Grate Expectations Essay Example for Free

Grate Expectations Essay Dickens creates an atmosphere setting in order to engage the interest of the reader at the beginning of the novel. Dickens used to serialise his novels. The story opens in an impressive way when he introduces us to pip in the graveyard because most of his familys bodies are burred there. This makes the reader feel scared, frightened and we start to emphasise with pip at the beginning of the novel because we now feel sorry for him because his parents are dead. Owing to this parents death he lives with his older sister Ms Joe Gargery and his brother in law Joe Gargery the blacksmith, pip sister is really mean to pip and his brother in law treats pip like his younger son. In the 19th century, infant mortality rates were higher. The infant mortality rate is the number of children per year out of every thousand alive that die before they reach the age of one or more specifically, under the age of five. This made us aware at the beginning of chapter 1 when Pip described the graves of his brothers. This might surprise the modern reader but Dickens did not comment on it because such death of very young children in his day was very common. The tension is increased in the novel as there is an escaped convict who will soon meet Pip, which is emphasised by the emotions on Pips face, held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; party, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep my self from crying this shows Pips emotion. When we continued to read, we will get to know that Pip went to the graveyard because of his parents and five brothers. Also before the conversation between the convict and Pip, Dickens continued to describe the scenery negatively, talking of the low leaden line to describe the river. This brings feelings heaviness and being trapped. The wind was rushing finishes a third paragraph, with yet another idea of bleak weather, making Pip hear things and scaring him. This makes the reader more frightened for Pip and also the way he described the weather makes the reader know that it wasnt close to the end of the day and also danger was lurking about. Pip continues to describe the two black things that seemed to be standing upright and he talks about a gibbet where they hang people. The above-mentioned talk of graveyards plus the gibbet makes the audience know everything seem very sad and also both are associated with death. The audience gets further engaged because again we start to feel sympathy for the boy who seems so helpless and needy. On the other hand, the novel Great Expectations is actually being told by Pip himself, both as a child, and as an adult looking back at when he was younger. This is very effective and successful language by Dickens, as it gives us an adult opinion and perspective of a childs life. At this point, the audience will know that the narrator dickens is a mature on, because he talks about his childish conclusions of his family by looking at the inscription on their gravestones and how his young tongue could only make out the name Pip from his full name. From the inscription, I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was dotted and ill. Also in the story, Pip described himself in third person like he was looking back on a distant memory. The readers too start to reminisce about their past and if they are older they can identify with the language used by the older Pip. How Charles Dickens describes the bundle of shivers made Pip seem very small, vulnerable and easily exposed to attack. The convict made a very dramatic entrance into the story. This is because we hear the man before we see him. Also his entrance was much as a shock to the reader as to Pip. This creates tension because it shows that the convict has discovered that Pip is hiding in the graveyard very near him. The man started talking to Pip with an angry voice by saying, keep still you little devil or I will cut your throat, dialect of Magwitch. The way and manner the man talked to Pip frightened him. The conversation between Pip and the convict was very short and choppy. The man introduces a lot of commands into his conversation. One typical example of his command in their conversation was when he said, Keep quiet. This shows the audience that something was going to happen to Pip. Also, the reader now begins to form ideas about the convict. We now see him as heartless, a no good person and extremely evil to speak to a child in the manner. In the novel, the convict turned Pip upside down and gnawed bread from his pocket like a lion on its prey. When the convict turned Pip upside down, the young Pip saw the world in a new way. Here Dickens uses humour to engage the reader. The situation is humours because of the revelation of how children can respond differently to adults in a negative situation. Also, when the convict wanted to eat Pips cheeks, the older Pip looked back and admits impartially that; he did have fat cheeks as a child. This also shows the audience Pip was a humorous person who uses things he can identify with to make comparison. This also tells us that the convict was extremely fat and huge or just hungry. Dickens gives the audience a very detailed and precise description of what the man looks like, he looks scruffy to pip but dickens doesnt describe him as scruffy, he was having dishevelled broken shoes, he was with no hat, he was having a rag tied around his head, he was soaked in water, covered in mud and he was with a manacle on one leg. A manacle is an old English word for handcuff or a long big metal chain. The manacle on one of his legs will also let the audience know that he was a prisoner. Also the fact that he was with no hat shows the audience that he has no respect according to the 19th century manners.