The quote shows that he has a guilty gut feeling, as he doesn’t want to let his mother down by proving his father correct (because the father saw he was faking his leg injury).
Throughout the extract of ‘Great Expectations’ the scenery is, in its entirety, exterior it also shows how he is feeling:
“That dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that low leaden line beyond was the river; and that distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea”
The way the narrator describes the setting shows us that he is feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed with what appears to be eerie and threatening. This is confirmed as in the next few words it shows ‘Pip’ breaking into tears and crying.
In juxtaposition to the ‘Great Expectations’, The Genius’s setting is set in many different places. However the main description of the setting in this book is:
“Our house was in a square between two roads, one terraced above the
other […] follow the upper road for a mile past the Barrack, turn left on any of
the intervening roads and lanes, and return almost without leaving the pavement”
Besides describing the setting of his house and the layout of his town, it suggests that he is, although being rather a cissy (as found out in an earlier part of the story), he is surprisingly adventurous and reveals a more exciting side to his character. Contradicting this, the extract from his book puts no emotion into his writing and this brings the more exciting side of his persona back to earth. However, this quote underlines the fact that this story is fictional. This is because it states that he knows the surrounding miles of his house. It shows that this approximately 4 year-old (as he is not yet at school) is permitted to wander for miles away from home under no supervision.
There are two points in ‘Great Expectations’ were it is obvious that it is written from the perspective of an adult recalling his childhood, these points are:
“My infant tongue”
“I drew a childish conclusion”
These two quotes show the narrator looking back on his youth and, it would also suggest that he is laughing at it and himself as a child. This is because of how his life and his knowledge has changed (later in the story).
Similarly there is, in ‘The Genius’ evidence of an adult perspective. This is seen in the first paragraph:
“Some kids are cissies by nature, but I was a cissy by conviction”
This is showing the narrator making excuses for his childhood softness, however, it is unknown whether the narrator changes dramatically in his later life, this is unlike in ‘Great Expectations’. Another strong point backing this up is that the language used is very much like that of an adult.
Towards the beginning of ‘Great Expectations’ the narrator expresses a belief that the reader (being better educated) knows to be untrue:
“I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trouser pockets”
The immature narrator appears to believe that babies are born fully clothed. However a reader of this story (nowadays, and educated people [possibly doctors] of that time) would have a greater knowledge of childbirth and would find such a thought comical. Therefore Dickens’s use of a 1st person narrator here is used to gain sympathy, and appeal to the readers sense of humour.
There is also evidence of this in ‘The Genius’. Here the author, O’Connor portrays one belief of the narrator throughout the story, although it is never certified:
“So far our town hadn’t had a proper genius and I intended to supply the deficiency”.
Johnson Martin, the narrator and character, has great faith in the fact that he is a genius. However he continuously believes such basic explanations without questioning the reader is made to see that Johnson is just a cissy, not a genius as he so strongly believes.
In the 1st paragraph of ‘Great Expectations’ it is evident that Pip, has a every childish view upon the world:
“So I called myself Pip and came to be called Pip”
The use of a first person narrator here shows Pip to be very simple and that Pip expects the world to be correspondingly simple, like him.
Johnson Martin, thinks that he has a mind as good as an adult, however the reader is lead to disagree with him, as he believes explanations, such as:
“The fact that mummies had a engine and daddies had a starting handle
that made it work”.
Johnson strongly believes the above quote. This is because it was told to him by his mother, whom he trusts. However, the use of a first person narrator here makes Johnson seem to have an immature imagination. Nowadays parents tend to go straight to the point and give the explanation when it’s requested. Most children are also not quite so simple to believe such a poor explanation.
Character descriptions are also different in the two stories. The first character after Pip himself is the convict. His introduction is abrupt and contains a dramatic element of shock.
“A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg”.
This gives the impression that Pip is afraid (he has good reason to be too!), but it also states how he is dressed, what he is and tells the reader where he comes from. The description is probably quite reliable, as a convict would appear very scary to a child. It would be remembered vividly as it is a very strong image and this is only a young lad.
The best description of a new character in ‘The Genius’ is when Johnson introduces Miss Cooney:
“She was a sad looking woman with grey hair, high cheekbones and toothless gums”.
In comparison to Dickens’s use of the narrator here, Johnson only describes her facial features. The details given are of fair quantity so it would seem quite reliable, similarly to Great Expectations.
Often in ‘Great Expectations Pips knowledge of the world is unreliable. Therefore in some cases the reader has to acknowledge the fact that the narrator is a child, for example:
“The church jumped over its own weather cock”.
Here, because of the narrators’ unreliability, we have to take into account that a convict is shaking him. Therefore, you can forgive the narrator for over exaggerating.
During the course of ‘The Genius’ Johnson Martin ‘thinks’ he has fallen in love, with Una. Whereas he has no perception of the matter at all:
“A woman has only to shut up and let me talk long enough for me to
fall head over ears in love with her”
However, we know that Una may just be being polite and allowing him to talk, no matter how much he bores her. Therefore we can’t trust his judgement on such matters as this.
Dickens uses the first person narrator to invite the reader to laugh at his character (Pip). He does this using Pip’s description of his dead parents. This is not a comical subject but Pip’s simplistic view of his parents is quite humorous:
“The shape of the letters on my father’s [grave], gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair”
This description is made by his interpretation of the gravestone’s lettering. This is humorous, however we still empathize with him, as he has no reference of what his family looked like, so he imagines what they were like when alive. This quote also shows that Pip has a vivid imagination.
There are a few comical moments in ‘The Genius’. The one which stands out the most is when, Una has told him where and how her brother was killed (in a R.T.A). However, Johnson, instead of having pity on her wants more information:
“Was it a Ford or a Morris?”
This is inappropriate for the time and seeing it so wrongly placed appeals to the reader’s sense of humour.
The narrator, Phillip Pirrip or ‘Pip’ takes the reader on a journey of understanding in this extract from ‘Great Expectations’. In my opinion he achieves this goal. Pip starts off as an immature simple-minded child who, through many incidents gains knowledge and a more adult view upon the world. One of the main incidents is the realism of discovering that the whole of his family was dead. The cruelty of the world dawns on him and this is shown to him as within seconds of this finding he comes face to face with a convict. Taking these points into account I can say that the reason for Dickens success is through his use of the first person narrator by using his past, humour, surprise and a strange sense of danger. These entice the reader to read on as they make the journey that little bit more real and a whole lot more exciting.
Frank O’Connor tries to match Dickens’s success in his own journey of understanding with the story entitled ‘The Genius’. However in my view he falls short of this target by a country mile. Johnson, during the story, discovers many details, although his knowledge does not seem to grow. However unfortunately O’Connor’s fictional character is in no sticky situations or trouble and overall the book lacks any surprise or pure excitement so that this journey never really gets started before its over. On the whole the story has nothing going for it and only succeeds in underling what a self-centered, stuck-up, boastful child Johnson Martin is.
To conclude, I can say that that the initial differences between the two stories is the authors use of a first person narrator. Dickens’s use of the narrator gains the reader’s sympathy and his use of Pip’s character makes him a loveable one.
O’Connor however uses Johnson to take the reader on a journey, which results in his eventual realization that he has a poor knowledge of the world and its content. Dickens also takes the reader on a journey, though this is a less significant part of the extract.
The most evident similarity between the two stories is the fact that both of the narrators are children. The main impact of this is that it gives an immature outlook upon the story. However the similarities between both authors use of the first person narrator is shown by Pip and Johnson often believing something the reader knows is wrong. An example of this in both cases is their knowledge of babies and how they are made. Dickens uses a dangerous and threatening atmosphere. This impacts the story by making it more exciting and it also encourages the reader to continue reading. Whereas, O’Connor lets the reader decide whether to love, sympathize or despise Johnson Martin. The trouble with ‘The Genius’ is that Johnson is in such a surprisingly normal setting.
The most important thing that is gained by using a first person narrator is that it creates a sense of mystery around the story line. This is because you only receive information from one characters viewpoint. This single source of information takes us through the story, even if the reader knows something the narrator is blind to. The first person narrator inflicts on us his own view of people. This is because he is our sole source of knowledge.
