Great Expectations: a thematic analysis

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Great Expectations:

As the reader begins the book, Dickens instills in the reader a bond with Pip as it is through his eyes in a first person narrative. Dickens’ use of Pip as the narrator is very significant to the telling of the story. We are able to see the progression of Pip as he grows up and his views on the characters in the book. We form an idea about someone from their outward appearance, so having Pip as a narrator it creates a one-sided view about a character because we only see the world from Pip’s eyes and we feel most strongly what Pip is feeling and we feel, about other character what Pip feels about them.

Dickens creates sympathy by telling the reader that Pip has never seen his mother & father, instead he sits on their graves trying to find clues that reflect their appearance and personality. Pip at this point is trying to emphasize that his father is superior to his mother, as the antithesis is shown with Joe and his sister. Dickens also tries to make the reader feel sympathy by referring to Pip’s name. On one level his name shows how isolated Pip is, this empathize that Pip created his own nickname. However on a symbolic level his name ‘Pip’ represents the start of life, a seed, as it grows toward its fate.

Dickens is trying to emphasize to the reader the solitude of Pip, by using extended sentence structure to increase the tension and prolong the suffering. He also restates that Pip is all alone by using repetition on the word ‘dead’, implicating the loss of 5 of Pip’s siblings, as they died before they were born.  The prolonged sentence structure also leads to an ominous word ‘savage lair’. This pathetic fallacy foreshadows the encounter which will make Pip’s life a lot worse.

When Magwitch is first introduced, a sad and lonely atmosphere is already established. The fearful connotations in the atmosphere ‘place overgrown with nettles’, the isolated graveyard ‘dark flat wilderness’ and the symbolic place of death ‘the marsh country’ makes Magwitch appearance even more memorable. Magwitch’s social status becomes apparent when Dickens describes his handling of Pip. He addresses Pip in a very rough manner, shaking him and using harsh words. “Keep still you little devil or I’ll cut your throat!” .This portrayal of Magwitch emphasizes the fact that he is of a lower social class and this ties in with a stereotypical view that someone in the lower half of the social divide will be more likely to commit a crime. This reflects the ideas of Victorian society and consequently makes the reader believe that Magwitch has a darker evil past. Dickens also uses Magwitch’s appearance to make him more memorable. The use of the word ‘grey’ shows the connotation that although he is fearful, he isn’t good or evil. The condition of his clothes ‘no hat and with broken shoes’ show that the way that society has treated him. Dickens uses verbs to describe the difficulties that Magwitch has faced ‘soaked in water’. On a symbolic level Dickens is trying to tell the reader that the verbs represent what society has made him, an animal.  On another level he lets Magwitch’s name be anonymous to indicate what the working people are to society, nameless. Another feature that makes Magwitch striking is his colloquial language ‘Pint out of the place’, it epitomizes that like most of the working class people in the Victorian era he has not been educated. Dickens also refers to Pip to comment on society, about the poverty of the people ‘they was nothing in them but a piece of bread. However Dickens demonstrate that even a bit of bread is valuable to the people ‘he ate the bread ravenously’

Magwitch’s use of physical aggression ‘he tilted me again’ and his ability to manipulate childish fears makes him more memorable to the reader ‘or I’ll have your heart and liver out’. Although Magwitch may seem fearful and dangerous there are some ominous connations that show that Magwitch may be Pip’s guardian angel ‘young man I am a Angel’. However at this moment this doesn’t seem to be the case, as Magwitch lies to trick Pip into making it that he has a friend ‘There’s a young man hid with me’. Magwitch then refers to himself as a good guy compared to his friend, saying he is trying to saving Pip from the young man ‘It is in vain for the boy to attempt to hide himself from that young man’. Magwitch’s ability to manipulate childish fears is then used to guarantee that Pip will come back with food as Pip says ‘ I would get him the file’. The trick that Magwitch uses to do so is by saying that ‘A boy may lock his doors. May be warm in bed, may be tuck himself up, but that young man will softly creep his way to him and tear him open’. This shows that even when a child is in his bed he isn’t safe.

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Though Magwitch may threaten and scare Pip ‘lord strike you dead’ tells the reader that he isn’t evil and refers to social and historical content. To show that Magwitch was made memorable Dickens writes to show that Pip is left scared and shell shocked ‘Goo-good-night’. At the end of Magwitch’s appearance he wishes that ‘I wish I was a frog. Or a eel!’ this symbolizes that even the lowest of the animal society is better than the human society. It also has religious connotations of the evil represented by a serpent.

However at the top of the Victorian society is ...

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