The setting in the opening paragraphs of Great Expectations is in a graveyard; “bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard” it is a dark and isolated flat wilderness. The setting reflects how Pip is feeling; he is very cold and in a highly emotional state. “And that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.”
The story The Darkness Out There opens with a sunny pleasant setting; “she walked through flowers, the girl, ox-eye daises and vetch and cow parsley, keeping to the track at the sedge of the field”, this is in contrast to the title, which involves darkness. Packers End, is where most of is told, is also in contrast to the bright sunny opening setting; “The dark reach of spinney came right to the gate there so that she would have to walk by the edge…” Sandra is afraid of Packers End; “You didn’t go by yourself through Packer’s End if you could help it, not after tea-time, anyway.” Many rumours were told about Packers End. When Sandra was young she believed that “Witches and wolves and tigers. Sometimes they’d go there for a dare.” As a child she grew afraid of Packers End. As she got older the rumours changed to ghosts of German pilots who were left there to die! “She wouldn’t go there for a thousand pounds.”
Pip is a young orphan who is living with his sister and brother-in-law; both his parents have died they died was Pip was a very young child. We know this because Pip does not know what his parents look like so he constantly visits their graves. His sister does not speak about their parents, maybe because she thinks he is too young. Pip is in search of his identity. Pip was small for his age; “though I was at that time under-sized, for my years, and not strong.” When Pip is in the graveyard he feels like as if he is spiritually with his entire family; which is maybe why he is at the graveyard a lot, but knowing they have passed away. Pip has a very vast or vivid imagination; we know this when he tries to picture his parents by looking at the way the names are carved out on the gravestones. To show that he gave a lot of respect to his elders, he spoke to the convict using the word sir. Pip was a brave character, because he keeps his word with the convict and also swears an oath. In the opening paragraphs Pip was very vulnerable “the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.”
The convicts’ character is very aggressive; his opening line is a command. “Hold your noise! Cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch.” He was also in hiding before he made his appearance; he could have been watching him all along! The convict also threatens him, “keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!” He continues to talk aggressively. The convict has continuously threatened Pip but has never harmed him. Then later on he learns that Pip has no parents. Pip is very little compared to the convict. Near the end the convicts finds out that Pip’s brother-in-law is the village blacksmith, so he orders Pip to get him some food (wittles) and a file he intimidated him to do so by tilting him after each command and then at the end he threatened him by saying; “Or I’ll have your heart and liver out.” The convict reinforces his threats by involving another man which he says is worse than him, he says that he is finding it difficult from keeping the man away from Pip. Near the end of the novel we find out the Pip’s benefactor is the convict himself.
Sandra’s character is a young teenage girl. In the story she is very confident therefore joins the ‘good neighbours club’, because she has the sort of character that will do what her generation are doing as most of her mates have joined the club, ”They were all in the Good Neighbours’ Club, her set at school. Quite a few of the boys, too. It had become a sort of craze, the thing to do.” She lives with both of her parents who have traditional jobs. Sandra is attractive, pretty and very self-satisfied. She has many hopes and dreams; “One day she would have a place in the country, but not like this. Sometime. A little white house peeping over a hill, with a stream at the bottom of a crisp green lawn and an orchard with old apple trees and a brown pony. And she would walk in the long grass in this orchard in a straw hat with these two children, a boy and a girl, children with fair shiny hair like hers, and there’d be this man.” A reader would have thought that she dreamed all this up! Her hopes or dreams are very specific, and she seems to feel very strongly of them. ‘She knows what she wants.’ Sandra feels superior to other people. Sandra judge’s people by their appearance and first impressions, she responds to flattery and looks down on Kerry. She does not know anyone at a personal level. Later in this story her character is forced to face reality and not to ‘judge a book by its cover’. Her turning point is when she learns about Mr’s Rutter’s secrets.
Mrs. Rutter’s Character has the appearance of a stereotypical old woman; “She’s a dear old thing, all on her own, of course, we try and keep an eye. A wonky leg after her op’.” Her house also reflects her appearance; “there was a smell of cabbage. The alcove by the fireplace was filled with china ornaments: big-eyed floppy-eared rabbits and beribboned kittens and flowery milkmaids and a pair of naked chubby children wearing daisy chains.” Mrs Rutter’s appearance may be good, but she has a secret, which she tells to both Sandra and Kerry: she let a person die without giving then any assistance! Her appearance is also not that good because she gives away many hints like; “a creamy smiling pool of a face in which her eyes darted.” This is in contrast to her personality described earlier. When she is telling her story about the German pilot who was killed, she pauses a lot to create tension, probably because she enjoys telling the story. Mrs Rutter shows no remorse, sorrow or guilt whilst telling the story. She found pleasure in watching Kerry and Sandra in suspense. Her excuse for letting the pilot die was that it was raining, and that her husband was also killed in the war; so why should she care? Mrs Rutter has the appearance of a kind friendly old woman but deep in side there is the truth that she helped in the death of a innocent person, who did nothing to Mrs Rutter to make her feel that way against him.
Both stories involve a young generation and elder people also. They both have secrets, which are revealed later on in the story. Great Expectations is told by a first person; and The Darkness Out There is told by a third person. Great Expectations is very formal and has long sentences involving old-fashioned word like; “wittles”. The Darkness out there uses slang words; “wonky-leg”, it is also aimed at a young audience as it has teenage characters. The convict is outwardly aggressive but inside he is a very nice person. In the novel – Great Expectation so he is more popular wit the little kids.
The danger in the in the novel is there physically for real. Darkness Out There and Great Expectations both of the settings are in contrast with the titles.
