How does Charles Dickens make the characters in his novel, Great Expectations, memorable?

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How does Charles Dickens make the characters in his novel, Great Expectations, memorable? Great Expectations the novel by Charles Dickens, follows a young orphaned boy’s journey through life. The little orphan Pip, has an insignificant existence, just another common labouring boy, however a twist occurs with the discovery of a new fortune from a mysterious source and he becomes a boy of ‘great expectations’.  The novel is set in England in the 1800’s it is made clear that the novel is set in this period as Pip states as a young boy, referring to his parents ‘their time was long before the days of photographs’. This suggests that the novel is set roughly in the 1840’s. Later, when Pip has grown up the story seems to be set at the same time as the novel was written, in 1860.         Dickens uses many clever devices to make the characters in his novel come alive and stick in the readers mind. He uses vivid description and powerful language, striking dialogue and characters brimming with personality, to make them very memorable.  He did this, because at the time, Great Expectations was not published as one whole novel, but as separate chapters in a magazine, as many people at the time could not afford to purchase a full novel. Thusly in order to keep the readers interested and to make sure they kept buying the issues, he had to make the story exiting and interesting, as well as memorable, so that the narrative stayed bold in the readers mind.                        The novel begins with a narrative by the protagonist: Pip and continues this way throughout; this makes the reader feel more attached to him as it makes the book feel more personal, and because we feel attached to Pip, we remember him. He is an unforgettable character, as he plays the main role and tells his story to the reader, we are given an insight into his mind, conscience and deepest feelings, this makes us feel even more close to him.   Dickens also makes us grow fond of Pip by creating sympathy for him. The reader feels sorry for him and immediately feels close to him and wants him to do well. We can see his vulnerability in the first chapter by the way he reacts to Magwitch; he is terrified ‘ “O! Don’t cut my throat sir”, I pleaded in terror, “pray don’t do it sir”’. It is clear that the reader would also develop a liking for Pip because he is polite and humble, we can see from this quote and throughout Chapter 1, during which, he calls Magwitch, a terrifying convict, sir.  The name Pip suggests small, like a small seed, vulnerable, but with potential, just like Pip, who has ‘Great Expectations’. Also the way that Pip struggles to pronounce his name ‘Philip Pirrip’ shows him to be small and vulnerable, and creates more sympathy for the character.                                 Dickens named his main character carefully, because names of characters can have a big impact on the reader. He does this in his other novels also, take for example Mr Bumble from Oliver twist, a greedy, clumsy character.                                                                         In addiction; the fact that Pip is an orphan relates to the readers at the time, because many children were orphans in the 1800’s and the many were treated cruelly and unjustly. It is the fact that Pip is an orphan (this even more realistic for the time) that creates even more sympathy to be felt by the Victorian reader. Dickens at the time wanted to reform society through the medium of his novels (he was influenced to do this because of feelings from his childhood- his father was imprisoned and he was forced to work in a shoe blackening
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factory) he uses his storytelling power to convey a powerful message, almost like a fable. He uses Great Expectations to question the structure of Victorian society.   From the beginning of the novel, Pip is taken into our hearts, and therefore he remains in our hearts and minds.                                                                 The atmosphere that Dickens surrounds Pip with adds to his overall character enormously. The impressively constructed and frightening environment that he is surrounded by, adds to the character as it creates a link between an environment and a character, for example the marshes remind us of him. The marshes are an effective backdrop ...

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