He then went on to reporting on parliament and then again on to writing novels, his work as a reporter gave him detailed knowledge of London and its inhabitants both rich and poor, and he was to make use of this in many of his novels and stories. In 1832 he began writing sketches and stores about London life, and in 1833 they began to be published and were published together in 1836 as 'Sketches by Boz'. These sold well and Dickens was asked to write more sketches. They developed into 'The Posthumous Papers of Pickwick Club', which appeared as a monthly serial, this form of serial publication was used a great deal by Dickens, who never forgot his earlier brush with English justice and many of his works deal with the problems of growing up in poverty.
He became a very popular writer in both America and England, Dickens often gave public readings from his works and these were extremely popular. He was rich enough to buy a large home called Gad's Hill, which was outside London which was near countryside like that describe at the beginning of 'Great Expectations'.
Dickens' health deteriorated as the pressures of touring and the strain of putting great effort into his public readings and doctors advised him to stop. This advice was ignored ad he died in 1870 following a collapse at Gad's Hill.
The play starts with Pip describing his family situation and who he lives with and he is an orphan and lives with his sister whom he calls 'Mrs Joe Gargery' which for her being his sister that he has call her by her formal title which one would think is too much perhaps. Although it dies show a class conscience society that was around at the time, it could also show the character of his sister; stern and somewhat 'proper'.
The opening paragraph of the book shows many different things bout Pip and what happened at that time. It shows Pip as vulnerable and innocent seeing as his parents had died and that he never knew them, He also shows a vivid imagination by just using his parents gravestones to depict what they may have looked like. Also the fact that he lost 5 brothers also indicates that infant mortality was at a high rate and that more children died than survived, the reader can also see it from the perspective that Pip is indeed lucky to be alive.
The next paragraph describes the area in which he lives, a rugged landscape which is uninviting, cut up and sparse. The words which are used to describe the landscape are laborious and rough sounding words such as: 'raw', 'bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard', dead and buried' (used twice), 'dark, flat wilderness', low leading line'. The words also relate to the atmosphere of the place which is highly unpleasant both the appearance of it and the darkness contained within in it are endlessly vast. Words such as 'savage' and 'rushing' are also used which are perceived as threatening towards Pip, who in comparison is 'the small bundle of shivers, growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry'. This paragraph is of extreme importance to the reader as it explores the imagination of Pip and sets a scene and also makes the next paragraph have a bigger impact.
The next paragraph brings both the reader and Pip straight back to reality, as it goes directly into first person speech.
'"Hold your noise!" cried a terrible voice'. It describes the man as starting up which metamorphises him as some kind of machine or as the rising dead because he appears from among the graves.
