Charles Dickens Enables the Reader to Contribute Pips Feelings and His Opinions

My assignment will glance at Charles Dickens 13th and one of his supreme novels ‘Great Expectations’ which was published in 1860. I will show how the author Charles Dickens enables the reader to contribute Pip’s feelings and his opinions.

The author of Great Expectations Charles Dickens was born on 7th of February 1812 next to Portsmouth. He was born in a very pitiable family that is why he wrote about a deprived boy (Pip) in Great Expectations.

Charles Dickens father moved numerous times for fine jobs but he came back into London. Charles Dickens father worked in an office as a clerk. Charles Dickens went to school for 12 years, but for the reason that of his father’s poor job he had to leave the school and work in a boot polish factory, so he could bring in some money. When Charles Dickens reached the age of 15, he went back into school to complete his education. Before he completed his education, he went to prison for a short term. The life in the prison was very bad and he used this experience to write about Magwitch and Jaggers in Great Expectations.

Charles Dickens was not pleased about his young life. He was very emotional and sorrowful. His stories are very superior and emotional. Most of his stories have the character of children, unhappy, like Pip in Great Expectations.

The novel Great Expectations is written in 1st person, Pip the most important character is telling his own story so it allows the reader to read and see the opinion and feelings of Pip right through from his life, from childhood to young man and to an adult. We see all the character and their point of view from Pip’s perspective.

The novel is written in 1st person and involves the reader from commencement to the conclusion, and this in itself helps us make sympathy for Pip as we see things through his eyes, like when he has encounter with the convict,

“I was dreadfully frightened”

Here we can see how Pip felt when he was a little boy.

On page 119 we see things from Pip as a young man

“Yet the streets of London …………… fell hollow on my heart”

This is when Pip as a young man is feeling guilty about leaving Joe and Biddy back on marshes, because we see things through Pip’s eyes we are sympathetic towards him. We know Pip has done something wrong which he is now ashamed but we still like him and feel apologetic for him. This is the outcome of writing in 1st person.

In this passage words like

‘Depressing’ ‘Hipster’ and ‘Hollow in my heart’ add to the atmosphere and show the feeling of Pip what he thinks.

On page 60 Charles Dickens has written as the grown-up Pip. He steps out of the Character and speaks directly to the reader ‘Pause you who read this’ and says something considerable about the first visit to the Satis House. He invites the reader to consider how particular events may have influenced the stories of their own life.

‘That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me’.

Here Pip talks about the first visit to the Satis House where he was made to think negatively about him when he was a little boy, which makes us sympathetic towards him.

The settings of Great Expectations have an important bearing on the storyline; the setting also echoes the character in personality and circumstance. The setting from the start of the book Great Expectations in a graveyard quickly informs the reader a lot of information about Pip’s history that under different circumstances would have taken a lot of longer to explain; things like Pip’s parents and family were quickly and briefly explained to the reader via gravestones and Magwitch asking ‘where is your mother?’ and Pip’s response being ‘there sir’ as he points towards his mother, father and five siblings gravestones which makes us very sympathetic towards him.

Pip is only a little boy when he has his encounter with the convict. Here we are worried for Pip because we don’t know what the convict will do to Pip, and we are also told that his parents have died. Pip as a little boy explains his feelings with these words ‘I was dreadfully frightened’ here as Pip is worried, we are feeling sorry for him, and we are sympathetic towards him.

When Pip was asked about Estella by Miss Havisham ‘You say nothing of her’ ‘what do you think of her?’ ‘Tell me in my ear’ and Pip’s response ‘I think she is very proud’. We can see here Miss Havisham wants to hurt Pip that is why she asked about Estella because before asking this question Estella made Pip feel he was a common by saying ‘He calls the knaves, jacks, his boy! Said Estella with disdain. And what thick boots!’ We are sympathetic towards him because he is only a little boy and Estella is brought up to impair male that is why she is picking on him.

When Pip goes to Satis House to play, after playing he was given meat and bread in a very bad manner, which really hurt Pip ‘Gave me food without looking at me as I was dog.’ We are very sympathetic towards him because he is only a little boy and Estella in Satis House treats him like an animal.

Joe Gargery plays a very important part in Great Expectations. Through Joe we see how Pip changes from a young innocent teenager to a selfish adult.

Joe is a straightforward truthful black smith who has married Pip’s sister. He loves and cares about Pip as a father: we know this as he uses phrases ‘ever the best of friends’ and ‘dear old chap’.

Joe Gargery is uneducated and therefore cannot read or write properly.

Pip loves Joe at the beginning but as things change around him, he begins to change. At the beginning Pip loves being around with Joe ‘Joe imported confidence to me’.

When Pip visits Satis House he is called by names and told he is common, and when he returns to his own house he lies to his sister and to Mr Pumblechok but he can’t bear to lie to Joe ‘Towards Joe I considered my self a little monster’.

His incident creates sympathy, as we feel sorry for Pip as he has been called by names and told that he is common.

As the novel goes on: we see Pip getting more ungrateful as he just gets up and leaves Joe when he was told he has Great Expectations. When Pip is told he will go to London, Joe can’t bear to lose Pip so he calls Jaggers for a fight even though he is not a fighting person.

When Pip is in London he begins to feel guilty about leaving Joe and Biddy but he tells himself that if he goes back to the village he will not fit into village life because he is a Gentleman now.

When Pip finds out that Joe is coming to visit him in London he says ‘if I could have kept him away by paying money I certainly would have paid money’. In this extract we see that Pip has become ashamed of Joe and acts selfishly.

When Pip is in London he only ever goes back to the village for his sister’s funeral. Whilst he is in London he becomes ungrateful and selfish. However, because we understand how he has been manipulated, we do not dislike him even though he is behaving badly.

This is shown when he runs up a lot of dept, by spending money on Estella. Joe again shows his good points as he later on pays off these debts for him.

Joe really likes Pip and he cares about him as a father because he is a very kind person. It looks like Joe really is a very good Gentleman, even though he is uneducated and can’t read or writes.

Joe loves Pip and listens what he has to say, we see this when Pip writes a little letter to Joe and when he shows that letter to him, he really builds up confidence in Pip when he looks at the letter, he says, ‘What a scholar you are, An’t you?

Although Pip has good clothes and money he never becomes a Gentleman as his inside is not right.

In order to become a gentleman your inside has to be right as well as your outside.

As the novel gets to its ending Pip the main character starts to realise how mean, selfish and ungrateful he has been to other people ‘I only saw a man who had felt affectionately, grateful and generously towards I only saw in him a much better man that I had been to Joe’. This extract emphasis that how guilty and sorry Pip feels when he thinks that the benefactor was not his relative but he still loved him and made his future but he is related to Joe and he never helped him instead he said ‘if I could have kept him away by paying money I certainly would have paid money’ when he heard about Joe coming to London. But, we still forgive him and understand his feeling and what he has done.

Great Expectations is a very serious novel but it also contains humour. The humour also helps us create sympathy for Pip. For example at the beginning of the novel when Pip has encounter with the convict and when he turns Pip upside down. This looks very funny as Pip looks back but it also is sympathetic as Pip is being treated and he was frightened.

When Pip meets Herbet Pocket in Satis House he calls Pip for a fight and Pip accepts the call. It is very funny because Herbet Pocket is a posh boy and he also knows the rules and regulations of the fight and he also knows how to start a fight. Herbet Pocket starts warming up and tells Pip the rules and regulations of the fight where as Pip just wants to get on with the fight like a common boy. Pip beats Herbet and gives a black eye and bloody nose even though he doesn’t know the rules of the fight. Pip still feels sorry for him ‘I felt but a gloomy satisfaction in my victory’. This sentence shows that Pip is not a kind of person who feels proud in hitting people.

In the novel Great Expectations we feel sorry for Pip and we are sympathetic towards him. Charles Dickens had been very successful in making Pip a character we like, love and feel sorry for. Dickens is also very successful in making Joe a character we like all through the novel because he is an uneducated, poor black smith with a clean heart and doesn’t hurt anybody and loves Pip. We feel sorry for Pip and we are sympathetic towards him in many occasions. This is due to writing this novel in 1st person because we see things from Pip’s perspective.