Chapter 1 – summary
The story opens
with the narrator, Pip, who introduces himself and presents an image of himself
as a boy standing alone crying in a churchyard near a marsh. Young Pip is
staring at the gravestones of his parents who died soon after his birth. This
tiny shivering bundle of a boy is suddenly terrified by the voice of a large
bedraggled man who threatens to cut his throat if he does not stop crying.
The stranger is
wearing a prison uniform with a great iron shackle around his ankles. He takes
hold of Pip, holds him upside down and shakes him in order to empty his
pockets. The man devours a piece of bread that falls out of the pocket and then
questions the boy. Pip tells him that he was an orphan and that he lived with
his sister, Mrs Joe Gargery, the wife of the village blacksmith about a mile
from the church.
The man tells
Pip that if he wanted to live he had to go down to his house and bring back
some food and a file to cut the shackles. Pip agrees to meet him early in the
morning on the following day and the man disappears back to the marshes.
Analysis:
The story is
narrated in the first person by Pip, a little boy. The tale takes the form of a
biography. The story opens with a dramatic incident. A dreadful looking man
with leg irons appears out of nowhere and threatens Pip, “Hold your noise! Keep
still you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat.” Pip’s terror is greatly
intensified when the man tells him of a young man who will eat his liver and
heart in case Pip fails to carry out the instructions given to him.
The opening
chapter produces a lot of suspense as to who the stranger with the leg irons
is. The grim humour in the manner in which the stranger speaks to Pip about the
dreadful young fellow terrifies Pip.
Questions:
1. Who
is the narrator?
a. Pip
as a young man
2. What
is his real name?
a. Philip
Pirrip
3. With
whom did he live?
a. With
his sister and her husband
4. What
did the man Pip met want from him?
a. Food
and a file to cut the shackles
Chapter 2 – summary
Pip runs home to
his sister Mrs Gargery and his adoptive father Joe Gargery. Mrs Gargery is a
loud, angry, nagging woman who constantly reminds Pip and her husband of the
difficulties she has to go through in order to raise Pip and take care of the
house. Pip finds solace from her rage in Joe who acts more like Pip’s equal than
parental figure. The two are united by a common oppression. During dinner Pip
nervously steals a piece of bread. Early next morning pip steals more food from
the pantry and a file from Joe’s forge and runs back to the marshes to keep his
appointment with the stranger.
Analysis:
This chapter
describes how Pip is treated by his sister and her husband. There is a sharp
contrast in the way Mr and Mrs Gargery treat Pip. Joe is kind and affectionate
but Mrs Gargery is a stern woman who is ever ready to snub not only Pip but
also her husband as well. There is a lot of humour in this passage. Mrs Joe is
quite the bully. This chapter also gives us a peek into the mind of Pip. The
terror Pip feels at the possibility of the young fellow pouncing upon him out
of nowhere is so convincingly described.
Questions:
1. Write
a short description of Joe.
a.
2. Write
a brief description of Mrs Joe.
3. What
are the things Pip steal?
Chapter 3 – summary
Pip finds a man
who was cold and wet but he was not the man who threatened him the previous
day. The man’s face was badly bruised and he wore a broad-brimmed hat. He runs
away without speaking to Pip. Pip finds the man he is looking for and offers
him the food he brought. The man reacts in anger when Pip tells him about the
other convict. Pip leaves him still filing away at his shackles and returns
home.
Analysis
The story moves
further along. Pip now has two different kinds of fear in his mind. He is afraid
of the stranger who might still do some harm to him, but at the same time he is
terrified of his theft of food being discovered by his sister. He feels that
the whole environment is against him. He tries to justify his theft to an ox
that looks at him by saying, “I couldn’t help it, Sir! It wasn’t for myself I
took it!”
This chapter
introduces another character who looks almost like the man Pip met at the
churchyard the previous day but who turns out to be another man. The manner in
which Pip’s first acquaintance devours food is funny and sad at the same time:
“He was gobbling down mincemeat, meat bone, bread, cheese, and pork pie at the
same time.”
Chapter 4 – summary
Pip returns home
to find Mrs Joe getting the house ready for Christmas dinner. She has invited
Mr Whopsle, the church clerk, Mr Hubble, the wheelwright, Mrs Hubble, and Uncle
Pumblechook who is a well-to-do corn chandler who drove his own chaise-cart.
The discussion over dinner is how fortunate Pip should feel about being raised
“by hand” by Mrs Joe and how much trouble she has had to undergo in that
endeavour. Throughout, Pip’s opinion is never sought. Mr Pumblechook nearly
chokes on some after dinner brandy and Pip realizes that he poured tar-water
into the brandy bottle to replace the amount he had taken to give the convict.
Mrs Joe is too busy to conduct a full investigation. She leaves the table
announcing that she is going to serve the pork pies. Certain that his theft is
going to be discovered, Pip jumps up from the table and runs towards the door
only to come face to face with a group of soldiers who appear to have come to
arrest him.
Analysis
The suspense is
further intensified in this chapter as the reader and Pip awaits Pip’s theft to
be discovered by Mrs Joe. The feeling of apprehension is lightened to an extent
with the use of the foolish conversation over how much trouble it was for Mrs
Joe to raise Pip. Mr Pumblechook is presented as a loud-mouthed idiot who is
too full of himself. The only sympathetic character is Joe who continues to
make gestures in support towards Pip. It is often the dim-witted and the poor
(Joe) who act with more grace and charity than the rich (Mr Pumblechook, Mr
Whopsle) who claim to be generous.
Questions:
1. Summarize
the chapter in three lines.
2. What
is the mood of the chapter?
3. What
are the new characters we come across in this chapter?
4. What
did Pip do when the soldiers appeared?
Chapter 5 – summary
The soldiers do
not want to arrest Pip. They want a pair of handcuffs to be fixed by Joe. They
are invited in and Mr Pumblechook offers them Mrs Joe’s sherry and port while
Joe worked on the handcuffs in the forge. The soldiers are looking for the
convicts who have been recently seen in the marshes. After Joe fixes the
handcuffs he, Pip and Mr Whopsle are allowed to follow the soldiers into the
marshes. They soon come across the two convicts wrestling with each other in the
mud. The one wearing the hat accuses Pip’s convict of trying to kill him but
the other replies that he could have had he the mind to do so. Instead, he has
been the one to draw the attention of the soldiers sacrificing his hard-won
freedom just so that the one wearing the hat would be apprehended by the
soldiers again. The solders bring both convicts back to the house where Pip’s
convict eyeing Pip admits to having stolen Mrs Joe’s pork pie, thus getting Pip
off the hook. Pip and Joe watch as the two convicts are taken back to the
prison ship.
Analysis
The reader is
presented with the question as to why the two convicts were fighting with each
other. Pip’s convict goes as far as to sacrifice his own chance of freedom so
that the convict wearing the hat would be caught by the soldiers. Even though
they do not speak to each other, the relationship between the convict and Pip
continues to grow. The convict takes the blame for stealing the pork pie and by
doing so he saves Pip from Mrs Joe’s wrath. The two are once again united in
secrecy.
Questions:
1. What
is the purpose of the soldier’s arrival?
2. Who
went to the marshes with the soldiers?
3. What
did the soldiers do to the convicts?
4. How
did Pip’s convict behave upon meeting him again at his home?
Chapter 6 - summary
Pip, Joe and Mr
Whopsle walks back home. Pip decides not to tell Joe the truth about the file
and the pork pie. He was afraid of losing Joe’s respect and friendship. After
their return everyone is preoccupied with the question of how the convict had
got into the locked house. The argument offered by the bombastic and
overbearing Mr Pumblechook - that the convict had crawled down the chimney –
wins. Mrs Joe sends Pip to bed.
Analysis
Pip fears that
his only friend Joe would think worse of him than he was should he confess
about the pork pie and the file. This is a fear that Pip would revisit
throughout his young life. In the future Pip would struggle with telling the
truth due to the fear that society would think badly of him.
Question:
1. Why
didn’t Pip tell Joe the truth?
Chapter 7 – summery
Pip describes a
little of his education with Mr Whopsle’s great-aunt, “a ridiculous old lady”
who has started a small school in her cottage. The education, as Pip describes
it, is less than satisfactory, but Pip does learn some basics from Biddy, an
orphan girl who works for Mrs Whopsle.
While doing his
homework one night Pip discovers that Joe is illiterate. Joe explains that he
did not stay long enough in school because his father, a drunkard who
physically abused him and his mother, kept him out. Joe goes on to explain to
Pip that because of his father he is “afraid of going wrong in the way of not
doing what’s right by a woman” with regard to his conduct towards Mrs Joe. He
allows Mrs Joe to “rampage” over him because he has seen how difficult it is to
be a woman. Pip gains a new insight into Joe’s actions and develops new a
respect for Joe.
Mrs Joe comes
home quite excited and proclaims that Pip is going to “play” at Miss Havisham’s
mansion. Miss Havisham is a grim old lady who lived in a large crumbling
mansion. Uncle Pumblechook has suggested Pip’s name to Miss Havisham when she
has asked him whether he knew any small boys. Pip is to go over to Miss
Havisham’s the next day in the morning and spend the evening at Uncle
Pumblechook’s in town.
Analysis
Chapters 7 and 8
mark a turning point in the novel separating Pip from Joe. These chapters mark
the beginning of Pip’s journey in search of great expectations. In this chapter
the love between Joe and Pip deepens. Joe is at the bottom of the socioeconomic
hierarchy of the village as well as at his own home but Pip develops a new
respect for Joe in this chapter after his conversation regarding women: “I had
a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart.”
The image of Joe and young Pip sitting next to each other talking to each other
man-to-man by the fire is quite idyllic. Dickens contrasts the humble setting
of Joe’s cottage with the opportunity presented at the end of the chapter. Mrs
Joe announces the first of the Great Expectations Pip is to enjoy in the form
of Miss Havisham’s job offer: “This boy’s fortune may be made by his going to
Miss Havisham’s.” Although little is known about the wealthy old woman and less
is known about exactly how Pip is supposed to “play,” the opportunity is one
where Pip will be in the company of people who occupied a higher socioeconomic
stratum.
Questions:
1. Summarize
the chapter in three lines.
2. Give
a short description of Mr Whopsle’s great-aunt.
3. Who
was biddy?
4. What
did Pip discover in this chapter?
5. What
are the turning points in the novel that we come across in this chapter?
Chapter 8 – summery
Pip spends the evening at Mr Pumblechook and later
taken to Miss Havisham after a light breakfast. They are met at the gate by
Estella “who was very pretty and seemed very proud.” Estella lets Pip in but
sends Mr Pumblechook on his way. She leads Pip through a dark house by
candlelight and leaves him outside a door. He knocks and is let in. There he
meets Miss Havisham a slim old woman dressed in an old wedding gown. She calls
Estella and Pip and the girl are made to play cards despite Estella’s objection
that Pip was just “a common labouring boy.” “Well,” says Miss Havisham, “you
can break his heart.” Estella insults Pip’s rough hands and thick boots as they
played.
Smarting from the insults dealt, Pip later cries as
he eat lunch in the yard of the great house. He explores the yard and the
garden while Estella walked ahead of him. Finally she lets him out of the yard
and he walks the four miles, feeling quite low.
Analysis
Dickens uses strong imagery to describe Miss
Havisham’s house which is interestingly called Stasis[y1] House. It is a place
devoid of feelings and even life. Even before we meet the bitter Miss Havisham and
the rude Estella “the cold wind seemed to blow colder there than outside the
gate.” Again we have a mystery why is this woman always in the dark and dressed
in a wedding gown. Who is young and pretty Estella and what is she doing in
such a sad place? Pip’s first taste of the high society leaves a bitter taste
in his mouth. It leaves him embarrassed rather than justifiably angry. Pip is
nothing but a toy for both Miss Havisham and Estella. Estella treats him
roughly while at the same time flirts with him. Torn between feeling insulted
and his attraction to Estella who wished Pip to feel ashamed of his upbringing,
Pip wishes that “Joe had been rather more gently brought up.” His newfound
respect for Joe is being spoilt by his embarrassment at being brought up by a
lower class family.
Questions:
1.
Summarize
the chapter in four lines.
2.
What
is Miss Havisham’s house called? What is implied by the use of that name?
3.
What
is the name of the young conductress?
4.
Describe
Estella briefly?
5.
Give
a description of Miss Havisham.
6.
How
did Estella insult Pip?
7.
What
did Pip think about Estella?
8.
Why
did Mr Pumblechook take Pip to Miss Havisham’s house?
Chapter 9 – summary
Pip is forced to
explain how he spent the day to Mrs Joe and Mr Pumblechook. Pip lies. He makes
up stories about dogs being fed on veal and Miss Havisham lounging on a velvet
couch. He lies partly in spite but also because he is sure the two would not
understand the situation at Stasis House even he described it in detail. Later,
Pip tells Joe the truth and confesses that he is embarrassed about being a
“commoner” because of his attraction to Estella. Joe reassures his that he is
not common and that he is uncommon small and uncommon scholar. Referring to
Pip’s lies Joe says, “If you can’t get to be uncommon through going straight,
you’ll never get to do it through going crooked.”
Analysis
Joe’s analysis,
though phrased in what Pip would call “uncommon” language, is accurate. Pip is
trying to be “uncommon” by lying about his experience. Pip makes up lies about
the Stasis House with the intention of glorifying it in front of the eager Mr
Pumblechook and Mrs Joe who fall for it. While Pip is honest in admitting to
Joe that he wants to become uncommon he is intelligent enough to know that he
can become uncommon by being dishonest or as Joe would have it, “crooked.”
One of the main
themes of the novel – desire to rise above one’s social station - is spelled
out in this chapter. Dickens wrote this novel towards the end of his life. As
the story unfolds, we witness the different ways in which Pip tries to climb
the social ladder by making up fictional stories in this case. It will be
interesting to listen to the running commentary made by the narrator, the older
Pip who like Dickens himself is looking back on this theme and reflecting on
how it affected his happiness later in life.
Questions:
1. Summarize
the chapter in a sentence.
a. Pip
lies about the Stasis House to Mr Pumblechook and Mrs Joe but tells the truth to
Joe.
2. What
are the lies Pip tells Mrs Joe and Mr Pumblechook?
a. There
were four dogs and they were given veal cutlets on golden plates
b. Miss
Havisham had a black velvet couch
c. They
waved flags and hurrahed in the velvet couch.
d. Miss
Havisham had a golden flag with stars
e. Miss
Havisham was dark and tall
3. To
whom did Pip tell the truth?
a. Joe
Gargery
4. What
was the advice given by Joe?
a. “Live
well and die happily”
b. “You
must be a common scholar afore you can be a oncommon one”
5. Name
the theme that is introduced in this chapter.
a. Desire
to rise above one’s social station
Chapter 10 – summary
Pip
states plainly that he wants to be uncommon and so taking Joe’s advice to the
heart that “you must be a common scholar afore you can be a oncommon one” he
asks Biddy at the school to help him with his education. Mr Whoplsle’s
great-aunt’s school is little more than a playschool. Pip understands that it
would be hard to get some actual learning but Biddy agrees to help him and
gives him some books to start with. On his way home Pip goes to Three Jolly
Bargemen to pick up Joe. He finds Joe sitting with a stranger, a man with, one
eye pulled close and a worn hat on his head. The man asks Joe all kinds of
personal questions, some about Pip’s relation to him, the whole time staring at
Pip. At that point the man stirs his drink with Joe’s file – the file Pip gave
the convict. As Joe and Pip depart the stranger hands Pip a coin wrapped in
paper. When they get home Pip realizes the paper is actually a two-pound note.
Thinking it was a mistake Joe runs back to give it back but the man was gone.
Analysis
Pip,
excited at the beginning of the chapter by the prospect of educating himself to
become uncommon, is reminded of his common and somewhat illegitimate past by
the stranger in the pub. As he goes to sleep he is bothered by the fact that it
is uncommon to be “on secret terms of conspiracy with convicts.” The man
clearly knows something about Pip assisting the convict and wanted Pip to know
that he did. How he knows remain a mystery, but Pip’s immediate fear is how his
past will haunt him as he tries to climb out of his common background.
Questions
1. What
is the main incident of the chapter?
a. Pip
meets the convict at Three Jolly Bargemen
2. What
is Three Jolly Bargemen?
a. A pub
where people met to have a drink and to socialize
3. Why
did Pip go to the Pub?
a. To
take Joe home
4. Describe
the stranger.
a. He
wore a flapping broad-brimmed traveller’s hat and had a handkerchief tied over
his head in the manner of a cap so that he showed no hair.
5. How
did Pip realize that it was the convict?
a. He
stirred the drink with Joe’s file.
6. What
did the stranger give Pip?
a. A two
pound note
7. What was Joe’s reaction when he realized that
it was a two pound note?
a. He
thought it was a mistake and ran back to the pub to return the money only to
find the stranger had already left.
Chapter 11 – summary
A
few days later Pip returns to Miss Havisham as directed. This time the house is
full of people waiting to meet Miss Havisham but she sees him first. She takes
him to a great banquet hall where a table is set with food and a large wedding
cade. The food and the cake are years old, untouched except by the vast array
of rats, beetles and spiders which crawl freely around the room. Miss H has Pip
walk her around the room as the four guests are brought in:
·
Sarah Pocket – “A vicious, dry brown
corrugated old woman.”
·
Georgiana – “A grave lady.”
·
Camilla – an old melodramatic woman
·
Cousin Raymond – Camilla’s husband
All
are of the same age or a little younger than the withered Miss Havisham and all
have come to see her on her birthday which also happened to be the day of her
wedding on which the cake was set out and the clock was stopped so many years
ago. Miss Havisham continues to walk around the room saying little to her
guests. She stops pacing only when the name of a certain Mathew was mentioned.
The guests leave and Miss Havisham asks Pip and Estella to play cards once
again as she looked on. Pip encounters a young gentleman who challenges him to
a fight as he explored the yard. Pip gives him a bloody nose and a black eye
and a general whopping. They end the fight and the boy, cheerful as ever,
wishes Pip a good afternoon. At the gate, Estella tells Pip that he may kiss
her if he liked. Pip kisses her on the cheek.
Analysis
Pip
is introduced to a number of strange characters in this chapter. What is more
important is he has some glimpses of Miss Havisham’s strange lifestyle. It is
clear to Pip that the decline of the Stasis House and its owner has begun on
the day Miss H was jilted at the altar. None of her relatives dare to mention
this fact. Miss Havisham’s relationship with her relatives – Camilla, Raymond,
Georgiana, Sarah Pocket – is more loveless than her relationship with Pip. Miss
H’s relatives visit her due to greed. They want to be in her good books so that
they will be left something in Miss H’s will. Miss H is well aware of this and
at a number of times refers to her dead body being laid out as a meal for her
relatives on the table on which the decaying cake sits. It is ironic that the
loveless environment of the Stasis House is representative of the higher
society that Pip would like to rise to. The relationships in the Stasis House
are based on money and power while Pip’s relationship with Joe is based on
mutual affection and even respect. Pip feels uncomfortable dealing with the
society Miss H represented as in the case of feeling guilty about hitting the
young gentleman. But he is rewarded for committing a violent act by Estella who
gives him a chance to kiss her. Though it is unclear to young Pip, the narrator
is making it clear that Pip’s desire to be a member of the high society is in
reality a choice between empty relationships in which people are used as tools
and meaningful relationships based on mutual trust and affection. It is also a
choice between death and decay in the Stasis House and a wholesome life. Pip
instinctively knows that he is going against nature by choosing the Stasis
House.
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