocent child and we’ll follow him from his childhood to maturity. He is a naïve and frail boy, referring to his mother as ‘wife of the above’ because of the message engraved on her tombstone. This also shows how uneducated he is and his lack of knowledge adds to the reader’s sympathy. Dickens uses a large sentence, with 121 words in it, to vividly describe the setting. This long sentence is effective as Dickens lists the threatening points of the location in a way that the reader would have to read it in one go. After showing Pip to be at the centre of all this, the cut used by Dickens to introduce the convict has a creepy effect.

Pip meets the Magwitch, a convict who threatens to kill him. The convict is described as ‘cut, stung, torn, limping and shivering;’ and Pip is showing Pip to fear this sort of man shows his frailty. This renders him even weaker and makes us form an ‘alliance’ with him, because of the growing sympathy that the reader is acquiring for him. Despite this, Pip calls him ‘Sir,’ and Dickens is showing that the working class did have manners and morals. Dickens describes him in such a way so that we, as readers, can empathise with him and ‘feel what he feels’ as he grows up.

        Pip is also shown as useless when he is held by the convict. Magwitch holds him and the repetition of the words “he tilted me” shows the violence being endured by Pip. Pip is unable to do anything and he is tilted over repeatedly. The repetition of “tilted” adds a forceful connotation to the scene. The way the word is forced out of the mouth adds a seriousness and aggression.

        Pip lacks any orthodox education and is tutored by Biddy, a girl only slightly better educated than himself. We can tell this when he writes a poorly constructed letter to his brother-in-law, Joe. He writes “..aN wEn i M preNgtd 2 u JO woT larX” which translates as ‘when I’m apprenticed to you Joe, what fun we’ll have.’ This shows us two things. Firstly, that Pip can barely read and write which shows that he has had insufficient schooling. Secondly, we can infer that Pip is content to be Joe’s apprentice and that he doesn’t mind following in Joe’s footsteps, when he’s older.

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Similarly to Pip, Joe also finds literacy arduous. When reading Pip’s letter, Joe can barely identify two letters: ‘J’ and ‘O’. We also see this when Joe tells Pip that he ‘accidentally held his prayer book upside down.’ From these examples, we can deduce that Pips family is uneducated.

        Even Pip agrees, at this point, that providing for the family is more vital then education, when he coheres to Joe’s philosophy that ‘somebody must keep the pot boiling.’ Pip will have to be the sole breadwinner for his family and must provide for them. This role has been forced ...

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