How Charles Dickens builds up Sympathy for Pip at the start of the novel 'Great Expectations' through the use of first person narration, the setting and his encounter with Magwhich.

Katerina Antoni

Great Expectations

Charles Dickens builds up Sympathy for Pip at the start of the novel ‘Great Expectations’ through the use of first person narration, the setting and his encounter with Magwhich. Pip is presented as a vulnerable child in a threatening environment. The reader identifies with Pip in his role as victim when the convict begins his unprovoked attack on the young child.

Dickens use of first person narration immediately involves the reader by connecting them to the central character that ‘came to be called Pip’. Dickens manipulates his readers by projecting the depressing and often violent story through the eyes of an innocent child. The reader is introduced to Pip in the first line of the book where the child is sitting in a graveyard. In a melancholy sentence the child reveals that he never saw his mother or father and therefore ‘never saw any likeness to either of them’. It is from here that we grasp of Pip’s tragic situation, an orphan sitting amongst the five graves of his siblings. The attack Pip faces from the convict leaves the reader feeling protective of the central character that they have grown attached to. By creating a lovable and innocent character, Dickens has the reader entrapped; this is a powerful tool, which toys with the reader’s emotions. To elaborate upon this point one must take into account at what stage the information about Pip is learned. The book begins with Pip sharing information about his own situation, but then turns to an unsavoury encounter, which he faces. The reader sees the way in which Pip reacts to others. Although more subtle, this shows the reader that Pip is a polite young boy but does not tell them as such.

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Set in ‘the dark flat wilderness, beyond the churchyard’ with wind and sea ‘rushing’ one can assume only the use of pathetic fallacy. To suggest however that using pathetic fallacy weakens the story, making it predictable would be untrue. For the reader has already been captured by a world created by Dickens. A world so strange and mythical that it mirrors the rhythm of the story. The weather appearing less harsh or the surroundings more idyllic when described as ‘among the alder-trees and pollards’. When Magwhich leaves Pip, Dickens emphasises the ‘brambles’ and green mounds’. The setting is to a reader in twenty-first Centaury London almost alien. Although if thought of metaphorically everyone has been to the graveyard. A place dismal and dull but connected with happiness. A place where one goes to feel an emotion not usually felt. It is from the graveyard that the reader identifies with Pip even in the slightest way. It is from here that the reader decides that they care about what happens to Pip because Pip is a personified emotion that they possess.

We are first introduced to the violent Magwhich through his shouting in a ‘terrible voice’ for Pip to ‘hold his noise. The ‘fearful man’ is described as being ‘all in course grey’ with a ‘great iron on his leg’. This prepares the audience for what is about to happen and the tension slowly builds. Dickens makes a point of describing that Magwhich has been ‘soaked’, ‘smothered’, ‘lamed’, ‘cut’ ‘stung’, ‘torn’ and although these words describe his physical appearance they make a mark on his personality and of what the reader should expect form him. Magwhich is an extreme contrast from Pip’s clean-cut innocence and the two characters almost balance each other out, so even in the beginning of the book the reader can tell that these two characters are part of a wider spectrum.

Magwhich is also described as a man, who ‘limped’, ‘shivered’, ‘glared’ and ‘growled’. His behaviour is savage and the reader can gage that he hasn’t had much human contact. The language he uses is violent and blunt:

‘You get me a file…and you get me whittles…and you bring ‘em both to me

or I’ll have you heart and liver out.’

This tells us that Magwhich is not a gentleman, we know this from the way he constructs his sentences and from his accent. This should not make a difference to the reader because the way in which a gentleman may treat Pip could be worse but because Magwhich uses violence so boldly and his speech falters he in the reader’s mind is immediately going to be bad because he is not aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t fit in.

Magwhich behaves with caution and ‘made a short run’ when he misunderstood where Pip’s mother was, thinking that she was alive and near. This shows the reader that although Magwhich is rough toward Pip he would not be violent to another stranger for example his mother. It also shows that Magwhich is more vulnerable than his exterior will allow. The way in which he turns Pip upside down shows that he enjoys feeling powerful which may mean that he has been repressed which the reader knows is true as the iron on his leg points him out to be a convict.

Pip’s reaction to Magwhich is not unexpected; it is that of a naïve child brought up by hand and eager to please. The reader can tell that Pip, although frightened has not grasped the extent of his encounter with Magwhich and that although he appears foolish he is doing what he has been raised to do – obey. Pip ‘pleaded in terror’ whilst Magwhich merely ‘said’ indicates Pip’s fear and establishes the power Magwhich has and will have over Pip.

Dickens ends the first chapter with the central character running home without stopping. He creates a tension so vivid it makes the reader question the plot, feeling eager to find out more. By this time the reader feels protective of Pip, they feel connected to him and almost want to mother him because he possesses a tiny bit of themselves, whether it be youth or life or hope. Pip is the unlikely hero but because of his naivety, people cannot dislike him. No one can dislike a person who doesn’t mean harm and for this reason readers like Pip. The end of chapter one leaves readers on a cliffhanger, it leaves them wondering what will happen if Pip goes back to see Magwhich or if he tells his family about his encounter. Either way it tells us that from the beginning Pip cannot be loyal to his own interests and to his family and that he must decide which is more important to him.