“His face was hideous.” That quotation truly sums up Jordan’s physical appearance. Jones’ highly detailed description depict the image of a freak, scarcely human. There are a lot of cluttered descriptions of Jordan, which really gives us the mental image we need to picture him and the characters associated with him. The description of Magwich is very blunt, and leaves a lot of space for our imagination to build up a personal perception of his physical appearance. He doesn’t seem to have any distinct features, even his grey clothes are symbolic of oh his initial bleakness, as if he is a clod with no substance, which we later discover is not true.
Jordan and Magwich do have some similarities in their physical appearance, most are obvious in the respect of they are both big, strong, lumbering guys, frightening in one way or another. However the way they cause fear differs between them. Magwich uses words and brute strength as he shouts at Pip while “He tilted me again.” This is repeated to show the velocity of his actions and how simple his ways of inducing fear are. Jordan uses his appearance, and gets inside their head as he doesn’t speak very much at all, but his sinister manner says all that needs to be said.
We meet Jordan in the night, a lot more unsafe in comparison to daytime, which Jones’ utilises effectively. We meet him in a baron pub, by himself which we know from the line “Sitting down by himself in the bar.” This is undeniably odd, why would someone, in the night sit in an empty pub, every night? The more we learn, the more odd and sinister it becomes.
Magwich however, we meet during the day, yet there is a thick, muggy mist shrouding both Pip and himself. Could this be another symbol of bleakness? What’s certain is that it creates a sense of unease. Again it talks about Magwich, the setting is very dim and simple, which is how I perceived Magwich upon first contact.
One thing the settings share are the many references to death. Frequently when we meet Jordan he is singing a Welsh funeral hymn, which speaks for itself really, this is a persistent reference to death throughout the tale, as is Jordan’s bizarre need for corpses. When Magwich walks away from Pip we are told that the marshes looked black, black like funeral cars and hearses, black like death. Then we are told it was as if he was “Eluding the hands of the dead people.” Terms like this show the writer’s attempts at creating a death related atmosphere so the other characters can easily portray their unsettled nature around these fearsome, monstrous characters.
Jordan and Magwich’s behaviour has many distinct differences, Jordan severely lacks any visible humane emotion. He takes everything in his stride, isn’t very social, is very calm and doesn’t seem to know fear. He will walk calmly, coolly and collected, then as if someone flicked a switch inside of him he becomes this merciless, vicious beast addicted to chaos. This is evident when he meets the dog, we are told that after striking the dog, he stepped on the dog and brought his stick down “ On his head again and again.” As he did so his morbid funeral him got louder and louder. Then he switched back to how he was before, just like a machine.
Magwich, while at times vicious, clearly has remorse and other human emotions. He is fearful, paranoid and feels the effect of the cold weather. While scaring the boy, Pip, he doesn’t physically hurt him, he is merely desperate. This man has escaped from prison and the last thing he wants is to return. This is portrayed clearly by Dickens, and his clumsy nature, common speech and fear make shim distinctly different from Jordan as he just seems like a thug, where as Jordan is more like a creature.
However the one thing they share is that they will do what ever is necessary to get what they need, Magwich has a single aim, to break free from the chains that have bound him, integrate himself into society and leave his past behind. Jordan’s aim however is very different indeed, he also has one distinct aim, his burning desire for corpses. Both characters seem willing to risk it all for their goal whatever it may be.
Jordan’s speech is very simple he speaks rarely, which most is most sinister indeed, however when he does speak he only says what needs to be said, his sentences very abruptly and there is something about his voice quite unsettling. This coupled with his figure, his hymn book, we build up the image of something quite terrifying.
Magwich however is a quite the mixed bag. He starts of very hostile, cruel menacing and wrathful, but as the story progresses we learn more about him, he appears nicer, more human. He is not very well spoken at all, seems uneducated and thuggish. Occasionally his fear is clearly visible by the way he rushes his words. We can establish this from the sentence where he repeats the word “and” several times. From this we cans see his human side, his panic, paranoia and vulnerability, his desperation and how he would hate having to return to prison.
The pace of the writing in ‘Jordan’ is quite fast and loaded with description, while the pace of Jordan’s actual speech itself is quite slow, so he contrasts with his environment emphasising his character and his frightening features. Jones uses lots of techniques like similes, metaphors and alliteration in his writing, like “Suddenly he sprang straight” When referencing to the dog he slaughtered. Techniques like this can be found throughout the story, speeding up the pace of the writing and projecting vivid images into the reader’s mind.
In ‘Great Expectations’ Dickens keeps his descriptions simple, leaving room for imagination. This works well with the setting of the moorland around Magwich, which is also misty, grey and simple. Yet Magwich’s speech is at times quite rushed and also contrasts effectively with the pace of the description, which is slow and simple, because his speech is fast and loaded with cluttered words.
In both tales the pace of the writing remains uniform throughout and rarely fluctuates. This constant pace helps accentuate the atmosphere and manipulate and tailor it to the writer’s will.
The character I preferred, was Magwich. Not because he was kinder or more human or any other hogwash. It was because I preferred the way Dickens built him up, his use of setting, his use of description and the room for the reader’s imagination to take control making the character different for everybody while still realising what is needed to assist the story and it’s telling.
Tom Richards 10J
