Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

How does Dickens create a sense of sympathy for Pip in Chapter 9 of

Great Expectations

The opening description of the scene is all built around making Satis

house seem alien to Pip. It is immediately brought to the reader’s

attention that the house is very old and that everything appears

dilapidated. The brewery is quickly noticed by Pip to be unused and he

tells the reader ‘No brewing was going on in it, and none seemed to

have gone on for a long time.’ This involves the reader in the story

and makes it easier for them to see events from his perspective, the

reader shares in Pip’s feeling of foreboding.

All the windows are barred or blocked, this gives the house the

atmosphere of a prison, and this makes the surroundings far more

menacing and intimidating for Pip. The situation that Pip is instantly

thrown into creates a strong and quick sympathy for Pip from the

reader. Dicken’s builds on this as the scene progresses. Readers are

likely to have experiences of their own, where they have been brought

into a new and unfamiliar situation where they have felt

uncomfortable. Dicken’s plays on these feelings effectively and writes

about everything Pip’s young eyes notice about his seemingly foreign

setting. ‘It was paved and clean, but grass was growing in every

crevice.’ By creating a detailed image of Satis house in the readers

mind the reader is able to place him or herself in Pip’s position and

they feel the fear that Pip feels.

Estella’s first appearance is her opening the gate to pip. Pip

immediately tells the reader that he finds Estella ‘very pretty and

very proud.’ This again pla...

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Pip. Pip cries when he goes out into the yard, when given the image of

a crying child through Dickens descriptive writing the reader cannot

help but feel disgust toward the two ladies and sympathy toward Pip.

Even toward the end of the chapter Dickens does not stop describing

Pip’s surroundings, instead he constantly reminds the reader of the

extent to which Pip is bewildered by his current predicament. Dickens

powerful descriptions of emotion and very detailed imagery are the

main ingredients in this chapter that bring out experiences in the

readers past and their basic instinct to protect the defenceless. The

sympathy created in this scene is important for later in the novel. It

shows the large contrast between the young and vulnerable Pip and the

older Pip who is embarrassed of Joe and abandons his family.