How are our impressions of Pip, Magwitch and the marshes shaped by Dickens' use of language?

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How are our impressions of Pip, Magwitch

and the marshes shaped by Dickens' use of language?

        In this essay I'm going to write about how our impressions of Pip, Magwitch and the marshes are shaped by Dickens' use of language. In Great Expectations Pip first meets Miss Havisham and falls in love with Estella, then his new Guardian Mr Jaggers told Pip that he would be going to London to become a gentleman thanks to his mysterious benefactor. In London he met Estella but was heartbroken when he found out that she's going to marry Drummle. Later Pip found out that the convict Magwitch whom he met when he was in the country was his mysterious benefactor, but soon after Magwitch got caught and died. Pip fell ill and went back to the country and rescues the now divorced Estella out the the dark house of Miss Havisham.

        In Chapter One Pip talks about his family and meets an escaped convict which as we know later on, is called Magwitch. This chapter is important to the novel because it first introduces Magwitch, and without him, even though he stays hidden for a long time, there wouldn't be a story. We also get to know about Pip's past and how he feels about his past. We need to know this because it builds up his character later on.

        

        Dickens introduced the reader to the 'older' Pip and the 'younger' Pip simultaneously using how the way Pip writes about his past. This way we see the older Pip who writes in a posh way and the “childish” Pip. This way we would also know that Pip's future is not going to be ordinary. In the second paragraph the reader is given the impression that Pip was ashamed of his past, and we can feel the bitterness in the air.

        Dickens made Pip seem innocent and vulnerable by bringing the reader's attention to the fact that Pip's an orphan. Dickens want us to feel that orphans are weak, because they've got nobody to protect them and that they're alone in this frightening world. By knowing this, the readers should also be sympathetic towards Pip, as Pip wrote: “I never saw my father or mother”. The name Pip also make him seem small and unimportant. However pip is also a seed, which gives us a clue that Pip maybe of great expectations. Dickens don't choose names lightly. The names of the characters all have a meaning and reflexes their personality.

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        The setting in the first few paragraphs also tells us a bit more about Pip. Pip was in a “bleak place overgrown with nettles”, which shows us that he is not well cared for. The message that Pip is vulnerable stays with the nettles, as someone like Pip could easily fall in the overgrown nettles. It may well be also a clue. Imagine the overgrown nettles as the busy city of London, and Pip is the little seed amongst all the chaos. It's saying that if Pip wasn't careful, he may well be engulfed by the  troublesome city.

         

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