Charles Dickens began his career as a literacy journalist, reporting parliamentary debate and traveling Britain by stagecoach to cover election campaigns for the Morning Chronicle. As a child he was not very wealthy and worked to keep his family alive. In the Victorian era, men and women dressed very differently to the modern era, children usually worked having jobs such as coal miners and cleaning chimneys as they were small and it was easier for them to get within small spaces. It was also the time of when the cane was still being used within and outside of schools as punishment.
When dickens wrote this book, he was paid in installments for each chapter. This shows that he would need to make the end of the chapter have something to make people want to buy the next one, so there were probably lots of cliffhangers to persuade the readers
The opening chapter uses a high range of vivid imagery and very clearly illustrates the setting, as well as its mood. Firstly, there are numerous authorial techniques Dickens has used to create a sense of fear within the first chapter such as Figurative Language.
In lines 119 and 120, Dickens uses a simile, to describe the convict’s legs as being ‘numbed and stiff’. This simile implies that the man is old and weak and makes him appear to be fearless. Another authorial technique Dickens has used is alliteration. He has used it in line 27 ‘low leaden line’ to describe the river. This emphasizes the flowing phoneme sound ‘l’, which encourages the reader to read slower. It also gives the idea that the river is moving slowly and quietly which creates an atmosphere of stillness. He uses alliteration again in line 50 on the‘t’ sound in ‘tombstone trembling’. When the‘t’ is spoken it creates the effect of being shaky which is implies Pip to be trembling. Dickens creates an imagery effect within lines 33 to 36, by giving the old man a very detailed description of his appearance which is almost like a poem or song because it has a steady even rhythm. He is described as not wearing a hat, which in the Victorian era was very unusual as most men wore top hats. He is wearing an old rag around his head and covered in mud, suggesting he is poor and possibly homeless, this enables the reader to create a very real idea of the convict’s appearance. Dickens has also used assonance within this description upon the phoneme sound / I /. It has been used several times with words such as in, with, his, flints, limped, shivered and chin. This emphasizes how the description is related to a poem or song because it repeats similar sounds. It also gives the affect of the convict being malicious.
Dickens also uses personification in lines 128 and 129 where he compares the sky as being ‘ long’ and ‘angry’ which helps the reader create an image of how the clouds look and there colour. He also describes that the ‘red lines and dense black lines’ were intermixed which creates an atmosphere of malevolence
There is a lot of personal information given about Pip in the first chapter, yet not much information is given about the convict. Dickens tells is that Pip has no parents and all of his brothers are dead. He has one sister who is his only living relative. By the way he reacts during this chapter, it also implies he is quite a nervous, worried person but also very imaginative. He becomes quite scared and worried when he is being threatened and does not attempt to fight back with the convict. Pip also begins to cry; this is probably because he has no parents and not very mentally stable. Towards the end of the chapter, Pip appears to be unable to stick up for himself and it is also made clear he is reasonably young. In lines 111, where the convict drops him, his words become very broken up; ‘Goo, goo, Goodnight’ which implies he is very afraid and wants to leave quickly. In the final line, Pip is actually described as being frightened .He speaks with quite a calm voice. The manner which he speaks is also connected to the older Pip narrating the story where he uses words such as ‘indepted’ and ‘religiously entertained’ showing that he does not change very much through his life.
Dickens has also used symbolism within this chapter. He has shown Pip making up images and ideas of how his parents and brothers looked simply from their tombstones. He takes the shape of the letters on his fathers which gave him the idea he was a ‘square, stout, dark man’ and that from the inscription on his mothers saying ‘Also Georgina Wife of the above’ gave him the impression she was freckled and sickly.
In the description of the convict where Dickens states he had been ‘soaked in water’ and ‘covered in mud’ suggests that he has been living outside for a long time or struggled to get away from somewhere quickly and ended up falling into a puddle. He also says he has been stung by nettles and cut by flints which tell the reader he has been walking through a wood or somewhere and perhaps is not wearing many clothes because he cannot afford it or can not be seen.
If this story is not read in depth, it comes across as being quite boring and hard to grasp but once it is explained and understood, it becomes a lot more interesting. Pips character contrasts sharply with characters in other books such as Oliver twist. The main character in these novels is more simply portrayed and the characters around them are of far greater interest. Pip however, begins as a likeable but simple character.
