2.+Great+Expectations

Directions: your group is responsible for compiling and creating responses to all sections and will be graded on the completeness and accuracy of the information provided. In addition, your response must include material covered in class, not information "cut and pasted" from on-line study guides. Assignment is worth 100 points. Remember, you are helping your classmates by providing a complete response.

1) **Plot Summary** (no more than 250 words please): Great Expectations is about the life of a young boy named Pip who lives with his sister and her husband and encounters an escaped convict. Later Pip is taken to Miss. Havisham’s house called the Satis house and meets a young girl named Estella and falls in love with her but is treated coldly by her. However, his expectations of Miss Havisham making him into a gentleman are destroyed when he becomes Joe’s apprentice as a blacksmith. During this time, Pip works disgruntled in the forge and tries to learn more with the help of Biddy.

One day a lawyer named Jaggers tells Pip that a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune and must go to London to become a gentleman. Several years later, Pip encounters his secret benefactor, Magwitch who is actually the convict he met when he was young and decides to help him as he is being chased by the police and Compeyson, his former crime partner. When Pip tries to sneak Magwitch down the river, they get caught by the police where Magwitch fights Compeyson in the river who drowns while Magwitch is sentence to death and Pip loses all his money. Magwitch dies and Pip falls ill as Joe comes to London to care for him. After he recovers Pip goes back to marry Biddy but finds that Joe has already married her, and goes into the mercantile business with Herbert. In the end he encounters Estella and the two leave the garden holding hands. (The original ending only had Pip and Estella meeting briefly and going their separate ways.)

2) **Major Characters, Description, and Relationships:** Pip (Philip "Pip" Pirrip) – protagonist and narrator of the story; orphan; seeks to rise to a higher social status in the hopes of impressing Estella Estella – Miss Havisham’s beautiful and refined, yet cruel, adopted daughter used to wreak havoc on men Miss Havisham – wealthy old woman who can not let go of her heartbreaking past; wears her old wedding dress around her home, Satis House Magwitch – an escaped convict; encounters young Pip who shows him kindness, which Magwitch returns by becoming Pip’s anonymous benefactor Joe Gargery – Pip’s motherly brother in-law; is not distraught by his humble lifestyle as a blacksmith Mrs. Joe Gargey – Pip’s overbearing older sister and guardian; abusive towards Pip and Joe Jaggers – Pip’s guardian during his time as a gentlemen; powerful, intimidating lawyer; monitors Pip’s money Herbert Pocket – Pip’s friend and roommate in London; becomes a merchant more successful than Pip, even though Pip had believed he would never amount to anything Wemmick – Jagger’s serious clerk at work; Pip’s amiable friend at his home, Walworth Biddy – Pip’s smart, compassionate friend; originally takes interest in Pip, but later marries Joe Dolge Orlick – one of Pip’s antagonists; Joe’s assistant in the forge; murders Mrs. Joe Uncle Pumblechook – Pip’s haughty uncle; takes credit for Pip’s rise in status Compeyson – gentlemanly convict in opposition to Magwitch; deceived Miss Havisham for money then broke her heart Bentley Drummle – cruel oaf of nobility who marries Estella; is tutored at the Pocket house
 * = **Foil Characters** ||
 * Biddy - compassionate, common || Estella - cruel, upperclass ||
 * Wemmick - intimately friendly (at home) || Jaggers - intimidating, business-like ||
 * Joe - "I ain't much in the habit of drinking" (69), caring || Old Barley - drunken ogre, his children had to take care of him ||
 * Mrs. Joe - very aggressive, plain-looking || Clara - gently, pretty ||
 * Miss Havisham - bitter, heart-broken || Mrs. Whimple - "motherly woman who had not outlived her honest sympathy with a little affair of true love" (352) ||
 * Magwitch - poor, uneducated, dirty || Compeyson - charming, proper ||
 * Drummle - bumbling, aggressive oaf || Startop - passive and friendly ||

3) **Literary Terms discussed in class** (including a brief definition and how they relate to the text): Character: -protagonist – the central character: Pip -antagonist – character in opposition to the protagonist: Orlick -dynamic character – undergoes change: Through her abusive marriage, Estella finds her heart. -flat character – simple and unchanging: Wopple -round character – characteristics and background are depicted with detail: Magwitch’s background is shown through a flashback . -static character – unchanging: Drummle remains oafish and cruel. -stock character – recognizable even with little detail from the author -foil – a character who contrasts with a major character: Biddy and Estella are foils. theme – broad idea conveyed within the text: Reversed gender roles subplot – a secondary plot strand in addition to the main plot: Molly supposedly killed someone. exposition - the opening portion that sets the scene by introducing the main characters and providing background information: Pip introduces himself and his background when he is sitting in the graveyard. conflict - a complication: Magwitch must hide from Compeyson. crisis - a moment of high tension: Orlick holds Pip captive. rising action – events leading up to the climax: Pip discovers Magwitch to be his benefactor. climax - the moment of greatest tension at which the outcome is to be decided: Magwitch is captured on the river anticlimax – a weak or disappointing conclusion: Pip returns to the forge to Biddy, only she has just married Joe. denouement (Conclusion/Resolution) - the outcome: Pip lived a lone life and becomes a merchant, Biddy has a family with Joe, and Estella ended a suffering marriage. falling action – part of the plot after the climax: Pip returns home and grows old. flashback (Retrospect) - a scene relived in a character's memory foreshadowing - indication of events to come: Magwitch secretly gives Pip money at the Jolly Bargemen. narrative voice/point of view – perspective: Dickens uses Pip’s first-person perspective. -first person – told from the focal character’s point of view, using "I," "my," etc. allowing the character to convey more emotions: Pip narrates his own story, referring to himself as "I." -omniscient (unlimited) – the narrator knows everything -omniscient (limited) – the narrator has limited knowledge stream-of-consciousness - literary technique that presents a character’s thoughts and feelings as they occur 4) How has the writer created meaning? In other words, what choices has he/she made in plot structure, point of view, character, setting, tone, style and/or symbol in order to convey meaning?:
 * Plot Structure**- Dickens uses the plot to create suspense and epiphany. These plot twists help create anxiety for the reader while it can also give greater insight into the character’s life or view of life. These twists help show the characteristics of the characters and how they react to the different situations presented to them especially for Pip and how he changes through his life by trying to increase his social status. Also Dickens separates the book into three sections to help mark off his youth life, his wealth life, and his life after his wealth.
 * Point of View**- Dickens uses a point of view from an older version of Pip who is reflecting upon his past. It dramatizes the characters especially Pip himself, as he begins telling the story from his youth and can see the growth and maturation of Pip through his life. All this is done with Pip reflecting on his life without giving away any insight that he knows how his life plays out. It also conveys a biased view as the only opinion that is received by the reader is from one character only so his opinions and descriptions of characters would be different from others.
 * Character**- Dickens uses characters to develop the themes of development as several characters such as Pip and Ms Havisham mature as they become enlightened. Also foil characters that help highlight characteristics of the characters such as between Joe who is calm while Orlick is aggressive. Biddy and Estella are also foil characters, where one is a common and a simple girl while Estella is wholesome and beautiful. These contrasting characters help convey the interactions and meanings of the themes such as high and low social class.
 * Setting**- Dickens uses the setting to give background information about the story. The time period of the Victorian time period had certain values that are shown. Also, the setting of the book also conveys the ideas of the themes. The forge and Satis house contrast the themes of hard working simple life versus the pampered high class life. Also the countryside and London also conveys the similar themes and helps convey the meanings of the central themes of the book.
 * Tone**- Dickens uses tone to help better express the emotions of Pip to help convey the emotions such as aggression, fear and pain. Not only that, but it helps people connect to the characters better and feel their positions in the story. One can feel the fear in Pip as he sits at the Christmas dinner feeling the guilt of his actions with the convict.
 * Style**- Dickens uses style to convey what he wants people to understand from his writings. He uses repetition of words often to help enforce a point or being a minimalist be using only a few words and phrases that are plain and simple to just get the point across with out rambling or wasting time.
 * Symbols**- Dickens uses symbols to help convey deeper meaning into the story by giving them representation of themes as well as holds insight. There are symbols both in objects within the story such as the Satis house being a dark and depressing place where Miss Havisham heart is in darkness and corrupts Estella in this dark place. Also the names have symbolic meanings such as Pip meaning seed as he grows and develops. It all helps bring deeper meanings and generating thoughts to relate everything together.

__Reversed Gender Roles__ – A recurrent theme throughout Great Expectations was that the stereotypical gender roles seemed to be reversed for the characters. Stereotypical Victorian women are kind and nurturing; however, Estella and Mrs. Joe were quite the opposite of this. They were mean, cold-hearted and punishing. Similarly, the stereotypical Victorian man was strong, imposing and stoic. Joe, however, was caring, submissive, and very open about his feelings. __Foil Characters__ – Throughout the book, there seemed to be many foil characters, or in other terms, characters that complement each other due to their stark differences. For example, Estella was mean, cold-hearted, and punishing while her foil, Biddy was nice, caring, and rewarding. Other foils in the book were Wemmick and Mr. Jaggers, Magwitch and Compeyson, Startop and Drummle, Mrs. Joe and Joe, etc. __Ambition & Self Improvement__ – A major theme in Great Expectations was ambition and self improvement. Pip is focused throughout on bettering his place in society; he is intent on attaining money and gentlemanly status. However, this is not the only side of his ambition. Pip also seeks to become more educated throughout the book. He is always seeking new knowledge, whether it be through Joe, Biddy, Jaggers, or any of his other great mentors. Another side of Pip’s ambition is his attempt to better himself emotionally. His main attempts at this are focused on winning the heart of Estella. This ambition is perhaps his greatest for it is the driving force behind his other aspirations. __Mentors__ – Throughout Great Expectations, Pip seems to transition from mentor to mentor as he transitions through life. His first mentor was Joe, who showed him how to be kind, caring, and wise. Biddy continued these “teachings” and then dabbled into the beginnings of his education. Mrs. Havisham was a mentor no so much in teaching Pip something but more in showing Pip the gentlemanly lifestyle. Mr. Jaggers and Wemmick provide a more direct viewpoint into the inner workings of being a gentleman. Pip’s final great mentor was Magwitch who ultimately taught Pip his greatest lesson, never judge a book by its cover. From his benefactor, Pip learned to look past appearance and status and look deeper into who a person really is and where their heart is at.

**6) Quotes from the text that capture major themes (at least 3):**
“Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy to-day and somebody else to-morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine. How could it be, then, that I did not like her much the better of the two? (pg.122)” - This quote highlights the theme of foil characters and the contrast between Biddy and Estella. “For the tenderness of Joe was so beautifully proportioned to my need that I was like a child in his hands. He would sit and talk to me in the old confidence, and with the old simplicity, and in the old unassertive protecting way… (pg. 434)” - This quote shows the tender and nurturing qualities of Joe, which supports the theme of reversed gender roles and feminine men. “You have always held your place in //my// heart. (pg. 451)” - This quote is in the final pages of the book and it really highlights the central theme of Estella being at the center of Pip’s desires and ambitions.

7) Interpretive Questions (at least 3):
1. Which does Pip ultimately choose: the countryside or London? Why? 2. What type of character is Miss Havisham (i.e. static or dynamic)? 3. Which of the two endings do you believe best sums up the themes of the novel? Why? 4. Pip seems to live his life in constant guilt. What is Pip ultimately guilty of, if he is guilty at all?

8) Historical/Social Influences on text (include relevant author biography):
__Great Expectations__ includes many elements of Dickens' life, and some critics claim that to a large extent Pip mirrors Dickens at a young age. Dickens, like Pip, grew up poor in the marshes of southern England, and his father was arrested when Dickens was young and placed in debtor's prison; thus, like Pip, Dickens grew up without a strong, defined father figure. Dickens' mother and his brothers and sisters joined Dickens' father in prison, so Dickens was forced to work at a factory for part of his childhood, a traumatic experience. After his family's release, he quickly returned to school and, like Pip, quickly rose to aristocratic status, albeit as a literary celebrity. __Great Expectations__ also depicts many aspects of Victorian society, especially in its depiction of the often-unfair and cruel jail system and the prevalence of crime, the stark differences and the huge social gap between the social classes, the conservatism and vapidity of the aristocracy, and the roles of women in society. __Great Expectations__ is also a bildungsroman novel - a story of maturity and growth through a lifetime - which was a popular form of novel in Victorian England.