A Comparison of Chapters 1 and 39 in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

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A Comparison of Chapters 1 and 39 in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations Great Expectations is and epic novel by Charles Dickens. Set in the Victorian times of 1850, it tells the story of Phillip Pirrip (Pip) and his life up into his 30s. Originally used in a magazine as a short story series, it has lengthy chapters and an in depth look into society classes of the time. When Pip was orphaned by the death of his parents and left alone by 5 brothers who did not survive, he was sent to live with his older sister, Mrs Joe Gargery and her husband, Joe Gargery the blacksmith. Although he was cared for to a basic extent, he was by no means spoiled or expected to do great things; his future would be in apprenticing with his blacksmith guardian. Early in his childhood an encounter with an escaped convict who cornered Pip in the graveyard where Pip is visiting the graves of his parents and asks him to bring 'wittles and a file'. Upon Pip's return to bring the food and file to the convict, Pip comes across another man who the convict warns him to stay away from. Magwitch (for that was the convicts' name) was captured and takes the blame off of Pip by claming to have stolen the supplies himself. Shortly after the incident, Pip is taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to Satis House, the home of Miss Havisham to play. An eccentric woman residing in a house where all the clocks are stopped, the house is prepared for a wedding reception and everything is coated in a thick layer of dust. Miss Havisham herself is always dressed in a slowly yellowing wedding dress, stopped in time at the moment when she was jilted. While Uncle Pumblechook tends to bus... ... middle of paper ... ... gives him the news from home: Orlick, after robbing Pumblechook, is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and left most of her fortune to the Pockets; Biddy has taught Joe how to read and write. After Joe leaves, Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, but when he arrives there he discovers that she and Joe have already married. Pip decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House. Her husband is dead and Pip finds that Estella's coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness. The two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again. In Chapter one, Pip is only a young orphaned boy living in the care of his sisterMrs Joe Gargery and her husband the blacksmith.

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