Dickens wrote the novel in standard English, but also used dialect, and the language used is different, like ‘hewed’ instead of ‘cut’ and a ‘round’ of bread instead of a slice of bread. Joe and the Convict mainly speak using dialect, as the Convict is an outsider who has never conversed with the people where Pip lives.
Joe doesn’t really act like the other adults, as he treats Pip like a proper person instead of a nasty little rat like the other people in his society.
Setting and Atmosphere
The setting is in Chatham near the River Thames. This was also where Dickens lived as a child. The first chapter is in the churchyard on Christmas Eve. The atmosphere is sad and gloomy as Pip has gone to look at his family’s grave and the weather and the atmosphere seems to reflect Pips and Dickens childhood.
The rest of the first part of the story is set around the village where Pip lives.
Pips relationship with other characters
Pip thinks Joe is like a child, as Joe treats Pip as a friend and not a ‘deceiving imp’ like the other adults think of him. The reason for Joe’s friendliness towards Pip is that Joe had a poor upbringing just like Pips. This makes Pip think that Joe is not a real adult like the rest, he is more like a child, and confide classified information in him. Like when Pip lied about Miss Havishams house, when he says that they drank wine in a golden carriage and the dogs ate veal cutlets. Pip wouldn’t admit this to anyone unless they were close friends, and this shows that Joe must be close to Pip.
Pip’s relationship with Mrs Joe is very bad. Pip does not like Mrs Joe, and Mrs Joe does not like Pip. She ‘brought him up by hand’, and she seems very proud of this, as she always boasts about how she brought him up by hand to everyone, but especially to Mr Pumblechook, as he is a ‘glittering star’ in her social circle. Pip only realises how much he cares for her after she was attacked by a mystery assailant.
Plot and Influential Events
The main plot is about how Pip grows up and leaves his humble upbringings in a small village to go to London, funded by a convict he once helped out, to become a gentleman. Also along the way he tries to earn the love of a beautiful young woman, who thinks that although Pip is now a gentleman, he will always be nothing but a blacksmiths apprentice.
Themes
The main themes of the story are the great expectations some people have of Pip, the ambition Pip has to be a gentleman. The last one is class, as Pip tries to escape from his lower class in order to be a real gentleman and earn the love of Estella.
