In Chapter 1 the novel starts off by Pip introducing himself by telling us how he ended up being called Pip. He then goes on to tell us about his sister '...Mrs Joe Gargery, who married the Blacksmith...' He then tells us about his parents. He tells us that he has never seen his parents or his siblings as they had died. He goes on to tell us about how he imagines his parents to look in appearance. His father being '...Square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair...' and his mother being '...freckled and sickly...' he describes to us what he thinks about his siblings and how they were born. He then starts off the next paragraph saying '...Ours was the marsh country...'going on to describe the courtyard and eventually coming to start to cry when suddenly a scary looking man comes towards him. He is frightened and starts to run. Eventually the man picks him up and tilts him so hard that he feels sick. Furthermore the convict threatens to eat his liver and heart after ripping it out. He tells us how terrified he is as well as telling us describing to us what this convict was doing to him. He describes to us the manner in which this convict has appeared and his appearance such as is clothes and how rough they were. We know from the novel that he is a convict because Pip describes to us the type of clothes he’s wearing and he tells us that it is the type in which people who were in jail wore which was stripes of black and white. Now you think about. Imagine you were some place in which you now very well, you’ve known this place for ages and it’s always deserted and one day this ugly looking man in rough clothes, wet, and angry grabs you and starts to threaten you. In these days they are mostly likely to get a knife out and threaten you but in those days not many knives could actually harm anyone. Think, how you would react, what would you do and how you will feel.
In this chapter we find out who the novel is actually based on and from whose perspective are we looking from. We read on to find out about his past and his family life. We find out where the first chapter is set in and where he was at that present time in which he was writing at. We find out that his parents have died as well as his siblings leaving him the only child as well as his elder sister. We find out how he imagines his parents to actually look like from him looking at the gravestone and the knowledge he has about them. He then has that drastic meeting with the convict. The chapter is left there as a cliff-hanger so we will read on and find out more.
Nowadays convicts can rarely escape as there is more then police watching over them. Inventions have been popping up more and more to make technology to keep a watch over criminals. But in those days you only had a bar and someone watching over you that was it. There would be more criminals who in those days could easily escape but in this century that would be impossible unless you got an appeal and fought in court. In those days the court did not judge everyone. The peasants would have never been taken to court but just thrown into the jail.
This first chapter is very good as we get Pips viewpoint which gives us more depth in what he is actually going through. Throughout this chapter it has been very descriptive as well making it exciting at the end for more tension and to make the reader to read on more, it introduces to us the main characters such as Pip, and the convict whom later on we will learn more about him. It gives us a great setting and it is very atmospheric.
About the second paragraph Pip shows a lot of affectation towards his dead parents and siblings by describing how he imagined them to be when they were alive and also starting to cry that he actually never got to see his parents. His sorrow was then turned into horror as this convict turned out from nowhere.
When life becomes harsh just as we start to read this novel we can see how much sorrow and loss he has had at a young age as this.
We are now going to look at Chapter 2. The chapter tells us how this convict Pip has just met in a nasty way has threatened to rip Pips heart and liver out and eat it raw. Pip then tells us how he persuaded the man to let him go for a compromise. They became to an agreement that pip will go and get the man some food and something that which will get him out the chains he is in. By getting the bread and meat Pip bets himself into trouble. He was late and his sister went mad. She started to give both of them a lecture about how she goes crazy to keep everything going well. They then get bread to eat. Nowadays bread is soft but those days it was said that the bread was as hard as rock. He sat there in a mood and then Joe looked at him and then looked away. Whilst looking away Pip had the opportunity to put the piece of bread under into his pants. When looking back Joe looked horrified that he could eat a slice of bread so quickly and in one munch, he started to talk to Pip and then Mrs Gargery overheard, she wanted to know what had happened and because none would tell, she got Joes hair and started to push his head against the wall so many times that he gave up and told about Pip eating the slice of bread in one piece without munching it. By that she made both drink tar water. In those days it was said that tar was very good for you. Well they presumed that it was good for you.
This Chapter goes on to tell us how Pips home life was. In this Chapter Charles Dickens helps us to feel sympathy for Pip by giving him such a nasty home life. He writes that Pips sister hits not only Pip but also Joe. She is very nasty towards them.
In these days it is now illegal to hit any child let alone your child. The cane has been banished and if you treat your children in a harmful manner, your children would be taken away from you. It is not situation Pip was in then not even for Joe as he got the painfulness out of both of them.
Chapter 8 is when Pip goes to meet Estella and Mrs Havisham. He was invited to go and meet her to play as it was written in the letter.
