Then, he illustrates their appearance, for example, Mrs Tracy is described as ‘the stoutest of the three women’ and he tells us that ‘she was dressed in black’.
After discussing the appearance, he describes her in more detail. He tells us why Mrs Tracy is wearing the black dress. He says that ‘in spite of the jubilant nature of the occasion, she was dressed in black, a colour she affected since the death of her husband three years ago’, which tells us that she is a sad person.
Lastly, for some of the main characters, he delves into the characters’ thoughts and feelings. For example, he goes into the thoughts of Philomena Morrissey who is thinking about a potential husband. Philomena thinks to herself that, ‘even if he was a few years older than’ her ‘ and had a car that smelt of cattle disinfectant, there was more to be said for Des Foley than for many another’. This identifies to us that Philomena has hopes and dreams of an ideal man or ideal life like any young girl, but she has accepted the fact that she is not going to get a man better than Des Foley, the vet.
The writing styles of Charles Dickens and William Trevor vary greatly. Dickens uses monochrome in his description of Miss Havisham, whereas Trevor uses colour to describe his characters. For example, Miss Havisham is described as a ‘ghastly waxwork’. This is monochrome because waxworks are pale and lack colour. Dickens does this so the reader relates her image to death and deterioration.
Trevor on the other hand, uses colour to show and describe the characters in his story. For example, he says that ‘Agnes is in smart powder blue’ and ‘Loretta in brown’. He uses colour to show what the character is like. In Agnes’ case blue is supposed to represent her as a cold and emotionless woman. Loretta is wearing brown, suggesting unhappiness and misery.
Another way the two writers differ is that Dickens uses panoramic views. For example, Pip remembers a day when ‘he had been taken to see some ghastly waxwork’ and he thinks back again when he says that ‘he had been taken to one of their old marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress’. This is panoramic because Dickens shows a lot of things, which are all linked to Miss Havisham, and brought back to Pips mind by seeing her.
By contrast Trevor uses snapshots, presenting a picture of a character, place or situation in a few words. He does this when he describes Mrs Atty who had grey hair in a bun’, and doesn’t give us more information about her appearance. These few words are sufficient to conjure up a mental picture of her.
Dickens also differs from Trevor by using an impersonal style. For example, he says that Miss Havisham is like a ‘waxwork at’ a ‘fair’, looks like a ‘skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress’, and is ‘corpse like’. His description of her as a skeleton shows a lack of emotional attachment to the character.
Trevor makes it look like he is familiar with the characters. For example, he says that Teresa ‘stood in the corner with her friends’ which means that he knows who Teresa’s friends are and must be familiar with them. He also says that the three women worked ‘feverishly’ ‘to get’ their dresses ‘finished in time’. This also implies familiarity because he is suggesting that he is common with how they spend their time.
Dickens is metaphorical in his use of language. He compares Miss Havisham to ‘some ghastly waxwork’ saying she is ‘corpse like’ and a ‘skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress’. He does this to describe Miss Havisham as a person who looks dead to make her appear as scary or an evil person.
Trevor, however, is realistic in his story by involving ‘Teresa’s two sisters’, who are ‘much older than’ her. Family makes the story realistic, and an even more real life situation is when he says that Teresa is ‘a month and a half pregnant’.
Dickens uses lofty language. For example, he uses words such as ‘personage’ ‘lying in state’ which are intellectual and intelligent words in the story. The lofty language suggests that the narrator, Pip, is also well educated. The language also relates to Miss Havisham, which shows that Miss Havisham is OI!!!!
However, Trevor uses anecdotes, which are often funny. An example of this is when he says that Teresa’s friends ‘had worked feverishly’ on their clothes ‘to get finished in time for’ Teresa’s wedding.
Dickens and Trevor reflect their characters using their environment. For example, in “Great Expectations” Charles Dickens talks about Pip entering ‘a pretty large room’, which suggests that Miss Havisham is a wealthy woman. She also has ‘a draped table’ with a ‘gilded looking glass’, which again states her wealth.
Miss Havisham’s house is ‘well lighted with wax candles’, and there is ‘no glimpse of daylight’. This suggests that she prefers artificial light rather than natural light. This is because Miss Havisham hasn’t moved her things from the place that they are in from the day that she was rejected and doesn’t also want her curtains to be moved as well. It could also be said that she wanted to shut herself out of the rest of the world.
Trevor describes the environment of the people and we find out that the couple’s reception is in ‘Swanton’s. This is different to Dickens’ environment as Trevor describes the reception as in a ‘lounge bar’ with a ‘table and two small chairs’, whereas Dickens describes the place that Pip sees as ‘pretty large’. This shows that the characters in Trevor’s story are presented as poor, whilst Dickens describes Miss Havisham as wealthy because of all of the expensive furniture.
In “Teresa’s Wedding” the couple are hold their reception in a ‘bar’, which suggests that they are lacking money. Another example of the wedding being cheap is when it is said that the wedding cake is placed on ‘the piano’ instead of being on a separate table to be admired.
Teresa’s two older sisters are disturbed when the people start singing working area songs such as ‘Mother Macree’ because the two think that they are higher in class than the rest.
Trevor says that the ‘confetti’ is laying thickly ‘on the surface bar’, covering ‘the tattered green-and-red linoleum’ and to make it look good. He also writes that there is nothing special about the ‘occasion’ in much the same was as there is nothing special about the relationship between the couple, as they have no love between them.
The time in which the writer writes affects their portrayal of the female characters. A woman living in the 1800’s who was jilted wouldn’t have been able to marry again, and would have been referred to as ‘damaged goods’. In ‘Great Expectations’ Miss Havisham’s heart is described as ‘damaged’ and ‘broken’ because she was jilted on her wedding day.
In the 1970’s, views towards this began to change. Women were disgraced and shamed when they were jilted, but they still carried on with their lives. An example from ‘Teresa’s Wedding’ is when ‘Loretta had made plans to become a nun’, even after her husband ‘had gone to England and never come back’, she has carried on making plans for her life, unlike the 1800’s where if a woman was rejected then she would be ‘broken’ and wouldn’t be expected to move on in life.
In the 1800’s, upper class women were educated by their parents and tutors to be good wives and brides. They were expected and supposed to get married, with no prospect of a career and those who weren’t married were considered as abnormal. In ‘Great Expectations’ Miss Havisham is shown as an upper class woman because of the ‘handkerchief and gloves and some flowers and a prayer book’ she carries. She also is wearing wedding clothes and the things in her room tell us that she was going to get married. Miss Havisham is described as a ‘waxwork’ ‘skeleton’ that seemed to have ‘dark eyes and moved’. This makes Miss Havisham look abnormal and diseased.
However, in the 1970’s marriage was still something that women lived for. For example ‘Teresa had imagined her wedding’, meaning that she was living for her marriage although her marriage didn’t turn out as she expected. Women also considered marriage as a way to get freedom from their background. For example, Teresa, ‘in six months time’ would ‘be gone from the town forever’. A thing that did not change was that if a woman was diseased or was disabled then she wasn’t expected to get married. ‘Kitty Roche, who was asthmatic, did not believe she’d ever marry’ because men would not want to marry a woman who was diseased.
Men and women, however in the 1970’s were more equal in terms of their rights. For example, in the 1800’s women were supposed to take care of the children, but by the 1970’s the fathers took care of children as well as mothers. For instance, ‘In Teresa’s Wedding’ the husband of Agnes was ‘reading a comic to his children’ ‘patiently’ in the car outside. Normally in the 1800’s that would have been the mother’s job, but in 1970’s it was the responsibility of both parents.
In the 1970’s hardly ever talked about sex but it was a bit shocking. It might have been a minor shock to the reader of the 1970’s when Arty asked Teresa if ‘Screw Doyle’ took her ‘into a field’.
Marriage in the 1970’s was still not necessarily about love, but it was about respect. For example ‘In no way did Teresa love’ Arty but she was marrying him because her pregnancy made this necessary.
The writer’s attitudes and opinions influenced the texts of both writers. For example Dickens is beguiled by the idea of being frozen in time. He writes in ‘Great Expectations’ that Miss Havisham and her clock had ‘stopped’ and she was still wearing her bridal clothes, which ‘ought to be white’ and ‘had been long ago’. This all happens because Miss Havisham was jilted on her wedding day a long time ago, and she stops everything at the time that it happened.
Dickens was unsympathetic towards women because he had split up with his wife. This is shown when he writes that Miss Havisham ‘makes Estella cold’ and makes her hate men because of her own heart being ‘broken’. He shows his hatred when Pip gives his description of her. He says that she had a ‘ghastly’, ‘corpselike’ form and was the ‘strangest lady’ that he had ‘ever seen or shall ever see’.
William Trevor however feels sympathy for women as he shows great concern for some marginalized members of the society, for example women who are leading an unhappy life or marriage. ‘Loretta, who had married a man who was no longer mentioned because he had gone to England and had never come back’, is mentioned. Another example is of ‘Kitty Roche who was asthmatic’ and ‘didn’t believe’ that she would ‘ever marry’.
‘In Teresa’s Wedding’, Trevor often writes about characters that have unfulfilled longings. For example, Teresa who ‘ in no way’ ‘loved’ her husband is unfulfilled because she is marrying a person she doesn’t even love. Also, ‘Kitty Roche who was asthmatic’ couldn’t get married because of her asthma, whilst ‘Miss Levis, the protestant woman’ would ‘never get married because of her tuberculosis’.
Trevor also concentrates on decisive moments in the characters’ lives. For example, he writes that Loretta ‘was going to become a nun’ and Philomena was going to marry Des Foley the vet. These are decisive because Loretta has decided that she is not going to have any relationships with men at all, and Philomena has decided that she is prepared to marry someone who is not her ‘ideal man’. Another example is when Arty (the bridegroom) asks Teresa if Screw Doyle took her ‘into a field’, a question that will have an impact on their future relationship.