Main Body:
Dickens as a writer started off by writing story’s in magazines owned by other people and after much success went on to work for himself writing novels. After one story which wasn’t popular with readers his magazine sales dropped resulting in writing for a wide target audience. The best way to write for a large target audience was to create Dickens’s tragi-comedy ‘Great Expectations’ including romance, mystery and comedy. Dickens knew the story would be a success as previous similar stories ‘Oliver Twist’ & ‘David Copperfield’ were successful. Dickens’s views on many topics are reflected in his novels such as his views of justice and the law system that ‘lawyers were a breed of men, feeding off misfortune of others’ and his views of class and wealth that ‘wealth was a corrupter of peoples characters’ also reflected in the novel.
The first person narration style which Dickens uses is effective in the novel as it allows us as readers to know Pip’s thoughts and feelings throughout experiences and therefore also contributes towards the suspense in the story. The reader can tell that the novel was wrote in 1860 by the way language such as the way that Pip’s sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery goes by her husbands name, by Joe Gargery’s career as a blacksmith and also by the way that it is obvious that there wasn’t a very long lifespan as Pip’s mother, farther and younger brothers had all passed away at young ages before Pip even knew them.
Dickens sets the scene and the isolated atmosphere by use of a wide range of vocabulary and literacy techniques. “Ours was the marsh country, down the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles off the sea” sets the atmosphere of distance and isolation and is also symbolic of Pips expanding horizons. “Bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard” also contributes to the atmosphere of isolation within the surrounding of grass weeds and animals. During describing the atmosphere, Dickens uses personification in “wind was rushing” and metaphors in “small bundle of shivers growing afraid…” as a build up to the suspense when the convict appears.
Pip’s character is introduced into the novel firstly by stating where the name Pip came from and continues to explain that his mother, Farther and younger brothers have previously died, leaving Pip living with his older sister Mrs. Joe Gargery and her husband. Pips name is significant as the reader associates him with a pip (small, frail and weak) and is also associated with growth and development in regards to pips childhood and upbringing. Pips family situation is also significant and helps with suspense as Pip is seen by the reader as a small child who is isolated and has the reader’s sympathy which creates the build up of suspense when the convict appears due to the reader’s sympathy. Another factor which contributes to the suspense in the opening is pips imagination with the questions he asks himself about his dead parents, “what were they like” because this also helps with gaining the readers sympathy. Pips imagination helps to build up suspense when pip refers to the convict as the pirate from a statue come to life and walking back to hang himself up as “it gave me a terrible turn when I thought so” also helps to get the readers sympathy.
Magwitch is introduced into the novel at the churchyard as a bully and quite an intimidating sort of person. The impression given to the reader of magwitch is very negative as from the iron around his ankle suggests that he is an escaped convict and the way that he picks on Pip as an innocent victim who already has the readers sympathy because of his family circumstances. He is shown as quite a bullying person as when he is told that Pips mother is also at the churchyard he attempts to run away before realising that his mother is actually there buried which after this point he returns to threaten pip for his life if he doesn’t get him a file and some food. Pip reacts to him in the most sensible way in that situation that he just agrees to do what magwitch wants. Pip was scared of him and felt intimidated by him and his threats to cut out his heart and liver as readers are made aware of in the way that Pip ran home after Magwitch had finished speaking to him. The character of Magwitch helps a great deal as far as creating suspense is concerned as the reader has the image of this rugged convict, making threats to isolated, young Pip who would obviously be terrified giving a lot of suspense and raising questions in the readers mind regarding “what will he do to Pip”?
In the final description of the marshes at the end of the chapter there is a build up of suspense created by the way that Pip is agitated and just wants to get away leaving the reader with suspense of what is going to happen and questions of “will he get home safely”? The reader is able to see that Pip is terrified in the way that he is paranoid and keeps looking around and looking over his shoulders and the scenery is all described as just horizontal lines. This creates suspense as the reader is given the impression that Pip just can’t get home fast enough.
Conclusion:
Throughout the opening chapter, several questions are raised in the reader’s mind such has “how does Pip feel about family circumstances”, “What is pips life at home with his sister like” however the most important questions which are raised through the use of suspense are “who is the convict and what does he want from Pip” and “Will Pip be safe or will he come into any harm or even be killed”. Both of these questions are narrative hooks and create suspense for the reader to want to read on to find the answers. Overall I feel that Dickens’s use of suspense is very successful in the way that it send a lot of questions to the readers minds and really does make the reader want to read on to get their questions answered.
