GREAT EXPECTATIONS

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ENGLISH COURSEWORK

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Great Expectations was a novel written by Charles Dickens during the Victorian era. It was a time when people were divided into classes based on wealth. Poor people were looked down upon by the rich people. People of the higher class thought they were superior to the poor.

The main character of Great Expectation is Philip Pirrip, commonly known as ‘Pips’. His name itself is a symbol. Pip means seed. Dickens specifically took this name because it symbolises the potential to grow into something bigger.

“As I never saw my father or my mother”, the parentless Pip is kind of childish since he thinks that “the shape of the letters on my father’s grave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man”. Dickens made him orphan so that he could be lost in his ways of life and then brought back to his sense. If Pip had parents, the readers might not have felt pity. The area were he lives; the marshes itself symbolises his bleak prospects.

He was brought up by his “more than 20 year’s old” sister “by hand” whom he dislikes a lot. He even thinks that his brother in law; Joe might have got trapped in the clutches of Mrs.Joe. On the other hand he likes and respects Joe a lot. He thinks of him as a “good natured, sweet tempered, easy going” man. It might be his respect for Joe that made Pip feels guilty for stealing Joe’s pork pie. “The cattle came upon me with suddenness, staring out their eyes and steaming out of their nostrils, “Hello, young thief!”. Yet again Pip portrays his childish innocent mind by stealing flood for the man “with a great iron on his leg”. When Pip meets Magwitch for the first time, we cans he that he is terrified of the man “who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled”.

His terror grew even more when Magwitch linked his lips and said, “What fat cheeks ha’got”. He must have said to scare and bully Pip by implying that he would eat Pip, which was obviously scary for Pip since he was only a child.

Magwitch had a rough and aggressive accent, “And you know what wittles is?” Posh people during those days didn’t say word like wittles.This showed that he was a lower class and questionable character. This novel is set during the Victorian times. Society in those days depended wholly on status. Higher class people felt that the poor people were not worthy and that it was their fault they were born poor. They thought that they were superior to the poor people. This also shows Dickens skill and talent as a writer. He can portray how the lower class people speak with the right accent.

During the first meeting between Magwitch and Pip, Magwitch seems to be in control. We can understand this by the way he threatens Pip and bully’s him to bring food. But slowly Magwitch attitude towards Pip change when Pip shows kindness.

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 “Pitying his desolation and watching him as he gradually settled down upon the pie, I made bold to say,

                      “I am glad you enjoy it”

                       “Did you speak?”

                       “I said I was glad you enjoyed it”

                       “Thankee, my boy I do”

From this quote we can understand that Pip was getting more casual and confident around ...

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