Great Expectations

l. How does Pip get his name? Where is he at the beginning of the story? Pip gets his name because his father’s name is Pirrip and his real name is Philip and when he was little he couldn’t say the name so he called himself Pip. At the beginning of the story he is at a marsh country down by the river.

2. Briefly describe the convict. What evidence is there that the convict has “human” qualities and is not merely a criminal? The convict is a fearful man all in coarse gray, with a great iron on his leg, no hat, with broken shoes, and had an old rag tied around his head. The evidence that supports that the convict has human qualities is he somewhat shows compassion when seeing Pip’s dead parents so he does not rob him he just scares Pip and asks him to do a favor.

3. Why do you think Pip believes the convict’s story about his accomplice? I believe Pip believes the convict’s story because he scares Pip half to death and Pip is still young a naive and is genuinely afraid of the man and what is coming out of his mouth.

4. Find an example of dialect in the convict’s dialogue which illustrates the way Dickens separates the upper from the lower classes by their speech patterns. An example of dialect used for lower class is “now lookee here” the lower class had more of a slang and didn’t speak as educated as the upper class who talked like “Oh! don’t cut my throat,sir.”

CHAPTER II

Vocabulary
jack-towel- a towel hung on a roller
connubial – relating to marriage
trenchant – perceptive; vigorous
freemasonry – a fellowship
consternation – worry; paralyzing dismay
remonstrance – protest
boot-jack – a device used to hold a boot secure when taking the boot off imbrue – to soak
accredited – credited with
interlocutor – a speaker
speaking-trumpet – a device used to amplify sound
mincemeat – finely chopped meat, sometimes mixed with other food

1. Dickens is well known for his revealing and amusing descriptions of the characters in his book. How does the following description of Mrs. Joe Gargery help the reader understand her character? “My sister, Mrs. Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin. That I sometimes used to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap.

She was tall and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her figure behind with two loops. and having a square impregnable bib in front, that was stuck full of pins and needles.” The following description helps the reader understand her character by helping paint a picture as for who raised Pip and the reader not only gets to hear about her but can now visualize her too.

2. Dickens includes humor in his stories in several ways. One of them is through double meanings, or puns. Find an example of a phrase in this chapter that can have two meanings, one serious and one humorous. “where have you been, you young monkey” and “tell me directly what you have been doing to wear me away with fret and fright and worrit” 3. Briefly describe Joe. List the ways Joe tries to protect Pip from his wife. He tries to lighten Pips way and tells him their friends and sort of takes more of his wife’s wrath away from Pips attention.

4. Why is Pip given tar water to drink? It was used as a medicine to soothe his throat. 5. Why does Pip wait until dawn to rob the pantry? What does he steal? What are the Hulks? because he does not want to get caught and he steals bread,cheese, half a jar of minced meat, and some brandy from a stoned bottle. Hulks- ships that hold the prisoners/murderers/thefts

CHAPTER III

Vocabulary
rimy – frosty
cravat – a tie
ague – fever and chills
rheumatic – painfully arthritic

1. How does Pip’s convict react when he learns Pip has met another escaped convict on the way to deliver the food and file? What evidence is there that Pip’s convict knows the other man? pip’s convicts reaction was he was angry and wanted to search for him and evidence pip’s convict knows the other man is because he looked like the other man, had a bruised face, and he became very nasty and blunt when hearing about the other guy.

2. In what ways does Pip show himself to be a compassionate young boy? Pip shows to be a compassionate boy by sharing his food with the poor hungry convict even though he was bad.

CHAPTER IV

Vocabulary
conciliatory – willing to make concessions
Accoucheur – a male midwife
Reformatory – a reform school
banns – marriage announcements
vestry – a church room used for meetings
chaise-cart – a light and open carriage
Roman nose – a nose with a high, prominent bridge
N.B. – the Latin phrase: nota bene means to “note well;” a note to pay attention to something bobbish – in good spirits
declamation – a speech
aspiration – a strong desire
homily – a sermon
prodigal – wasteful
contumaciously – rebelliously
expectorating – spitting

1. Briefly identify the following characters.
Mr. and Mrs. Hubble -wheelwright, old man, and sharp edged person Mr. Wopsle -clerk church, bald, deep voice
Uncle Pumblechook -cornchadler, middle aged slow man, dull staring eyes, sandy hair

2. How is Pip’s theft of food nearly discovered during the Christmas dinner? when his sister pulls out liquor pip gave it away and replaced it with tar and they found out when she was pouring it for her guests.

3. Since Dickens wrote this novel in thirty-six weekly installments, there is often a “hook” at the end of each chapter to keep the reader’s interest until the next installment. What is the hook at the end of this chapter? The hook at the end is Pip’s sister is going to get the pie which pip had already gave away and outside you can hear the footsteps of soldiers and this leaves you at a shock to see what is going to happen with pip.

CHAPTER V

Vocabulary
shaver – a young boy
stocks – gun barrels
1. What does Pip’s convict mean when he says the following to the soldiers after he is caught? “Mind!” said my convict, wiping blood from his face with his ragged sleeves, and shaking torn hair from his fingers; “I took him! I give him up to you! Mind that!”

2. What is ironic about the capture of the two convicts?
They were found together and when they got caught each of them tried to blame the other saying he was trying to kill me.

3. What evidence is there in this chapter that Joe is a compassionate man? he said he shouldn’t have “stole” the pie and stuff because even if he asked they would not have let him starve to death they would have given him some food.

4. What is the odd mannerism young Pip notices about the convict? Why do you think the convict goes out of his way to clear Pip of any blame for the missing food? Pip notices he apologized and didn’t seem to really care that much and no one cared that he was back on the boat. I think the convict went out of his was to clear Pip from blame because he is already a convict so there isn’t anything worse that could happen to him and Pip helped him too.

CHAPTER VI

Vocabulary
pilfering stealing
morbidly gloomily
circumstantial – incidental, indirect
intercourse – dealings with; communication
1. Why does Pip love Joe? What reason does he give for keeping the truth of his crimes from Joe? Pip loves Joe because he not only looks up to him as an adult figure but he is his friend and companion too, and Pip didn’t want to tell him the truth because he had fear of losing his confidence in Pip.

CHAPTER VII

Vocabulary
purblind – nearly blind
epistle – a letter
manifest – obvious
perspicuity – awareness; sharp insight
sagaciously – wisely

1. Dickens is noted for giving his characters names that are descriptive of their personalities. The names often sound like other words or are a pun. How could Mrs. Wopsle’s name be descriptive of her personality? She is kind of wobbly. Her educational methods are basically non-existent. She seems to have no direction and no actual idea of what to do.

2. How are Biddy and Pip alike? They both are in the same social class, have dreams of a better life, and put others before themselves.

3. Why has Joe not learned to read as a child? What makes him marry Pip’s sister? His father was a drunk, and his mother ran away. He never went to school because he did not really get the chance because his dad did not approve. He loved her, and she made him feel like he had to marry her. 4. What reasons does Joe give Pip for not standing up to his wife? Joe tells Pip he doesn’t stand up to his wife because she is a master-mind.

5. Who is Miss Havisham? Why is Mrs. Joe delighted to send Pip to her house to play? Miss Havisham is a very rich lady who lives in a large house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion. Mrs. Joe is very delighted to send Pip to her house because Pip’s future may be made by his going to her house. Also, a fortune may come out of it.

6. Dickens often uses a description of a natural scene as a means of explaining the motivations or feelings of a character. How does the following description of the sky help the reader understand Pip’s feelings about going to Miss Havisham’s house to play? ” … I could at first see no stars from the chaise-cart. But they twinkled out one by one, without throwing any light on the questions why on earth I was going to play at Miss Havisham’s, and what on earth I was expected to play at.”

The description shows he didn’t know the full aspect on why he was to be there but he just had to but he was curious.