preview

Great Expectations Rhetorical Analysis

Decent Essays

P.769, col. 1; The simile is “never has that curtain dropped so heavy and blank as when my way in life stretched out straight before me [...].” Pip compares his “common boy” life to a dull and heavy curtain. He thinks his life is boring. The metaphor is the whole quote. The thick curtain represents his lower class life. It never really bothered him before he met Miss. Havisham and Estella because he didn’t know that he was part of the lower class. However, now that he knows he’s from a poor family, he wants to become a gentleman and to be with Estella. He always wanted to be a blacksmith like Joe, but now he’s embarrassed to be apprenticed to him. The simile is conventional since everyone has low points in life, even if they don’t come from a lower class family. Everyone’s life can get boring and difficult at times. …show more content…

770, col. 1-2; Joe suggests that Pip should make something for Miss. Havisham, such as a chain, screws or some other “light fancy article.” This angers Pip since he comes from a lower class, poor family. There’s nothing they could make that Miss. Havisham would appreciate or actually want. She’s wealthy, she wouldn’t want anything from a “common” family. This suggestion exasperates Pip also since he doesn’t want to be a blacksmith. He would be embarrassed to walk into the Satis House with something ridiculous he made, possibly because Estella would make fun of him.

P. 773, col. 1; Pip admires Joe for being so strong. He basically says that he could beat anyone in the neighborhood up. Dickens mentions Pip’s fight to show how helpless Orlick was. It also shows how Pip still feels guilty about it. It kind of makes readers feel bad for Orlick, even though he deserved it. Unlike the pale young gentleman who constantly got back up after each hit, Orlick was knocked out after one

Get Access