1 Author Research
Charles Dickens is a British novelist born on February 7, 1812 at Portsmouth. His family was poor as his dad was a Navy clerk and his mother was a schoolteacher. After his family moved to Camden Town, his father was put in prison for debt. After his father’s imprisonment, he was forced to drop out of school to work in a factory. The abandonment and betrayal he felt from adults who were supposed to help him became a theme he used in his writing, thus making it more relatable for his readers. His father was able to pay off his debts with a family inheritance allowing Charles to get back into school. Unfortunately, when he was 15 years old he had to drop out once again to work (Charles Dickens). …show more content…
One major theme in “Great Expectations” is that we are who we are.
a. Pip is born in a lower class system and wants to become a rich gentleman. He realizes that being rich doesn’t make someone happy, nor does it make people like you.
2) Another theme is that growing up isn’t always easy.
a. We get to experience Pip’s life as he starts out as a six-year-old boy and ends as a twenty-three year old man. Throughout this span of time, Pip goes through a lot. He is mistreated by his only living blood relative, he is threated by a convict so he will steal food from his sister so he will not starve, and he learns from experience that being wealthy does not get you things in life. You have to work for them.
b. This theme is relatable to us because we all get to experience all of life’s battles as we grow up. We start out so naïve and then one day, we realize that life is hard and we just have to figure out how to make the most of all situations, whether they’re good or bad.
5 Important scenes
1. When Pip is in the cemetery and meets the convict known as, Magwitch.
2. Pip’s encounter with Estella at Miss Havisham’s for the first time.
3. When Abel Magwitch tells of his story and why he is where he …show more content…
Dickens does a great job letting us know what Pip is thinking or feeling. He uses figurative language in his writing. He especially used similes and metaphors to help explain the comparison between two things. “I have felt for a time as if a thick curtain had fallen on all its interest and romance, to shut me out from anything save dull endurance any more” (Dickens 107). This simile allows us to understand how Pip feels. Dickens doesn’t jump around from time to time. “Great Expectations” is sequential as we start from when Pip is six years old until he is twenty-three years old. Since this book was originally written in the 1800s and first published in 1860-61, it is written in an archaic style. “Here is the green farthingale, Here is the diamond-hilted sword, Here are the shoes with red heels and the blue solitaire” (271) This statement is one of many that Dickens uses that references to the 18th century. He also uses a lot of punctuation in his writing, which signifies that he has a complex style of writing. Dickens creates different moods throughout the story. The novel’s mood in the beginning is gloomy as he is standing in the cemetery surrounded by dead relatives. It is also mysterious. It raises a lot of questions such as “Who is Pip’s