How successful is Dickens in gaining our interest as readers in the opening chapter of Great Expectations?
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smasha123 (student)
How successful is Dickens in gaining our interest as readers in the opening chapter of ‘Great Expectations’? Dickens promptly introduces the reader to Pip who serves both as the retrospective narrator and as the young protagonist of the novel. This works on a two level approach with regard to guiding us through the plot as an omnipotent narrator whilst simultaneously leading us through Pip’s life with the immediacy of a first person narrative. It is clear from the beginning that it is Pip’s perceptions which entirely define the events and characters of the novel. Dickens utilises this dichotomy in the opening chapter by exploiting Pip’s narrative perspective. We are introduced to Pip as if in the midst of a pleasant conversation with him, ‘I give Pirrip as my father’s family name…’ Immediately after however, we are subjected to the unravelling thoughts and fears of a frightened child under threat. This serves to capture our attention and instil a sense of compassion for Pip, for who we fear the worst. Dickens employs Pip as the narrator to present a prospective and prophetic relationship between himself and the escaped convict. As a reader, this initially appears to be a strange concept solely based on the power dynamics between Pip and the convict and his demands, with Pip reciprocating for fear of his life. However, as they part, Pip looks back to see the man walking alone into the marshes. This metaphorical image of the convict hugging ‘his shuddering body in both his arms’ on the horizons with the gallows, is strikingly familiar to the initial image we had of Pip who was holding himself in the cold, alone in the churchyard with the gravestones of his dead parents. As a reader, it appears that their relationship seems to warm at that moment, with
the two sharing a common loneliness and marginalisation from society – the orphan and the escaped convict. Dickens uses this characterisation to develop our imagination of Pip, in that whilst Pip is afraid, he instinctively displays a sympathetic reaction and remains resolute. Pip’s description of the convict when he first meets him seems elongated in response to the time he would have actually viewed him with, as he ‘only [had] a moment to see it’. Pip describes the convict as a man ‘who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled’. The repetition of the word ‘and’ before each verb makes ...
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the two sharing a common loneliness and marginalisation from society – the orphan and the escaped convict. Dickens uses this characterisation to develop our imagination of Pip, in that whilst Pip is afraid, he instinctively displays a sympathetic reaction and remains resolute. Pip’s description of the convict when he first meets him seems elongated in response to the time he would have actually viewed him with, as he ‘only [had] a moment to see it’. Pip describes the convict as a man ‘who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled’. The repetition of the word ‘and’ before each verb makes the list of the convict’s appearance sound considerably longer. The use of an iambic poetic rhythm further reinforces this idea that the list is made to sound longer. The words used to describe the convict are also stressed to sound more convincing, creating an extended metaphor of an animal. Pip is afraid of this ‘fearful man’ because of his animal like features and wounds. The portrayal of the convict cannot be easily forgotten for the reader and our imagination of him becomes almost reality. Dickens gives no clear indication of the man’s future in Pip’s life but he does create the sense that the convict will return, largely by building up a sense of mystery around the convict’s situation and his relationship with Pip. Dickens creates sympathy for Pip by making it explicitly clear that he has been deprived of parental guidance. He has never known his parents, ‘The shape of the letter’s on my father’s, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair.’ This image of Pip being completely alone in a desolate cemetery trying to imagine the appearances of his parents makes us commiserate with him. We are also reminded of his youth and innocence with the childish conclusions he arrives at regarding the appearances of his parents. The gravestone reads ‘also Georgiana, wife of the above’, and in Pip thinking that his Mother’s name is actually ‘also Georgiana’, we sympathise with him for his lack of awareness. We are able to establish from this that Mrs Joe Gargery never mentions or talks about their Mother, which again makes us realise his lack of parental love. This light-hearted ponder at the gravestone’s inscriptions briefly lifts the sombre mood of the chapter which largely revolves around death, and allows Dickens to lessen the dramatic tension building up. We can conclude from this chapter that Pip has experienced loss and death at an early age but he seems accustomed to it. However, it could also reveal how Pip is lacking in certain life experiences, which we realise could affect him and his choices negatively in the future. We discover that Pip’s five younger brothers gave up trying to obtain a living exceedingly early in that ‘universal struggle’. Whilst they had ‘given in’ but Pip himself hadn’t, it reveals his resilience and strength to succeed. Knowing this, this early in the novel about Pip’s character, it infuses the reader with a sense of optimism about Pip and his future. Dickens concentrates heavily on the ‘bleak’ settings and grave moods to prepare the reader for a sense of what’s to come in the story, and of Pip. Dickens thoroughly describes the setting of the eerie Kent marshes in detail in order to deliver a definite mood early in the novel. The use of the setting in a graveyard works a mood of isolation and desolation; Pip is isolated by the fact he is an orphan. The graveyard itself is described as ‘bleak’ and ‘overgrown’, conveying that it has been neglected much like Pip himself. The repetition of ‘dead and buried’ further lowers the mood. Pip recalls that his ‘most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things’ is placed at a time between light and dark – perhaps symbolising the transition from good to bad, which we realise may be relevant later in Pip’s life. We see that Pip realises this whilst being shaken upside down by the convict, symbolising that he has a distorted view of things, with them perhaps being upside down themselves. Dickens sets the chapter in a graveyard to deliver a sombre mood. A wide open space seems harsher than an inside enclosed one, and Pip is less familiar with them. The external world offers Dickens a space to experiment with the idea of Pip being afraid of things he has not previously experienced. This makes Pip feel unsettled and isolated, which is passed on to an involved reader. The derelict setting is further reflected in the mood as Dickens describes the landscape surrounding the churchyard. He continually describes it as a ‘dark flat wilderness’ which is dreary in appearance and has the possibility to harbour deep and unknown dangers. Obstacles in the marshes such as ‘dykes’, ‘mounds’, and ‘gates’ work as visual obstructions for Pip but on a metaphorical level as symbols for possible upcoming obstacles in Pip’s life. Dickens maintains the use of words such as ‘flat’, ‘low’ and ‘dark’ which gives an eerie feel and dense mood to the opening chapter. There is also further symbolism in Pip’s surrounding, in that there is both a flowing river and flat, solid ground on the same landscape. This could reflect that there are two ways in which to travel the same distance and that Pip is soon to have to choose a path to take, which will in turn alter his life. This is thought provoking and concerning to us as a reader, whilst simultaneously intensifying the already dampening mood. The marshland is repeatedly represented as a place where good meets sin, and this is clear in the skyline. It has ‘long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed’, and these frightening colours and the ‘darkness of the sky’ all accentuate Pip’s vulnerability in this graveyard full of misery, with the pathetic fallacy working to highlight his isolation. There are also only two vertical structures on the horizontal landscape of the marshes – a beacon and gallows. The beacon’s use is to guide sailors home and steer them from danger, whereas gallows are used to hang criminals for crimes they have committed. These two structures symbolise good and evil and the choices in which Pip is to make – leading to either a life of good or a life of sin. The ‘green mounds’ and ‘nettles’ all portray the hostility of everything against Pip, with connotations of something that could hurt him. The ‘wind’ rushes from the ‘distant savage lair’. This metaphor is used to describe the sea from which the ‘wind is rushing’ and the use of pathetic fallacy creates a harsh and tense atmosphere of a claustrophobic nature. However, to Pip, the wind is a wild beast and the ‘savage lair’ is the den from which the wind comes. This further intensifies the sympathy we as a reader have for Pip. To conclude, Dickens utilises the vulnerability and innocence of Pip to evoke both sympathy and anticipation for the young boy and his future. It is the confusion of the opening chapter’s happenings and the title ‘Great Expectations’ which makes us as a reader eager to continue the novel and our journey with Pip.
by
smasha123 (student)
