This quote shows that Pip can only remember his family through death and his childhood life was very sad.
Dickens also uses an important metaphor in the same paragraph that also reflects on the sad childhood that Pip had.
‘To five little stone lozenges each about one and a half foot long’.
This quote causes the readers to feel more sympathised for Pip. This quote also links to the graveyard where the story is set.
Before Pip meets the convict we see how Dickens creates the atmosphere and the setting. He uses short sentences as well as alliteration and metaphors. This makes the readers feel more interested about the story.
‘And that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing.’
This quote shows the readers can build an image of what the setting was like as well as gaining more attention to the story.
Pip then meets the convict who is very poor but brutal and violent. We notice how there is no identity for the convict at the start. Dickens introduces the convict to make the readers feel shocked.
‘Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat.’
This quote indicates to the readers that the convict is being verbal to Pip as well as making them feel terrified.
Dickens also shows the convicts status by talking about what he is wearing. We notice how the author uses particular colours about the convict. He uses a variety of adjectives which shows the convict’s poor status and that he is not a gentleman.
‘A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg’.
‘ A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints.’
These quotes show clearly to the readers that Dickens makes the convict well suited to being cruel and spiteful to Pip and also shows that the convict is poor.
Throughout the first chapter we have noticed how nature has been against Pip and how he is fighting against society in order to become a gentleman.
During the opening chapter we see how Pip’s character is put across with the convict through the language that Dickens uses. At the start we see how Dickens shows Pip pleading to the convict through the short sentences, which indicates the pace of the story and the tension.
‘Oh don’t cut my throat sir’ and ‘Pray don’t do it sir.’
Readers are aware that Dickens has successfully made Pip plead to the convict not to be verbal to him
Dickens also creates clear images of the convict’s character as well. He does this through the use of exaggeration speeches suggesting that the convict is evil and cunning to the main character.
‘You young dog’/ ‘what fat cheeks you ha’ got’.
These quotes make the audience notice how the convict is violent as well being powerful over Pip through his voice.
Another way that Dickens makes the convict very successful towards Pip is the powerful speech that he says to which the rhetorical device are being included.
‘You fail, or you go from my words in any partickler, no matter how small it is, and your heart and your liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate.’
Readers are aware from this that the rhetorical devices Charles Dickens had used has had a big influence on the convict as he is again showing command over Pip.
At the end of the chapter the main protagonist tells the story. The readers are able to notice again how they should be sympathising Pip because he mentions about the emotions of the convict.
‘ He looked in my young eyes as if he were eluding the hands of the dead people, stretching up cautiously out of their graves, to get a twist upon his ankle and pull him in.’
This quote is making the readers understand clearly how difficult his childhood life was as well as feeling sorry for him.
Throughout the play we have seen Dickens create vivid images of character and place by the language that has been used. There are a few clear examples of how the author has been successful in the opening chapter. One example is the graveyard where the story is set. The reason why it is successful is because it relates to the main character that is talking to us in detail about how he remembers his family.
This relates to the readers because they can begin to feel sorry for him now that they know that Pip is an orphan. Another example of how Dickens has been successful is the convict’s appearance to the main character. The reason why this is successful is because the language that the convict uses makes the audience aware that he is violent as well as an aggressive man. The adjectives that Dickens uses on the convict also makes the readers believe that the character is well suited to being horrible.
In the opening chapter Dickens has used a variety of different language devices in order to make this compelling novel. One good example is the use of the extended metaphor in the second paragraph which relates to us feeling sorry for Pip. Colour is another factor to how it is a compelling novel because it is referring to the setting as well as the convict. The exaggeration speech and repetition that the convict uses on pip to show control is also showing the different types of language that has been used.
The examples of the different types of language being used has clearly shown that Dickens has made the story enthralling.
