Why is chapter 39 of Great Expectations a key chapter and how does Dickens convey its importance and drama to the reader?

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Why is chapter 39 of Great Expectations a key chapter and how does Dickens convey its importance and drama to the reader?

Rahman Khan 10C

Chapter 39 is a pivotal chapter in the novel because Pip finally finds out who his benefactor is and how his feelings are portrayed through the language Dickens used. I will also explain in this essay how Dickens has conveyed to the reader.

In the beginning of the chapter the reader is reminded of the age Pip is ‘I was three and twenty years of age.’ This is reminding the reader that many years had passed and that Pip had nothing to ‘enlighten’ him on his expectations. He has also left ‘Barnard’s Inn more than a year, and lived in temple’. He hasn’t seen Mr. Pocket for some time now, which is curious because they were the best of friends. Pip is ‘alone’  and he was ‘dispirited and anxious’ this may be because he still doesn’t know who is benefactor is that he is all alone now, He missed his ‘friend’, Dickens has used the effect of weather to have an effect on Pip’s feelings, ‘it was wretched weather…deep in all the streets’ this is showing us that a long line of bad weather ‘day after day’, this has been described as Pip’s ‘…heavy veil’ this is like a cloak has been put over Pip’s face and he cannot see what lies ahead of him, This weather effect heightens the reader’s curiosity because if Pip cannot see what is ahead of him, then where will he end up, and this adds extra drama because of the same reasons; will this turn out good? Or will it turn out bad? Dickens attention to detail is fascinating, ‘So furious had been the gusts…rages of wind’ It is like the world is revolving around Pip; he is having a miserable time, and the winds are destroying the city.

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Dickens uses a technique that is used in most ‘scary’ settings, Pip hears the footsteps of the stranger outside his room, he begins to be paranoid, it’s dark, bad weather, his sister is dead and he is all alone, then he hears a footstep which makes him jump he fears (as an imagination) that it is his ‘dead sister’. Dickens creates more suspense as Pip has remembered that the stair lights are out, so he will not be able to see who is downstairs,  At the point where the stranger says Pip’s name, everything freezes, for the reader and Pip, ...

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