Dickens raises the topic of life and death in the first two paragraphs. Pip is unsure where he comes from because his views on his parent’s appearances and personalities are ‘unreasonably derived from their tombstones’ this insinuates that he never saw his parents or they died so long ago he cannot remember what they look like.
This is followed by his description of the ‘five little stone lozenges’ that were his brothers and sisters. So not only were his parents dead but also where most of his siblings. This makes us feel sympathetic towards Pip because it makes his vulnerability more prominent.
Dickens chooses to mention the ‘universal struggle’, this suggests that not only was he surrounded by death but life itself was a struggle that his brothers and sisters could not survive.
In the third paragraph Dickens describes where Pip is. ‘Marsh country’, makes you think that it is bare and that there is no life. It could also mean that Pip is lower class as rich people would not choose to live on a dank and dark marsh.
Dickens use of imagery becomes very apparent in this third paragraph. ‘Dark flat wilderness’ makes you imagine that there is nothing beyond the church yard and this though emphasises Pips loneliness. It can make you think that there is no life and nothing good surrounding Pip in the world he lives in.
Dickens makes the location seem unsafe and dangerous by saying ‘distant savage lair’ to describe the sea. The word ‘lair’ makes it seem that there could be an animal waiting there, in hiding, ‘savage’ makes this creature appear dangerous and deadly.
Magwitch is originally described as a dangerous convict, but if you look closer at the language Dickens has dropped hints that Magwitch is not all bad.
‘All in coarse grey’. This confirms that Magwitch was an outlaw, as he is dressed in a grey prison suit. These suits wouldn’t have been warm or comfortable or warm. ‘With a great iron on his leg’. This is describing the thing that would have chained him in prison. This would make walking hard and if it dug into his leg painful.
Dickens also makes it clear that Magwitch is no gentleman. ‘With no hat’. At the time Dickens wrote this every man, rich or poor, would have worn a hat to show their respectability, so therefore Magwitch’s lack of hat would show his lack of respectability.
Dickens also makes it seem like the whole world is against Magwitch. ‘Lamed by stones’, ‘Cut by flints’, ‘Stung by nettles’, ‘Torn by briars’. I think that this could also mean that Magwitch isn’t all bad but was turned that way because everything is against him.
Magwitch hasn’t got the guts to pick on some one his own size. ‘He made a short run’. He was scared of adults because he would have been weak and tired after being on the run and wouldn’t have had the strength to take on an adult. In addition if he lost against the adult he would be captured. As well as this a child would be easier to manipulate and would be less likely to tell the police. ‘
Magwitch goes easier on Pip once he knows that his parents are dead. ’Oh!’ said he, coming back’. By going easier on him it shows he has a conscience, and Pip being and orphan affects him. ‘Who’d ye live with – supposin’ your kindly let to live, which I han’t made my mind about?’
He is still trying to keep up that he is likely to kill Pip, so as to scare him into doing what he wants, but actually has no intention of doing so.
There is a certain bond between Pip and Magwitch. ‘I clung to him’. This is an almost intimate moment between the two. By bond I mean that they are both in the same situation. Both somewhat alone in the world, Pip with only his sister who beats him, and Magwitch has only the police looking for him. They are also both in a cold graveyard on Christmas Eve, a time when most people are with their family.
When Dickens wrote the story section about the young man he cleverly used language to scare. He makes the speech long and builds tension throughout. Instead of just saying ‘and I will kill you’ Magwitch makes a whole speech, drawing out each little detail about what the young man would do .‘has a secret way pecoolier to himself’, this makes you think about what he might do before he actually says it, it makes your imagination picture the worst. Great Expectations was set in the same period of time it was written in so there are links to what was happening to Dickens at the time. ‘Your heart and your liver’, ‘roasted and eaten’. Heart and liver were regular things to be eaten in the 19th century so Pip would not have found it completely unbelievable.
There is repetition of the word ‘may’ in the speech. ‘A boy may lock his door, may be warm, may tuck himself up…’ This makes it seem like no matter what Pip does he cannot hide from this man.
Magwitch tells the story to scare Pip into doing what he wants. It’s a very visual story and Pips imagination will make it seem very real and vivid.
When Magwitch leaves the scene at the end of the chapter Dickens builds tension in a description of the scene. I think that the scene could be a reflection of how Pip is feeling. Dickens starts off with a use of colour. ‘Long black’, ‘long angry red lines’, ‘dense black’. Black is repeated and this stresses the point that the scene is dark and forbidding. Red is used as an angry colour so the red lines could seem almost forbidding to Pip. In reflection to Pips life it could be that he is angry because of the state his life is in. through no fault of his own he has no family and the sister he does have beats him.
There is also a use of plants. ‘Nettles’ and ‘brambles’. Both of these plants could cause pain and this could be a reflection of the emotional pain Pip is in. Nettles are also mentioned at the beginning, so it is again accentuating the dangerousness of the situation.
Pip pictures Magwitch as a pirate. ‘As if he were the pirate come to life’ he is linking Magwitch to the ‘unhooped cask’. This is another example of how Pips imagination is scaring him. He could be seeing him as a pirate as he is going against normal life, and is in a situation with him that is sometimes portrayed in stories and fairytales.
At the end of the first chapter the reader feels quite scared for Pip as he has the threat of death if he does not do what Magwitch says.
Great Expectations is a good insight into life in the 19th century because there are several links between Pip and Dickens, such as the class Pip is, how poor people lived and also about the everyday life.
Dickens builds tension very effectively in the first chapter using several different techniques. He uses the surprise of Magwitch appearing, repetition and Magwitch’s power over Pip.
The opening chapter sets us up well for the rest of the novel because Dickens gives us enough information with the right amount of tension to make you want to read more.
You get clues about what could happen in the rest of the novel but you cannot be sure of the path Pip will take. Will Pip help Magwitch and what will happen if he does/doesn’t? Will Pips life get better and if it does how? Dickens misleads us in the first chapter, as later on in the novel Magwitch gives a lot of money to Pip that is something we do not think would happen. Firstly we do not expect Magwitch to make a kind gesture like this because of the type of character he is portrayed as. Secondly we d not expect him to have that amount of money as he is on the run and a convict.
Dickens doesn’t give much away but makes you ask questions; this will make you want to read on.
