By Charles Dickens

Presentation by Thomas Arnold

Great Expectations

• Born Charles John Huffman Dickens on February 7, 1812

• Father was a naval clerk, mother was an aspired teacher

• Could never finish school after two attempts

• Worked in a factory to pay off father’s debt

• Began his writing career as an office boy to help support family

• Advanced his career through freelancing and sketches

• Had ten children with his wife Catherine Hogarth

• Visited America in 1842 to lecture for five months

• Revisited America in 1868 to express an apology

• Spent a year in Italy in 1845

• Lost his father and daughter in the 1850’s

About Dickens

• Enters a “dark age” until 1859

• Endures major injuries in a train accident in 1865

• Dies of a stroke on June 9, 1870

• End of the Dickensian Era

About Dickens (cont.)

• Narrator (Pip) begins by talking about himself at a much younger age

• Pip is visiting his parents’ graves

• First prisoner finds Pip and threatens him in order to get food and a file for his restraint

• Pip runs home and waits until the next morning to steal food and the file for the prisoner

• Pip returns to the first prisoner and finds the second prisoner on his way

• Pip watches the first prisoner eat and file away at his restraints

• Pip returns home and eats dinner with his sister, her husband and some friends of his sister

• Military police show up at their door to receive repairs on broken handcuffs from Mr. Joe (his sister’s husband)

Novel Summary

• Pip, Mr. Joe and Mr. Pumblechook go with police to look for prisoners

• Both prisoners are found wrestling around and arrested

• First prisoner protects Pip by lying and saying he stole the food and file

• The three of them return home and discuss Pip going to Miss Havisham’s the next day

• Pip goes with Mr. Pumblechook in the morning to eat breakfast and then arrives at Miss Havisham’s

• Pip is greeted by Estella at the gates and goes in to meet Miss Havisham

• Miss Havisham is an old, yellowed woman still wearing her wedding gown with all the clocks and decorations stuck in time

• Pip plays with Estella and Estella mocks him repeatedly

• Pip walks home and lies to Mrs. Joe about his day

• Pip tells Mr. Joe the truth and admits to his desire to be an uncommon man

Novel Summary (cont.)

• Pip starts to become educated the next day

• Pip goes to a pub to fetch Mr. Joe and receives a note with a coin in it from a stranger talking to Mr. Joe

• Mr. Joe realizes the note is actually two pounds and never finds the man to return it to him

• Pip returns to Miss Havisham’s a few days later

• Pip gets into a fight with a young boy and wins

• Eight months later, Miss Havisham asks Pip to bring Mr. Joe to her home so Pip may begin his apprenticeship as a blacksmith

• Pip begins his apprenticeship

• Pip later returns to Miss Havisham’s to thank her for the apprenticeship

• Upon returning home, Pip learns that Mrs. Joe has been struck unconscious by an unknown assailant

Novel Summary (cont.)

• Biddy is employed by the Joe’s to take care of Mrs. Joe who has suffered brain damage

• Pip is told by a man named Jaggers that Pip has been sponsored by an anonymous source and is to attend London for gentleman training

• Pip’s roommate at the inn he is to start staying at is the boy he fought, Herbert Pocket

• A letter arrives the next day for Pip from Biddy announcing a visit from Mr. Joe

• Mr. Joe tells Pip of Estella’s return to the mansion home

• Pip goes and visits Estella and spends some time with her before returning to London

• He receives a letter from Estella suggesting that he should meet her at the carriage stop

• The two travel together to Richmond and upon return to the inn, Pip learns of the death of his sister

Novel Summary (cont.)

• Pip returns home to attend his sister’s funeral

• Pip meets with Jaggers at his coming of age to learn the identity of his sponsor

• Jaggers does not know who his sponsor is

• Herbert attends merchant training thanks to Pip’s money

• Pip learns of Estella’s courting with Drummle

• A few nights later Pip is visited by an old man who reveals himself as the first prisoner (Magwitch)

• Magwitch is Pip’s sponsor

• Herbert and Pip help Magwitch stay hidden so he is not arrested and killed for returning to England

• Magwitch tells his story and reveals the identity of the second prisoner

Novel Summary (cont.)

• Pip returns to the mansion and admits his love to Estella

• Miss Havisham begins to regret her decision in raising Estella to be loveless

• Pip learns of the stalking and hunting by Compeyson

• Magwitch and Herbert flee to Herbert’s fiancé's home to remain hidden from Compeyson

• Pip comes to realize that Jagger’s servant is Estella’s mother

• Pip returns to talk to Miss Havisham about Estella’s history

• Miss Havisham asks for Pip’s forgiveness

• Pip leaves and comes back from a stroll and Miss Havisham is on fire

• Pip puts her out and suffers from burns

• When Pip returns to Herbert’s home, he learns of Magwitch’s marriage to the mother of Estella

Novel Summary (cont.)

• Pip and Herbert mastermind a plan to get Magwitch out of the country

• Pip receives a letter from an anonymous source asking him to go to the woods where he found the prisoners long ago at night

• Orlick ambushes Pip when he arrives and ties him up

• Orlick admits to striking Mrs. Joe and plans to kill Pip

• Herbert and some friends break into the shack and free Pip; Orlick flees

• Herbert and Pip load Magwitch onto a ship and begin their escape

• They encounter a ship with Compeyson onboard

• Magwitch and Compeyson brawl under water; Compeyson is drowned

• Magwitch is arrested by a policing ship

• Herbert leaves for Egypt to begin his new firm

• Pip is asked to join Herbert but cannot until Magwitch is taken care of

Novel Summary (cont.)

• Magwitch is dying in prison so Pip tells him his daughter is still alive and Pip is in love with her

• Magwitch passes as Pip tells him and Pip comes under a dire fever

• Mr. Joe takes care of Pip for several months until he comes back to his health

• Mr. Joe leaves when Pip is healthy and leaves only a note

• Pip decides he wants to marry Biddy and help Joe at the smith so he departs for home

• Pip learns of the wedding between Biddy and Mr. Joe

• Pip departs to Egypt and works with Herbert

• Pip returns to the smith to visit Biddy and Mr. Joe and see their newborn child, Pip

• Pip visits the mansion to reminisce

Novel Summary (cont.)

• Estella approaches Pip in the mansion

• Estella’s husband died and she finally feels heartbreak

• The two of them leave the mansion together, hand-in-hand

Novel Summary (cont.)

1. David Copperfield (1850)- Follows the life of David Copperfield, a young man that grows up into a happily married man familiar with the vicissitudes of life

2. A Tale of Two Cities (1859)- Set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of literary fiction.

3. Oliver Twist (1838)- Follows the life of an orphan, Oliver Twist. Portrays the unromantic outlook on the lives of criminals.

Other works

Foreshadowing- Foreshadowing

is the use of indicative word or phrases and hints that set the stage for a story to unfold and give the reader a hint of something that is going to happen without revealing the story or spoiling the suspense.

Example: “Pitying his desolation, and watching him as he gradually settled down upon the pie, I made bold to say, "I am glad you enjoy it."”

(Dickens ch. 3)

This example foreshadows the care between Pip and the first prisoner that develops much later on in the story

Literary Device 1

Characterization- the step by step

process wherein an author introduces and then describes a character.

Direct Characterization- the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed by the use of descriptive adjectives, phrases, or epithets.

Indirect Characterization- the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed through the character’s speech, actions, appearance, etc.

Example: “She was dressed in rich materials,—satins, and lace, and silks,—all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white.” (Dickens ch. 8)

This example characterizes Miss Havisham from Pip’s point of view

Literary Device 2

Symbolism- contains several layers of meaning, often concealed at first sight, and is representative of several other aspects, concepts or traits than those that are visible in the literal translation alone.

Example: “It was when I stood before her, avoiding her eyes, that I took note of the surrounding objects in detail, and saw that her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine.” (Dickens ch. 8)

This example describes the clocks in Miss Havisham’s home. Pip notices they are all stopped at the same time. This is representative of the day Miss Havisham’s life came to an end

Literary device 3

I personally loved reading this novel. It was written with comedy, suspense, meaning and sorrow. From start to finish, the reader learns new things about multiple characters and comes to a realization of a key point every few pages. I give this novel an 8 out of 10

Pros- Attention grabber throughout, comically written, a slowly developing puzzle until the end

Cons- Hard to understand the writing style, the book starts off in a flashback but the reader is not aware of this, confusing correlations between characters

Personal Review

“Biography of Charles Dickens”.Gradesaver.gradesaver.com.2014.Web.15 May 2014

http://www.gradesaver.com/author/charles-dickens /

“Characterization”.n.p.Literary Devices.2010.Web.20 May 2014

http://literary-devices.com/content/characterization

“Foreshadowing”.n.p.Literary Devices.2010.Web.20 May 2014

http://literary-devices.com/content/foreshadowing

“Symbolism”.n.p.Literary Devices.2010.Web.20 May 2014

http://literary-devices.com/content/symbol

“Charles Dickens”.The Literature Network.online-literature.com.2014.Web.15 May 2014.

http://www.online-literature.com/dickens /

Works Cited