"Great Expectations Illustrates the danger of seeing status and money as the most worthwhile aims in life" - Discuss.

Pip's preoccupation with money and status! "Great Expectations Illustrates the danger of seeing status and money as the most worthwhile aims in life." Discuss Charles Dickens' Great Expectations is not so uncomplicated as to suggest that wealth is a destructive force. Instead it attempts to highlight the apparent dangers associated with becoming preoccupied with money and social status. In Pip, the book's chief protagonist, Dickens presents us with a character that misguidedly follows these ideals in a journey of self delusion. The abandonment of his childhood father figure -Joe - and his earlier virtues of decency and compassion are the consequences of his misconception that with wealth will come 'gentility'. Dickens' underlying message is that wealth and class are superficial, failing to give any indication of a person's quality or true gentility. This being said, it must be understood that Dickens' aim is not to condemn wealth and social 'niceties' such as good manners and a formal education, instead it is those who worship these false ideals and become preoccupied with them that are criticized. In characters such as Herbert and Mathew Pocket and, to an extent, Wemmick and Jaggers, we are presented with benevolent and harmless forms of class and privilege. Yet juxtaposed against this we have Pumblechook, Magwitch and Pip. Failing to realize what truly counts, these

  • Word count: 885
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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"How does Dickens teach both Scrooge and the reader a moral lesson in "A Christmas Carol".

"How does Dickens teach both Scrooge and the reader a moral lesson in "A Christmas Carol" Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in 1843. It was a story that is designed to harness our emotions and rattle our consciences. His reasons for writing the book were to convince his readers for the need of reform. Dickens did this because he was aware of what life used to be like: many houses had an average of thirty people and children as young as nine were working. Charles Dickens intended to write a story with an uplifting moral. He showed this by Scrooge being visited by Marley and three sprits. Dickens did this because he felt he could make a difference to try and change wealthy people into giving money to the poor as he saw what poor people and himself went through. The spirit of Christmas Past, Present and Future all represented different parts of Scrooge's life and made him think about himself. Dickens' moral on the spirits of Christmases is that it is charity, generosity and kindness and it belongs to us all year round. When the spirits visit Scrooge his is taken on a journey of self-discovery. Dickens makes clear to us in the opening stave that Scrooge is a character who needs to learn a lesson. He does this by comparing Scrooge a lot to hard and cold words to create imagery. Scrooge is seen as miserly because he doesn't let Bob Cratchit have a decent fire. "; and so

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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"Enduring Love" How appropriate is the title of the novel?

"Enduring Love" How appropriate is the title of the novel? At first glance, "Enduring Love" may seem a simple title for a novel, not one that invokes serious thought for the reader. Although we expect a story of love, we are presented with a much more complicated array of events revolving around three people, all with their own version of "Enduring Love". Ultimately the story revolves around the somewhat content relationship between Joe Rose, an accomplished and well-respected science writer and his partner Clarissa Mellon, a Keats scholar and university lecturer that is until the intrusion by Jed Parry. Brought together by a ballooning accident, Joe and Jed momentarily exchange words, but this moment is the catalyst for a fixation by the younger man, Jed Parry, for the protagonist of the story, Joe Rose. Clarissa also witnesses the accident but she, like Joe, misses the moment that spawns the obsession, which rips their lives apart and in due course, breaks apart their relationship. There are two types of love themes running through this novel, one of obsession and one of pure love. The one of obsession is obviously the love Jed feels for Joe and the pure love is that of Clarissa and Joe. As Jed becomes more and more fixated on Joe, Joes relationship with Clarissa increasingly dwindles until the point where they call it a day and end their relationship. Early on in the

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Comparison Between Alice In Wonderland and Our devised Drama

Comparison between "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" and our devised drama Our devised drama, which is set five hundred years in the future, is about a girl who has been frozen for a punishment for taking drugs by law, and the drama is about how the freezing went wrong and the girl, who is about 20 years old, has to go through her past in her mind. "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" was a novel written in the 1865 by Lewis Carroll is about a girl who chased a white rabbit down a rabbit hole into a fantasyland. "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" is very similar to our devised drama as they both deal with strange and unusual situations. For example, in our devised drama, the freezing was never meant to go wrong, but it did and the same in "Alice's adventures in Wonderland", in the normal world there is never meant to be a talking cat, but there was. "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" was written in the middle of the nineteenth century, and reflects the culture and society that was present in that time, for instance the "mad hatter" was mad because of the solution that was on his top hat, this problem, the problem of going mad because of the solvent used on top hats, was only their in the nineteenth century. Our devised drama, however, is set in the future but also deals with problems in the present day, such as drug abuse and corrupt families. These problems will probably

  • Word count: 615
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Great Expectations Essay.

University of Cape Town Faculty of Humanities ESSAY COVER PAGE Full name: Joanna Felicity Morton Student Number: MRTJOA003 Course name: English Literary Studies Course Code: ELL113F Tutorial Tutor: Nadia Davids Tutorial Group: 24 Due Date: 12 April 2002 . I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another's work and to pretend that it is one's own. 2. I have used the Author-date convention for citation and referencing. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this essay from the work, or works, of other people has been acknowledged through citation and reference. 3. This essay is my own work. 4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work. 5. I have done the word processing and formatting of this assignment myself. I understand that the correct formatting is part of the mark for this assignment and that it is therefore wrong for another person to do it for me. _____________________ _____________________ Signature Date Great Expectations Essay We have reached the end of the second stage of Pip's Expectations, and he has recently learnt the true identity of his benefactor, namely, the convict who threatened him in the cemetery and on the marsh all those many years ago. The convict, Abel Magwitch, is moved by Pip's kind-heartedness and generosity,

  • Word count: 1538
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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A Christmas Carol, although occurring at a different time period than today, still holds values and lessons that are important in society today. The main character, Ebenezer Scrooge

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, although occurring at a different time period than today, still holds values and lessons that are important in society today. The main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, starts off having no feelings for others and no Christmas spirit, but changes from his gloomy, dark appearance to a carefree, child-like person at the end. Dickens shows in A Christmas Carol that personal greed will lead to peril, while kindness and generosity lead to personal happiness. It saddened me to learn of Scrooge's lonely childhood. I could picture him sitting all alone at school, emotionally abandoned by his father, waiting for his sister to come tell him there may be a happy Christmas. There are so many children in the world today that are in this same situation. It saddens me to know that there a children who never get to open a present on Christmas morning. It seemed as his childhood progressed and his love for Belle grew, his love for money and greed grew faster until he lost everything but his money. So much emphasis is placed on the monetary value of things today that it is possible anyone could fall into this same lifestyle. When the second ghost comes to see Scrooge, we see the Cratchit family. This family reminds me of the Christmases my family spent together. We didn't always get everything we wanted but we always had a good

  • Word count: 520
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Alice in wonderland by Lewis Carrol and Automated Alice by Jeff Noon.

Alice in Wonderland Automated Alice Lewis Carrol Jeff Noon Almost everyone has read Alice in Wonderland, whether it be as a child or as an adult. And almost everyone who has read it, or has had it read to them, has enjoyed it. I have viewed Alice in Wonderland as a movie, but I have read the novel Automated Alice by Jeff Noon. Both texts are equally enjoyable to view, however I enjoyed Automated Alice more, as it is directed more at grownups, as it has rather gruesome content. It is written in a manner that one would write to a child in, however, the plot is very complex, and even I failed at times to understand what was happening. Alice in Wonderland is directly directed1 at younger children, as it is written as a fairy tale. Alice in Wonderland begins with a young girl named Alice being taught a history lesson by her governess. Alice, however, is bored and plays with her cat. When her governess scolds her, she states that she can't find a book with no pictures in it interesting. Her governess replies by saying: "My dear Alice, there are many interesting books in this world with no pictures." "In this world maybe, but in my world, a book would be nothing but pictures." The governess rejects this idea, saying it is nonsense, and continues the lesson. Alice however, starts talking to her cat. "That's it! If I had a world of my own everything would be nonsense."

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Was Alice just a victim of her time or were there other factors involved in her death?

Year 9 Essay By Jason YU 9Nelson " Was Alice just a victim of her time or were there other factors involved in her death?" There are two major influences, which caused the death of Alice. The social and culture change during the 1960s, and also Alice's own personal problems and the way she responded to situations in her life. Even thought that these influences can have an impact on Alice's life, however she is the one that makes decisions for her life. In social change, music is a big influence on the youth of the 1960s. In 1960s is the period when the WWII has been over for a decade and half, and people are starting to enjoy the life they living. Pop culture became the main role of the 1960s. In mid-1950s, Elvis Presley made the first impact on the world with his rock 'n' roll music. It is a type of music that differs very much to the ones that people listen to before the age of rock 'n' roll. This particular type of music has a very powerful impact on the youth of the 1960s because the music gave the youth such a powerful energy to free themselves from the old-fashioned lifestyle and live the way they wanted. Girls are going crazy for the bands they love. People are not afraid to protest against wars and they think life is about love, freedom and peace. Hippies want to 'make love

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Describe the attitude and values underlining beliefs of Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay in text 23 'Our day Out'.

Describe the attitude and values underlining beliefs of Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay in text 23 'Our day Out' Text 23 is taken from 'our day out' by Willy Russel. In the text it describes of a school trip where a class of students are taken on a day out. Two of the main teachers in the text Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay have conflicting ideas on the purpose of the trip. They also believe differently about the education of the children and the reality of their situation. The children are less interested in learning and more interested in enjoying their day out much to the dislike of Mr Briggs. Mr Briggs believes that even though the students are on a school trip they should still behave in an orderly fashion and that they should be learning at the same time as behaving themselves. Mr Briggs has much more stricter views and ideas on how a school trips should be conducted. Mrs Kay realises and is very aware that none of the children are interested in anything other than enjoying themselves and since the children are, in her words, 'rejects since the day they came into the world' so what is the point in trying to make them learn. When Mrs Kay makes these views clear, Mr Briggs is horrified even though he most likely knows its true. The main difference between Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay is that Mrs Kay has accepted the truth that these children haven't learnt and aren't going to start on there big

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Sensation Novels

Sensation Novels English (American-born) Author 843-1916 Recalling an after-dinner visit to Charles Eliot Norton's house in Boston of 1867 (68?), Henry James had this to say of Dickens: "I saw the master -- nothing could be more evident -- in the light of an intense emotion, and I trembled, I remember, in every limb, while at the same time, by a blest fortune, emotion produced no luminous blur, but left him shining indeed, only shining with august particulars. It was to be remarked that those of his dress, which managed to be splendid even while remaining the general spare uniform of the diner-out, had the effect of higher refinements, of accents stronger and better placed, than we had ever in such a connection seen so much as hinted. But the offered inscrutable mask was the great thing, the extremely handsome face, the face of symmetry yet of formidable character, as I at once recognised, and which met my dumb homage with a straight inscrutability, a merciless military eye, I might have prounounced it, an automatic hardness, in fine, which at once indicated to me, and in the most interesting way in the world, a kind of economy of apprehension. Wonderful was it thus to see, and thrilling inwardly to note, that since the question was of personal values so great no faintest fraction of the whole could succeed in not counting for interest. The confrontation was but of a

  • Word count: 9747
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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