We see Magwitch has not only changed his appearance in chapter one and thirty nine, but he has also changed in the way he acts. In chapter one the convict needs to be seen as frightening because he knows Pip will not do as the convict says otherwise, whereas in chapter thirty nine the convict wants to be seen as a ‘second father’ to Pip and therefore acts very affectionately. Abel is very appreciative for what Pip did for him 16 years previous and has spent his life trying to make it up to him. The convict feels Pip could have ran off and ignored the convict’s demands but Pip put himself in danger by ‘stealing’ food and drink from his sister. The convict is so grateful that he has been trying to give Pip a better life and therefore thinks himself as Pips ‘second father’.
In both chapters we hear of bad weather before we meet the convict. In chapter one it is so cold that Pip is a ‘bundle of shivers’ and the wind is ‘rushing’. Similarly, in chapter thirty nine the phrase ‘stormy and wet’ is repeated three times to emphasise how awful the weather is and how it is continuous.
Pip is also a ‘bundle of shivers’ because Dickens is trying to show how emotional the child is. Pip is ‘afraid of it all’ meaning that his surroundings scare him, as well as the fact that he is an orphan and his sister, who looks after him, is violent and aggressive. This makes the reader pity Pip and sympathise with him.
In chapter one we are told of the gibbet, reminding the Dickensian reader what could happen if Pip gets caught for taking food, as was done in the time of the novel. Dickens arouses our sympathies for Pip by telling the reader that Pip is crying and reminding the readers that Pip is just a child. When Pip is threatened by the convict, the readers feel more sympathy for Pip so when we see the gibbet at the end we feel that it would not be fair if he was caught because he was just an innocent child being bullied into stealing from his sister.
Dickens uses bad weather at the beginning of each chapter to emphasise that something untoward is about to happen. In both chapters the unpleasantness turns into something life changing to Pip. In chapter one Pip meets a convict who needs his help and throughout the story the convict does his best to pay Pip back. In chapter thirty nine we see the convict reveal himself as Pip’s benefactor and we see Pip’s dreams of marrying Estella come crashing to the ground.
In chapter one Pip is polite to the convict even though he is terrified of him. We see this, even when he is being threatened, he calls the convict ‘sir’. In Victorian England children were not allowed to be impolite to an adult, regardless of how the adult behaved. Children were seen and not heard in Victorian England. Pip is also polite to the convict again in chapter thirty nine but instead of being terrified, this time he feels ‘abhorrence’ towards the convict because his dreams of marrying Estella have been shattered and, because the money has come from a convict, he believes the money could have been gained by appalling means. We see this when Pip shudders when Abel places his hand on Pip’s shoulder and Dickens uses the metaphor that Magwitch’s hand ‘might be stained with blood’. Regardless of how Pip feels in both chapters, he helps out Abel when he needs it. In chapter one Pip accepts to bring some food to the convict. Similarly, in chapter thirty nine, Pip gives Abel a room to sleep in for the night so that he does not get caught.
In chapter one we see that the convict is ill educated. Dickens emphasises this by deliberately misspelling what Magwitch says such as ‘wot’, ‘sumever’ and ‘pecooliar’. Dickens also shows the reader how ill educated he is in chapter thirty nine when the convict says ‘wos’ and ‘wot’. This shows a contrast between Magwitch and Pip because Pip is so polite, even though he is poor in chapter one whereas Magwitch is impolite and vicious.
At the beginning of the novel, Pip is poor and appreciative, as we see in chapter 10 when Pip receives two ‘sweltering’ pound notes and is ‘stupefied’ because Joe’s friend has given him some money. This is hugely contrasted later on in the novel when he is wealthy, yet selfish. An example is when Joe comes to see Pip and Pip is extremely rude to Joe, who has been there for him all of his life.
When Pip is rude to Joe, the readers are reminded that in Victorian England all men wanted to be a ‘gentleman’, yet a gentleman in the nineteenth century was someone who had money and status. Even if someone was churlish and uncouth they would still be classed as a gentleman if they had status. Due to this, Pip got away with being boorish toward Joe.
Chapter one is the perfect setting for something terrible to occur because the place was ‘bleak’, ‘overgrown’ and ‘intersected with dykes’. Like chapter thirty nine, Pip is used to being there. Pip is alone and is scared of his surroundings, such as the sea, saying it was a ‘savage lair’ as in the den where a monster would live. Therefore we are not surprised when the convict arrives.
Chapter thirty nine, however, is in a pleasant setting yet Pip is alone again. The weather is similar with an ‘eternity of cloud and wind’. Death is also brought into the chapter, much like chapter one, when we hear about ‘shipwreck and death’. Readers would notice this and, as well as being reminded of chapter one, would also know that something unpleasant is about to happen.
