Literary Techniques Used In Great Expectations Chapter 1

Charles Dickens often uses motifs to convey dominating ideas that develop the plot. Motifs are used to identify characters and their characteristics. A theme is a central argument while a motif is evidence. In Great Expectations, Dickens uses motifs to help readers understand the complexity and actions of his characters. Motifs can be any repeating element in a novel such as image, sound, smell, weather, allusions and others that have significance in developing the theme. Specific uses in Great Expectations are used to set the mood, develop characters, and to make connections in the characters and in the plot. Charles Dickens uses the motifs of doubles to compare and contrast characters.

One of the books I have recently read is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It introduces the reader a rather unique approach into the subject of social class. Throughout the book, Pip, the main character is faced with many challenges that shape him into who he is.

Pip’s journey mainly starts when he becomes attached to the upper class living style after his tenure with Miss Havisham. He begins to develop a mindset that common people are living a horrific life and the rich live lavishly with no problems whatsoever. Before he develops this mindset, he cares and loves Joe and hopes to be his apprentice. Pip states, “I took the opportunity of being alone in the courtyard to look at my coarse hands and common boots” (Dickens 63). He begins to be ashamed of Joe and his common environment and yearns to spend every moment with Estella. This mindset continues to develop into an infatuation with upper class living when a benefactor expresses great expectations for him and wants him to become a gentleman. Realizing he is now rich, he begins to display arrogance to Joe and Biddy, who is Mrs. Joe’s caretaker. This arrogance continues throughout the novel due to his lavish lifestyle, which propels him into troubling amounts of debts. At the peak of his confidence, he receives

Written in the 1800s, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens addresses the status of England during the social period of the Industrial Revolution and colonialism. Dickens uses the perspective of Pip, the narrator, and his character development throughout the novel to express the wide gap in the social ladder. Although Pip’s account is given from one later point in his life, the tone and language gives the reader a feel for Pip’s changing qualities of maturity, morals, values, and social standing. One pivotal moment within Pip’s transition into a mature gentleman is the carriage ride home from London to the Blue Boar in hopes of apologizing to Joe, a warm-hearted father figure from childhood now neglected, and seeing Estella, an expectation of true love. Pip’s self-reflection during this time reveals inner thoughts of

The novel, Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is heavily a character-driven novel due to the fact that the sequence of events in the novel are causes and effects of the actions of the characters as well as the interactions between them. The novel mainly depicts the growth and development of an orphan named Pip, who is greatly influenced by the other characters and became a gentleman and a bachelor in the end of the novel through his encounters with the other characters. Pip, as the main character, definitely has a lasting impact on the drive of the novel since his decisions are very instrumental and effective towards the other characters as well as to himself. This phenomenon applies to not

of brass nails round it, like a coffin;" (chapter 20 page 160). We deduce that

Compare chapter 1 of Great Expectations, in which Pip first meets the convict, with chapter 39, when the convict returns. Charles Dickens is considered to be one of the greatest English novelists of the Victorian period. This greatest of Victorian writers was born in Landport, Portsmouth, on February 7, 1812. His father John worked as a clerk in the Navy Payroll Office in Portsmouth. It was his personal experience of factory work and the living conditions of the poor that created in Dickens the compassion, which was to mark his literary works.

After Pip becomes a gentleman, and is aware of the identity of his benefactor, Miss Havisham informs him that he came “as any other chance boy might have come – as a kind of servant, to gratify a want or a whim.” In truth, she had used him for her own personal gain, which was unlike what she had led Pip to believe. In his mind, Pip holds expectations which he believes are set by Miss Havisham, whereas she utilized his thoughts to distress her relatives. Having used him as a servant figure, or as a tool, she is expressed to be inconsiderate towards others, as she does not take into account any of Pip’s emotions. Similar to her portrayal earlier on in the book, Miss Havisham is still quite a loathsome character, with a lack of compassion and mindfulness for

he tilted me again” “you bring them both to me” he tilted me again “or

The main storyline has to do with Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. To do this he received help from a secret benefactor. For the first half of the novel Pip is convinced that Miss Havisham is the one doing this so one day he and Estella can be together. Dickens creates a story around Pip’s assumption to make this a very logical explanation. Coincidentally right after Pip realizes and confirms he was wrong about his benefactor, an unexpected character reappears. “You acted nobly, my boy,” said he. “Noble Pip! And I have never forgot it!” (Dickens 248) These words ring out of his benefactor’s name. Who appears to be the escaped convict from the beginning who threatened him, known by the name of Magwitch. Magwitch reveals that ever since that day in the graveyard when Pip returned to give him what he requested he has found a job to help Pip out for what he did for him. By doing this secretly for all this

Pip then goes on to address the reader directly and explains that “[t]hat was a memorable day to [him], for it made great changes in [him],” (Dickens 70). After meeting with Estella several times and becoming extremely fond of her, despite her bipolar attitudes towards him, Ms. Havisham suddenly decides to recompense Pip for his time and then tells him that he no longer has to come back to the Satis House. Everyday after this, Pip continuously thinks of Estella and of how he must become a gentleman in order to be at the same level as Estella and eventually marry her. Another character Biddy (whose relationship to Pip is somewhat complicated) begins acting as Pip’s teacher and Pip says “[w]hatever [he] acquired, [he] tried to impart to Joe,” because “[he] wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common.” Pip’s plans to become a well-mannered gentleman to be worthy of high-society and to be worthy of Estella’s affection are two goals or “great expectations” that Pip sets for himself that ultimately carry the plot of the novel along.

Pip’s mindset regarding classes and success in life is drastically altered after his initial visit to the aristocratic Miss Havisham. “She said I was common” (69) spurs the realization in Pip that he is indeed innocent but unfortunately much oppressed. Pip is very distraught with his birth place into society, to the point that he “was discontented” (130) -- he increasingly desires to be a gentleman. He primarily desires this as a means of impressing Estella and winning her over. At this point in the novel, Pip is willing to give away what he loves (Joe – family setting) to obtain a superficial and insulting girl. One day Pip receives word that he now has the ability to grow up to be his ultimate dream, to be a gentleman. Pip awakens to a new world and those he once loved are no longer good enough for Pip. Moving to London, he becomes far more sophisticated, but at the same time loses his natural goodness. (Chesterton 142). Pip is leaving happiness and his real family to attain a life he thinks will make him more content. Before departing, he dreams of “Fantastic failures of journeys occupied me until the day dawned and the birds were singing” (148). This relates the dream that Pip has just before he sets out to London for the first time, with all of his "great expectations" before him. Pip’s dream is permeated with the sadness and guilt caused by his imminent departure from Joe and Biddy and his aspirations for a new social station.

On when discussing human nature, actor and producer Joe Mantegna explained that “There's good and evil going on. We have cops. We have robbers.” To contrast heroes from villains, authors often assign positive traits to the heroes of their stories, such as selflessness or courage, and negative traits to the villains of the story, such as greed and violence. In Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, most of the characters fit into Mantegna’s scheme. Great Expectations is a story about a boy named Pip who grows up in an impoverished village, inherits great expectations, and becomes a gentleman through those expectations. Nearly every character Dickens creates in Great Expectations are either good or evil, with a few exceptions.

From the beginning of Dickens’ novel Pip has low self-esteem. This is conveyed by the section in which Joe yells at him for taking her for granted: ‘I’ve never had this apron of mine off, since you were born. It’s bad enough to be a blacksmith’s wife (and him a Gargery) without being your mother’. He feels guilty for his very existence due to his sister, who constantly reminds him how she raised him out of generosity and how much better her life would be if he were in a work house. Other relatives and friends reinforce his feelings by telling him how grateful he should be. Miss Havisham and Estella teach him to be ashamed of his ‘coarse and common’ life. Their influence, coupled with his low self-worth and his sister's messages about wealth

The narrator introduces himself as Philip Pirrip, or ‘Pip’ for short; the man in question effectively gave himself this name when he could not pronounce his real name as an infant, managing only Pip. Pip portrays himself as an impressionable child by telling the story of his encounter with an escaped convict as a young boy. The shackled convict makes demands of young Pip then lets him go, leaving Pip the option of seeking help from police or family, but Pip follows through on the demands the convict gave. Perhaps if not impressionable, Pip is too compassionate for his own good. In addition to himself and the convict, Pip also introduces his older sister and her husband, Mrs. Joe and Joe, respectively. His sister is quite commanding, but her household, with Joe adding some compassion and gentleness, pales in comparison to the surrounding marshes apparently overpopulated with recently escaped convicts.