Sypmathy for Pip and the Convict in the Opening Chapter of Great Expectations

1093 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Poor children in the 1800s

Great Expectations

How does dickens enable the reader to sympathise with pip and the convict in the opening chapter of great expectations?

On Christmas Eve, Phillip Pirrip nicknamed Pip, an orphan boy raised by his sister Mrs. Joe Gargery and her husband encounters a frightening man in the bleak village churchyard overgrown with nettles. The man, a convict who had escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. Pip's kindness warms the convict's heart. The convict, however, waits many years to truly show his gratitude.

The novel is written in the first person perspective and the story is unravelled from Pip’s point of view, who is also the protagonist of the story. However the only drawback from this is that we don’t see the views of any other characters but only Pips, making the novel biased.

Dickens presents Pip’s family history through Pip’s description of the tombstones. He does this by making Pip read out the names of dead family members from the tombstones. Both of Pip’s parents were dead and all of his siblings had died as infants, which makes the reader sympathise for Pip.

Life in the 19th century as an orphan boy looked horrible in Great Expectations. The reason for this is that, the way Pip was treated by his sister was harsh and cruel and his sister felt that Pip was a “Burden” upon her. Pip received hardly any compassion from his sister which was literally his only blood relative, so this was pretty sad making the image of an orphan boy’s life, dreary and miserable.

The language Dickens uses in Great Expectations makes the atmosphere cold, frightening and mysterious. “I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churc...

... middle of paper ...

...ct had left Pip was more at ease.

Pips character at this point is a little boy getting terrorized by a big cruel man.

However there is some sympathy between the convict and the reader because, the convict is only doing what he’s doing to survive, so it’s almost like do or die.

What connects Pip and the convict are two characters which are neglected and hurt so they’re almost similiar but different because Pip is just a little boy with a cruel and uncaring sister and the convict is a big man with the law after him.

Victorian society at the time was very cruel and hard because life was very difficult to make a living out of so there was alot of poor people and some people even had to turn to stealing to survive. So there was alot of overcrowding in prisons and there was alot of death sentences. To sum up, life back in the 19th century was very hard.

Show More
Related

  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charles Dickens utilizes his life for inspiration for the protagonist Pip in his novel Great Expectations. They both struggle with their social standing. Dickens loved plays and theatre and therefore incorporated them into Pip’s life. Dickens died happy in the middle class and Pip died happy in the middle class. The connection Dickens makes with his life to Pip’s life is undeniable. If readers understand Dickens and his upbringing then readers can understand how and why he created Pip’s upbringing. Charles Dickens’ life, full of highs and lows, mirrors that of Pip’s life. Their lives began the same and ended the same. To understand the difficulty of Dickens’ childhood is to understand why his writing focuses on the English social structure. Dickens’ life revolved around social standing. He was born in the lower class but wasn’t miserable. After his father fell into tremendous debt he was forced into work at a young age. He had to work his way to a higher social standing. Because of Dicken’s constant fighting of class the English social structure is buried beneath the surface in nearly all of his writings. In Great Expectations Pip’s life mirrors Dickens’ in the start of low class and the rise to a comfortable life. Fortunately for Dickens, he does not fall again as Pip does. However, Pip and Dickens both end up in a stable social standing.

    Read More

  • The Analysis of Friendship Between Pip and Joe in 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    After being very ill Pip realises that being a gentleman means more than having money and an education. Many of Dickens books are about childhood difficulties. Perhaps this is because he was drawing on the experience of his own difficult childhood and his own desire, like Pips to become a gentleman. Dickens books are also about the class struggle, cruelty, inequality and injustice. Punishment was harsh such as deportation to do hard labour in Australia for small crimes or public hanging.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Chapter 8 in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pip's Sister and his Mum and Dad died she had to bring Pip up by

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning, Pip, an orphan, considers himself to be a common laboring boy, but he has a

    Read More

  • Pip's Education

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a bildungsroman, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations presents the growth and development of Philip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Pip is both the main character in the story and the narrator, telling his tale many years after the events take place. Pip goes from being a young boy living in poverty in the marsh country of Kent, to being a gentleman of high status in London. Pip’s growth and maturation in Great Expectations lead him to realize that social status is in no way related to one’s real character.

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Changes in the Character of Pip

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main character, Pip, is a gentle character. His traits include humbleness, kindness, and lovingness. These traits are most likely the cause of his childhood poverty. In the beginning of the story, Pip is a mild mannered little boy who goes on with his own humble life. That, though, will change as he meets Magwich, a thief and future benefactor. Pip’s kindness goes out to help the convict, Magwich when he gives food and clothing to him. Magwich tells Pip that he’ll never forget his kindness and will remember Pip always and forever. This is the beginning of Pip’s dynamic change. Throughout the novel, Great Expectations, the character, Pip gradually changes from a kind and humble character to a character that is bitter, then snobbish and finally evolves into the kind and loving character which he was at the beginning of the story.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Great Expectations

    2281 Words  | 5 Pages

    It can be seen through Dickens’s highly successful novel Great Expectations, that his early life events are reflected into the novel. Firstly the reader can relate to Dickens’s early experiences, as the novel’s protagonist Pip, lives in the marsh country, and hates his job. Pip also considers himself, to be too good for his ...

    Read More

  • The Life of Charles Dickens Reflected in Great Expectations

    2656 Words  | 6 Pages

    Shades of Dickens' childhood are repeatedly manifested throughout Great Expectations. According to Doris Alexander, Dickens "knew that early circumstances shape character and that character, in turn, shapes reactions to later circumstances" (3). Not coincidentally, then, the novel is initially set in Chatham and the action eventually moves to London, much like Dickens did himself. The "circumstances" that young Pip experiences a...

    Read More

  • The Bildungsroman and Pip's Great Expectations

    3865 Words  | 8 Pages

    On the surface, Great Expectations appears to be simply the story of Pip from his early childhood to his early adulthood, and a recollection of the events and people that Pip encounters throughout his life. In other words, it is a well written story of a young man's life growing up in England in the early nineteenth century. At first glance, it may appear this way, an interesting narrative of youth, love, success and failure, all of which are the makings of an entertaining novel. However, Great Expectations is much more. Pip's story is not simply a recollection of the events of his past. The recollection of his past is important in that it is essential in his development throughout the novel, until the very end. The experiences that Pip has as a young boy are important in his maturation into young adulthood.

    Read More

  • Thematic Analysis Of Great Expectations

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many choices the characters make have a negative effect on their lives. The characters of Magwitch and Pip make bad decisions, but throughout the novel they realized their wrong doings and strive for improvement and better understanding. In the beginning of the book, Pip ventures into the marshes around the forge. As he encounters Magwitch, a convict, he is asked to bring back some “wittles” or food and a file to break free from the chains (Dickens 25). Magwitch informs Pip that if he were to disobey orders, a man would sneak in to his house and eat his heart. Afraid, Pip takes Joe’s file and Mrs. Joe’s cake instead of alerting them about Magwitch and the threats; this displays Pip’s low level of trust in his guardians. The guilt he feels “on the score of this minor theft is only part of a larger guilt,” leaving him to believe he is not only thought of as a burden to his sister, but also a delinquent (Barnard 109). Pip would rather go behind Mrs. Joe’s b...

    Read More

  • Great Expectations Analysis

    1184 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations follows the maturing of main character Philip “Pip” Pirrip from a very young age until his adulthood. The novel starts with Pip being just six years old, alone on the marsh where he has an encounter that changes his whole life. What is notable about this early Pip is how he is shaped and manipulated by the ideologies of those around him, especially when it comes to social class. Dickens makes it very clear that Pip does not reach maturity until he frees himself from these notions that had been set upon him, and begins to see past the overt attributes associated with station.

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Suffering

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...rity, and the ending of his story he has sealed with pain and hardships of life. From losing his parents and sister, his best friend, being treated cold hearted by the love of his life Pip still manages to make it out in an okay way with the little hope with Estella and his close one's child who looks just like him in a scary way. It is not the best ending but it could've been worst for the young man. Pip's idea of life is truly suffering from the worst and getting only a little bit of resemblance from it.

    Read More

  • Summary of Great Expectations

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story is told by Pip, a grown man describing his experiences as a young common labouring boy in the early Victorian period. He sometimes tends to narrate the story as if through the eyes of an innocent child. The effect that has on the reader is that it brings out both a mature and young adventurous side in us, it also makes us feel sorry for Pip in a way, because of the way he was treated by his merciless sister. For example when Pip?s uncle Mr Pumblechuck tells Pip he has to go and entertain a woman he doesn?t know called Miss Haversham, his sister forces him to go even though he doesn?t want to with a threat. ?If Miss Haversham wants a boy to go and play there and of course he?s going, or I?ll work him?. The explanation for this is she never wanted Pip in the first place as he was dumped on her, so she was happy to get rid of him.

    Read More

  • Pip's Great Expectations

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pip comes from a lower class family of the Victorian era. The reader first meets Pip around the age of 6, when he explains that his parents, as well as 5 of his brothers, have all passed and he has been raised by his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, and her husband Joe Gargery. His sister continuously reminds Pip about her having brought him up “by hand” (Dickens 7) and even details her regrets about having taken him in as her own child saying “I’d never do it again!” (Dickens 8). Despite the rough upbringing, or perhaps because of the rough upbringing, Pip has high hopes of one day becoming a gentleman and continuously dreams of what his life will be like once he is part of the upper class. These aspirations indicate that Pip has great expectations for himself. He expects to become a perfect gentleman and climb the social status ladder. Soon after explaining his home situation, Pip describes to the reader of his encounter with Ms. Havisham, who he describes as “an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal hous...

    Read More

  • Social Class in Great Expectations

    1790 Words  | 4 Pages

    Perhaps the most important message that Dickens emphasizes in the book is that social standing has no correlation to a person’s inner character. Pip, the protagonist of the book, fails to see this until he has successfully shunned away the most important people in his life, and wasted most of time chasing his dreams of being a gentleman. Pip goes from living in the marshes of Kent, destined to be a blacksmith, to the busy streets of London, as a wealthy gentleman in a large home.

    Read More

More about Sypmathy for Pip and the Convict in the Opening Chapter of Great Expectations

Open Document