For Great Expectations, you will need to write 20 dialectical journals per section. Your first set will be due January 4th. This is the Thrusday after we get back from break. Please keep in mind what good journals look like. Think of the following:
Are you asking deep questions?
Are you presenting new ideas?
Are you giving and in depth analysis?
If you have any problems e-mail me at charlie_gaare@gfps.k12.mt.us. Good luck! Have a great holiday.
825 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 600 of 825 Newer› Newest»12) “’not a ha’porth. Different gangs and different shops. He tried again for prison breaking and got made a lifer.’”
Chapter 28, Page 229, Paragraph 9, Section 2
What is a ha’porth? Is it someone who spends other people money or who doesn’t do the favors that he is asked to do. And what is a lifer? Is it someone who is scented to death? So here this convict is saying that he dose the favors that he is asked because that guy is provably dead now because he tried to get out of jail.
-Katy-
13) “She had adopted Estella, she had as good as adopted me, and it could not fail to be her intention to bring us together.”
Chapter 29, Page 231, Paragraph 2, Section 2,
If Miss Havisham adopted Estella to get back at men, then why did she adopt Pip? It was more of a person to practice on in my opinion but may be she did want Estella to end up with some one.
-Katy-
14) “But she was so much changed, was so much more beautiful, so much more womanly, in all things winning admiration had mad such wonderful advance, that I slipped hopelessly back into the coarse and common boy again. O the sense of distance and disparity that came upon me, and the inaccessibility that came about her!”
Chapter 29, Page 235, Paragraph 1, Section 2
Of course she changed since last time he saw her, she was 14 and now she is around 18, that’s when people, especially girls, change the most. I don’t think that Pip though that she could get any prettier and was amazed when he saw it happen.
-Katy-
15) “’I don’t remember.’ ‘Not remember that you made me cry?’ said I. ‘No,’ said she, and shook her head and looked about her. I verily believed that her not remembering and not minding in the least, made me cry again, inwardly - and that is the sharpest crying of all.”
Chapter 29, Page 237, Paragraph 6, Section 2
It is as if Pip means nothing to Estella, that she barely remembers meeting him. Maybe she just forgets all the men she has hurt because there are just so many. If that is the case I blame Miss Havisham for making Estella this way, making her so heartless.
-Katy-
16) “’Drear Joe, how are you?’ he aid, ‘Pip, ole chap, you knowed her when she were a fine figure of a – ‘ and clasped my hand and said no more.”
Chapter 35, Page 279, Paragraph 3, Section 2
I don’t think Joe know what he wants to do or what is right to do. I think he is really nervous about living life by himself, to me it seems that he never was really alone. I also don’t think he knows exactly how he feels, one he lost the person he loved and that cooked for him but he also lost the person who ran his life most of the time.
-Katy-
17) “’ARE you quite sure, then, that you WILL come to see him often.”
Chapter 35, Pager 284, Paragraph 12, Section 2
I think that Biddy is trying to gilt Pip into coming home more often, mostly so that she can see him more, but she also wants him to come and be with Joe so that he has some help getting over pip’s sister dieing.
-Katy-
18) ‘I saw in this, that Estella was set to wreak Miss Havisham’s revenge on men, and that she was not to be given to me until she had gratified it for a term.”
Chapter 38, Page 302, Paragraph 8, Section 2
I think he now starts to realize why Estella is so mean to him and also why Miss Havisham gave him all that money. I also think this is where he learns the extent of Miss Havisham craziness.
-Katy-
19) “As I looked around at them, and at the pale gloom they made, and at the stopped clock, and at the withered articles of bridal dress upon the table and the ground, and at her own awful figure with its ghostly reflection thrown large by the fire upon the ceiling and the wall, I saw in everything the construction that my mind had come to repeated and thrown back to me.”
Chapter 38, Page 303, Paragraph 2, Section 2
I hate how when he first saw this sight he described it with more of an optimistic attitude and now it’s as if he sees her as being ugly for the first time instead of just creepy.
-Katy-
20) “’O, look at her, look at her!’ cried Miss Havisham, bitterly. ‘Look at her, so hard and thankless, on the hearth where she was reared! Where I took her into this wretched breast when it was first bleeding from its stabs, and where I have lavished years of tenderness upon her!’”
Chapter 38, Page 304, Paragraph 7, Section 2
I think that Miss Havisham raised Estella the way she wished she was raised, with the ability not to feel heart break and break other hearts. I think she wishes she had that and does not understand why Estella is not grateful of this gift. Miss Havisham took in Estella after her heart was stabbed, she took her in while it was still bleeding, and she wants her to be grateful and not take advantage of that.
-Katy-
1)"'How much I asked the coachman?'
The coachman answered,'A shilling-unless you wish to make it more.'
I naturally said I had no wish to make it more.
'Then it must be a shilling,' observed the coachman. 'I don't want to get into trouble. I know him!' He darkly closed an eye at Mr. Jaggers name, and shook his head."
chapter 20 page 179 paragraph 2
It sounds like the coachman hopes that Pip will give him more then one shilling, but he doesn't. How whould the coachman get in trouble by Mr. Jaggers? Why is the coachman closing his eye darkly at Mr. Jaggers name? Has Mr. Jaggers done something to the coachman that he is mad at Mr. Jaggers for?
~Jessica Kubiak
2)"While I looked about me here, an exceeding dirty and partially drunk minister of justice asked me if I would liked to step in aand hear a trial or so: informing me that he could give me a front place for half-a-crown, whence I should command a full view of the Lord Chief Justice in his wig and robes-mentioning that awful persongage like waxwork and presently offering him at the reduced price of eighteenpence."
chapter 20 page 181 paragraph 2
Why is a drunk man standing outside a court room? Why is he drunk? It looks like Pip does want to see the Lord Chief Justice but doesn't want to spend eighteenpence. Wouldn't the man get into trouble becasue he is going to let someone into the court house?
3)"First he took th two secret men.
'Now, I have nothing to say to you," said Mr. Jaggers, throwing hsi finger at them. 'I want to know more then I know. As result, it's a toss-up. I told you from the fist it was a toss-up. Have you paid Wemmick?'"
chapter 20 page 182 paragraph 3
Why is Mr. Jaggers being so mean to these two men? Why does Mr. Jaggers need to know more then he knows? What is a toss-up? How much do the people have to pay Wemmick? Is it the same for every person?
4. "'But that he was not to be, without ignorance or prejudice, mistaken for a gentlemen, my father most strongly asseverates; because it is a principle of his that no man who was not a true gentlemen at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentlemen in manner. He says, no varnish can hide the grain of the wood, and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.'" Page 189, chapter 22
Many people hide what they truly are or try to be something or someone they aren't. No matter how much they hide their true self, the real them will always rise to the surface. The more they try to hide, the more people can see. When Herbert says the varnish cannot hide the true grain of the wood, it is like he is saying that since this man was not a true gentlemen at heart, nothing, not even layers of "varnish", could make him one. Life would be so much easier if we stopped trying to be someone else, and started being ourselves. After all, being yourself is way easier; everyone else is taken.
tara
16. "of course you have seen him then?-why are you looking at that dark tree in the lane?"
"i saw him there on the night she died."
chapter 35 pg 272
somthings telling me that orlick has something to do with mrs gargery's death, or how she got into the condition she was in. there are mysterious characters in this book, and orlick is one i suspect.
5. "Through his way of saying this, and much more to similar purpose, he placed himself on confidential terms with me in an admirable manner - and I may state at once that he was always so zealous and honourable in fulfilling his compact with me that he made me zealous and honourable in fulfilling mine with him. If he had shown indifference as a master, I have no doubt I should have returned the compliment as a pupil; he gave me no such excuse, and each of us did the other justice." Page 297, chapter 24
This passage goes to show that whatever is put in is given back. Mr. Jaggers shows Pip respect and honor and, as a result, Pip does the same. In school, if a teacher were to teach a subject with indifference, their students would learn with indifference. No good would come out of that. Just as Mr. Jaggers shows interest in teaching Pip, Pip shows interest in learning. Infinite possibilities arise.
tara
6. "Heavy in figure, movement, and comprehension - in the sluggish complexion of his face, and in the large awkward tongue that seemed to loll about in his mouth as he himself lolled about the room - he was idle, proud, niggardly, reserved, and suspicious." Page 213, chapter 25
The subject of a theme of dogs throughout this book was brought up in class. As I was reading this passage, Drummle reminded me of a dog, with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He seems like a dog in the hot sun that has nothing to do; just tramping around. I wonder what this theme has to do with Dickens, or if it was by accident that many of his adjectives relate to dogs.
tara
4)"'I don't know this man! said Mr. Jaggers in the saome developing strain. 'What does this fellow want?'
'Ma thear Mither Jaggerth. Hown brother to Habraham Latharuth!'
'Who is he?'said Mr. Jaggers. 'Let go of my coat."
The sutior, kissing the hem of the garment again before relinquishing it,replied, 'Haraham Latharuth, on thuthpithion of plate.'
'Your too late,' said Mr. Jaggers 'I am over the way.'
'Holy father, Mithter Jaggerth!' cried my exciteable aqutaince turning white,'don't thay you're again Habraham Latharuth!'
'I am,' said Mr. Jaggets,'and there's an end of it. Get out of the way."
Chapter 20 page 184 paragraph 3
This man needs help and Mr. Jaggers won't help him and that makes me wonder why Pip admires Mr. Jaggers. In this passage it makes Mr. Jaggers seem evil becasue he doesn't even listen to the man and the man was being as kind as can be, he was kissing the Mr. Jaggers coat hem!
17. "that a man should never-"
"invest portable property in a friend," said Wemmick
chapter 36 pg 280
i would agree with this statement because, you should let people live life and dont interfere with it. plus if i were the friend, i would not accept it because the person could file many things on me and i wouldnt take the risk.
7. "Mrs. Pocket they held in contempt; but they allowed the poor soul to have been heavily disappointed in life, because that shed a feeble reflected light upon themselves." Page 214, chapter 25
Some people criticize people when they themselves retain the qualities they criticize. So, in order to make sure that no one finds out that they have those qualities. Darn hypocrites!
tara
17. "powerfully suggestive of his slowly and gradually stealing his arm around miss skiffins waist."
chapter 37 pg 286
i think someone has a crush. it sounds like mr wemmick has a crush on a girl that i dont think noone knows about. maybe he'll get married. i also like this cause theres a bit of alliteration in it.
that last coment was 18
21. Mr. Jaggers, putting a hand on my shoulder and walking me on at his side without saying anything to me, addressed himself to his followers.
Ch. 20 Page 182
This is the first action that Mr. Jaggers acknowledges Pip with, and it will serve as foreshadowing to their relationship. Mr. Jaggers is a man driven by his business, and his priorities lie in line with that business. His first task is to get Pip into his control so that his official task with him may be carried out, but noting more. He gives Pip no introduction and pays no attention until he had settled disputes with his other clients on the street. Only when they reach the privacy of Mr. Jaggers’ office does he even speak to Pip. Once he does start speaking, he tells Pip only what he is being paid to tell. Even though Mr. Jaggers is seen as a paternal figure by Pip, I do not think he acts benevolent or caring.
Jojo
19. "i cannot think," said estella, raising her eyes after a silence, "why you should be so unreasonable when i come to see you after a seperation."
chapter 38 pg 294
are we seeing a different side to estella? did she move out because she didnt want to be around miss havisham any more. is she starting to see things for the first time?
22. “You will find your credit good, Mr. Pip,” said my guardian, whose flask of sherry smelt like a whole cask-full, as he hastily refreshed himself, “but I shall by this means be able to check your bills, and to pull you up if I find you out running the constable, of course you’ll go wrong somehow, but that’s no fault of mine.”
Ch. 20 Page 185
The problem with giving people money is that people may become dependant on it. Pip’s source of money is unknown and therefore, he can not know when that money will run out. If Mr. Jaggers cared about Pip, he would give Pip investment advice or a budget because when the money runs out, Pip will be left with nothing. Mr. Jaggers is not obligated to care for Pip, so Pip is left uneducated about money. Perhaps Pip will end up like the American Indian tribes who lost all of their money after the government bought their tribal citizenship from them.
Jojo
23. Mr. Pip, there are about seven hundred thieves in this town who know all about that watch; there’s not a man, a woman, or a child, among them who wouldn’t identify the smallest link in that chain, and drop it as if it was re-hot, if inveigled into touching it.”
Ch. 25 Page 224
Often people who do not abide by laws think themselves above the law. They are wrong. They are so far below the law that they become a victim of it. They become paranoid of discovery and loose freedom even as they think they are gaining it. Mr. Jaggers is some one who is so far above the law that it becomes a tool he can use to his advantage. Using this tool, he can insure that no one will ever steal from him or do him harm. The innocent may fear the wretched and evil, but everyone fears Mr. Jaggers. This begs the question, is Jaggers the ultimate evil, or justice? People will fear justice just as much as evil because everyone is guilty of something. If God is known for mercy, does that make evil and justice one and the same?
Jojo
24. You wouldn’t mind being at once introduced to the Aged, would you? It wouldn’t put you out?”
Ch. 25 Page 226
Something about the way Wemmick refers to his parent makes me feel as if something sinister is happening. He will not call his parent by any name other than the Aged which I think is either a convenience to the author because he will reveal it later, or for some reason Wemmick does not want to call his father by his name. Maybe in some way it spites the old man and Wemmick can get away with it now that he is deaf. Also, the fact that Wemmick thinks Pip may be distressed to meet his father put an anxiety into the passage in which they do meet. If nothing happens to validate my predictions, I blame my misinterpretation on Dickens’s payment plan which makes his writing fractured at times.
Jojo
25. He had a closet in his room fitted up for the purpose, which smelt of the scented soap like a perfumer’s shop. It had an unusually large jack-towel on a roller inside the door, and he would wash his hands, and wipe them and dry them all over this towel, whenever he came in from a police court or dismissed a client from his room.
Ch. 26 Page 229
I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Jaggers’ obsessive washing is not caused by physical filth, but moral filth. Surely, if he did not wish to smell of his clients, a shorter wash would do. Until proven otherwise, I think Mr. Jaggers’ washing is a physical manifestation of a mental byproduct of his superiority. Mr. Jaggers spends so much time deciding the fates and guilt of others that he came to think of himself as a higher being, in a moral aspect at least. What he then lacks is someone to judge him and assure him he knows right from wrong. Since he can not be sure his actions are clean, he makes himself physically clean to compensate. The logic of his mind is therefore subtly flawed, and exposes a possible weakness in the otherwise flawless character.
Jojo
26. The recorder’s report is made to-day, and he is sure to be executed on Monday. Still you see, as far as it goes, a pair of pigeons are portable property, all the same.”
Ch. 32 Page 284
Why does Wemmick constantly sing the praises of portable property? At first I thought it would serve as a contrast to his home, in which he has a very un-portable chunk of property as well as contraptions integrated into his house such as the gun and labeled doors. This made sense for a while, but I decided that since both of the personalities Wemmick displayed are in fact the same person, he must be well supported financially by the castle and has an extended use for portable property. Not only does it serve as a contrast between the personalities, but maybe he will use it if he has to run away, or give it to someone else who has to run away. I doubt it will not play an important part of the story.
Jojo
27. “I don’t know that Mr. Jaggers does a better thing than the way in which he keeps himself so high. He’s always so high. His constant height is of a piece with his immense abilities.
Ch. 32 Page 285
In this passage, Wemmick observes an incredible phenomenon of the human race. There are many people who believe that some people are made for power and prefer it and others are made for humility and prefer it. They could not be more incorrect. Any one who is offered power without any sort of catches will accept it and be happier to have it. This theme is expressed numerous times in The Great Expectations. When people are seen to be rising in social class they do not fight it. Alternatively, when people fall in social class they do everything they can to stop it. Mr. Jaggers, who is the smartest man in the book, constantly uses his wit to keep himself powerful. Using this example Dickens shows us that the people who attain and enjoy their power become cold and distant. He acknowledges that we want power and social standing, but he does not tell us that it is good for us.
Jojo
8. "I embrace this opportunity of remarking that he washed his clients off, as if he were a surgeon or a dentist." Page 221, chapter 26
I cannot help but to compare this passage to when Pontius Pilate washed his hands from the death sentence given to Jesus. When he does this, he is saying that he had nothing to do with this death. So, in a way, Mr. Jaggers is doing the same, except not to the same extreme as Pilate. He is saying that although it is because of him that people are suffering, he refuses to acknowledge that fact. Both of these men need to start taking responsibility for their actions.
tara
28. To confess the truth, I very heartily wished, and not for the first time, that I had had some other guardian of minor abilities.
Ch. 32 Page 285
Mr. Jaggers is fairly mean to Pip and Pip sees Mr. Jaggers as a figure of a perfect gentleman. Not a gentleman Pip is particularly attracted to, but smart and powerful none the less. Another character that shows these traits is Estella. If they treated Pip in the same way he might regard them similarly, so there must be a difference in the way they treat Pip. Mr. Jaggers shows no feelings toward Pip favorably or unfavorably, and Estella shows both hate and love toward Pip at different times. It is Pip’s preference for a passionate love rather than a stable love that will eventually led him to heartbreak.
Jojo
29. So now, as an infallible way of making little ease great ease, I began to contract a quantity of debt.
Ch. 34 Page 295
In The Great Expectations, I find myself less and less focused on Pip’s social standing and love triangle, because I am eagerly waiting for Pip to run out of money. I am more interested in Pip’s financial trouble. I think this is because I have quenched my taste for social climbing for the sake of social climbing, and I no longer find it to be terribly interesting. I can not relate to someone loving someone who hates them in return. In contrast, I can relate very dearly to having to worry about debt and money. I know that this perspective means that I miss things that the majority of people take away from the book, but I do not think I can be blamed for this. The author’s job is to put a story in writing. The ideas the story will explore and the lessons it teaches depend on the reader’s interpretation and perception. Difference in opinion can only come to be expected.
Jojo
30. We shut our outer door on these solemn occasions in order that we might not be interrupted. I had fallen into my serene state on evening, when we heard a letter dropped through the slit in the said door, and fall on the ground. “It’s for you, Handel,’ said Herbert, going out and coming back with it, “and I hope there is noting the matter,” This was in allusion to its heavy black seal and border.
Ch. 34 Page 299
I particularly enjoyed the end of chapter 34. Throughout the entire chapter, Pip and Herbert are collecting all of their debts and I felt an enormous gravity as they found how much money they had lost. At that moment, I felt nothing could have been more important than the loss of their money. When Pip learns that his sister had died, I had to ask myself weather the loss of money or loss of life held more gravitas. Afterward, I felt a considerable guilt for considering them worth comparison.
Jojo
in my number 7 entry, i didn't finish my second sentence so i will now. ....qualities, they criticize others.
sorry!
tara
31. “Pocket-handkerchiefs out, all!” cried Mr. Trabb at this point, in a depressed business-like voice. “Pocket-handkerchiefs out! We are ready!”
Ch. 35 Page 303
All of the men carrying the coffin are putting on a false display of grief. Crying should be an effect of grief not a cause. No one will miss Mrs. Joe. Even Mr. Joe admitted that he only married and put up with her for the sake of Pip. If no one truly needs to grieve for Mrs. Joe, I have two theories for why they insist on putting on a show that they do. The first is that people are fragile and second guessing when someone close to them dies. They show each other through the illusion of grief that love is universal and the deceased had many people love them. The second is that, if you convince someone how very much you are hurt by a death, they will respect that pain and put you in higher esteem. Both motives are pessimistic and selfish and I believe them to be true.
Jojo
32. And so she presently said ‘Joe’ again, and once ‘Pardon,’ and once ‘Pip.’ And so she never lifted her head up and more, and it was just and hour later when we laid it down on her own bed, because we found she was gone.”
Ch. 35 Page 306
Mrs. Joe’s dieing wish is to have Joe forgive Pip for the wrongs he did the family in becoming a gentleman. When did Mrs. Joe come to be sympathetic to Pip? Was she always caring toward Pip and he couldn’t see it thru the abuse, or did Mrs. Joe come to appreciate Pip once she was attacked? Either way, her last request was an act of selflessness. She could have easily asked Joe to pardon herself, but instead she put her efforts toward Pip’s forgiveness. Perhaps, her near death experience left Mrs. Joe with the need to make up for her sins.
Jojo
9. "We talk of you in the kitchen every night, and wonder what you are saying and doing. If now considered in the light of a liberty, excuse it for the love of poor old days. No more, dear Mr. Pip, from Your ever obliged, and affectionate servant, BIDDY." Page 229, chapter 27
It seems as though Biddy knows that Pip has already changed when she is writing this letter. When she speaks of herself and Joe talking about him in the kitchen, she does not want him to think that they do it out of liberty, but out of love. She feels that Pip has changed so much that he does not even remember the love that they had, and still have, for him. Not only do they love Pip, but they also love and miss the "poor old days". But, as Biddy says, those days are no more. I think that this letter signifies the end of Pip's old life. That life is gone, and so are the things that went along with it.
tara
10. "'Joe, how are you Joe?' 'Pip, how AIR you Pip?'" Page 231, chapter 27
Throughout this chapter, I couldn't help but notice the informality of Joe's speech. I had never noticed it before. When Pip is in London, all that is heard is proper speech. I had no time to hear Joe's informality when that was the only thing I had ever known in the beginning of the book. The same goes for other accents. I would never notice my American accent until I went to a foreign country. Sometimes it is hard to hear yourself when you are surrounded by people who sound exactly like you. I also realized that while I read this chapter, I couldn't help but find Joe to seem inferior to Pip and Herbert. I didn't want to feel that way, but I did, and now I realize that we can be easily influenced by the way someone talks or looks or acts, especially when it is different from the way we are.
tara
11. "'Well sir,' pursued Joe, 'this is how it were. I were at the Jolly Bargemen t'other night, Pip, - whenever he subsided into affection, he called me Pip, and whenever he relapsed into politeness he called me sir - " page 235, chapter 27
In this passage, you really see that Joe is beginning to separate Pip into the old and the new. He is even referring to him differently. Whenever Joe is referring to the old Pip, he calls him Pip, but when he is referring to the new Pip, he calls him sir. To actually see the separation of the two lives is a pretty big shock because it feels like there are two different main characters in this book, I just don't know which one to trust, if either.
tara
12. "All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers, and with such pretences did I cheat myself. Surely a curious thing." Page 238, chapter 28
When Pip has to start swindling himself, I know that things have gotten bad. Having to convince yourself into doing something is a very curious thing indeed. This shows that Pip does not trust himself, he questions who he is and therefore has to "side" with the side of himself that he agrees with. This struggle to find out which part is truly Pip must be very hard for Pip.
tara
13. "There stood the man whom I had seen on the settle at the Three Jolly Bargemen on a Saturday night, and who had brought me down with his invisible gun." Page 240, chapter 28
The concept of the invisible gun is very interesting. I think that everyone has an invisible gun. It becomes visible to only the victim when used. Everyday, we "shoot" people down with our invisible guns, and a lot of times, we have no idea. It can be with words, or actions, or looks. We don't know when we pull the trigger, but the victim definitely feels and is affected by it. We need to take our fingers off the trigger; otherwise, we will be "killing" others until there is no one left.
tara
2. “’He hardly thought you’d come so soon, ‘Mr. Wemmick explained. ‘You don’t want me any more?’
‘No, thank you,’ said I.”
Page 181 chapter 21
He seems to be becoming evermore arrogant and more and more unappreciative. Mr. Wemmick goes out of his way to cater to every whim of young master Pip and he goes to vast amounts of trouble to make sure that Pip gets to Mr. Pocket’s house alright and Pip seems to just blow him off in this passage. I believe this could be a foretaste of what to come for our character. I believe that he will continue to get even more big-headed as time goes on and as he realizes the ridiculous amount of money he has just come into and the more gentleman-like he becomes. I feel this will push the ones he loves away from him and he will end up sad and alone.
14. "I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection." Page 246, chapter 29
In the beginning of the book, Pip said that he loved Joe because he let him. His concept of love has changed along with his age. He seems to love Estella because he can't help himself, and Estella certainly does not let him love her, but that is why he does. And even though he knows that he loves her against all odds, he still loves her, he still accepts her. If that isn't love, then I am not sure what is. He is loving her no matter what; nothing can stop him.
tara
3. “’Lord bless me, you’re the prowling boy!’ ‘And you.’ said I, ‘are the pale young gentleman!’”
Page 183 chapter 21
This is an interesting twist to the story. I would have never guessed that these two would meet up again, especially in such a way. It is even more interesting that they are set to live together. These are two men that took part in a bout just some years ago. I wonder how they will react to each other now that they know both of their true identities. Personally, I think they are going to fight again; partake in a bout to the death, but this time, Mr. Pocket is going to kick Pip’s behind. I jest when I say this though, I think they will get along splendidly and laugh about their past encounter and reminisce and inquire about one another.
4. “’She’s a Tarter.’ ‘Miss Havisham?’ ‘I don’t say no to that, but I meant Estella. That girl’s hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree, and has been brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex.’”
Page 185, chapter 22
This passage verifies what I thought previously. Estella was adopted by Miss Havisham to be the spawn of Satan towards all men. But why would she want to bring her up to bring upon revenge towards all men? Was there a specific incident that brought up this desire? Does it have to do with her wedding dress? Hopefully this question will be answered later in the story. This passage also brings up another question. What will Pip feel towards Miss Estella now that she has another reliable source telling him that she is wicked? He doesn’t seem to respond to it afterwards in the text, but I have a feeling that he is starting to have second thoughts about pursuing the young lass.
the above comment consisted of 2 DIALECTICAL JOURNALS
15. "I verily believe that her not remembering and not minding in the least, made me cry again, inwardly - and that is the sharpest crying of all." Page 251, chapter 29
There is a big difference between crying on the outside and crying on the inside. When you cry on the inside, it is like it is such a powerful emotion, it cannot be expressed on the outside, and it cannot be put into physical form. Inwardly crying is the type that cuts at your insides and creates scars that never fully heal.
tara
16. "'You must know,' said Estella, condescending to me as a brilliant and beautiful woman might, ' that I have no heart - if that has anything to do with my memory.'" Page 251, chapter 29
Without a heart, nothing else can function. Speaking body-wise, without the heart, you are a goner. Speaking in emotional terms, without a heart, nothing else, including the memory, can function. Love affects all aspects of life, and without it, what is the point of living? "To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead."
tara
5)"Then I found that Wemmick was the clerk in the next room. Another clerk was rung down from up-stairs to take his place while he was out, and I accompanied him into the street, after shaking hands with my guardian. We found a new set of people lingering outside, but Wemmick made a way among them by saying coolly yet decisively,'I tell you it's nouse; he won't have a word to say to one of you;' and we soon got clear of them, and went on side by side.
chapter 20 page 187 paragraph 2
So this is who everyone had to give their money to. It seems that Wemmick is nice becasue he told everyone in advance that Mr. Jaggers would not see them. He didn't give any good news but at least he healped them in a way so they didn't waste their time.
"'Do you know where Mr. Pocket lives?' I asked Mr.Wemmick.
'Yes,' said he, nodding in the direction. 'At Hammersmith, west of London.'
'Is that far?'
'Well! Say five miles.'
'Do you know him?'
'Why you are a regular cross-examiner!' said Mr. Wemmick, looking at me with an approving air. 'Yes I know him. I know him!'"
capter 21 page 189 paragraph 6
Why does Pip need to know where Mr. Pocket lives? Why did he ask Mr. Wemmick instead of Mr. Jaggers? Why does Pip wonder if Mr. Wemmick knows him? Mr. Wemmick acturally admiers Pip for asking questions normally people don't like it when you ask questions.
35. “Yet the room was all in all to me, Estella being in it. I thought that with her I could have been happy there for life.”
Chapter 33, Page 282 Paragraph 2
I wish Pip would realize that Estella is not all that he thinks she is. She is an arrogant little ***** in opinion, and Biddy would be a way better choice. How could he think that he could be happy for life with somebody who so far has treated him repulsively, and does not show the intentions of changing that anytime soon?
5. “’The spoon is not generally used overhand, but under. This has two advantages. You get at your mouth better (which after all is the object), and you save a good deal of the attitude of opening oysters on the part of the right elbow.’”
Page 188 chapter 22
This passage seems to be fulfilling one of Pip’s expectations; becoming a gentleman. Mr. Pocket seems to be doing a very good job at teaching him without coming off like a stuck up snob. I wonder if becoming a gentleman will truly make young Pip happy.
6. “’This day (Havisham’s wedding day) came, but not the bridegroom. He wrote a letter-‘
‘Which she received when she was dressing for her marriage? At twenty minutes to nine?’”
Page 190 chapter 22
This seems to explain Miss Havisham’s odd ways and why she is so sullen. Can a person blame her for her being so sad? Her husband stands her up on their wedding day. To me, that is pretty harsh. Ever since then, she’s wanted to be in that exact moment. A reader would think that she could be able to get over her loss by now, but this odd quality of hers adds to the mystery of her character. This also explains my prior question about Estella. It is obvious that she has been soured on men because of this horrible experience. What I don’t understand now though is why must she be so radical? She must know that all men are not like that. Once again, this adds to the personality of her very uncommon character.
36. “It was impossible for me to avoid seeing that she cared to attract me; that she made herself winning; and would have won me even if the task had needed pains.”
Chapter 33, Page 386, Paragraph 4
Pip needs to realize that Estella has been taught to go against the entire male race, and she is only attracting him so that she can in turn, break his heart. Her intentions are not honorable, and although Pip may feel flattered that she is trying to attract him, I predict he will soon feel like scum for being stupid enough to fall into her little trap.
37. “And still I stood looking at the house, thinking how happy I should be if I lived there with her, and knowing that I never was happy with her, but always miserable.”
Chapter 33, Page 287, Paragraph 5
So now is Pip realizing that she is not ever nice to him? Is he going to stop loving her maybe because he knows that he is always miserable with her, and knows that that may never change? Maybe though, he will continue to pine for her, waiting for her to love him back with the same compassion all because of his mere physical attraction to her, and her money. Pip is confusing me at this point, and I wonder if maybe he is a little confused himself.
38. “I lived in a state of chronic uneasiness respecting my behaviour to Joe. My conscience was not by any means comfortable about Biddy.”
Chapter 34, Page 289, Paragraph 1
I think Pip is now realizing that since he came into his good fortune, he has not treated Joe, or even Biddy with the respect that either of them deserved. I think he misses his old life, and wishes a little that he could just be living a common life with Biddy and working at the forge with Joe, and one day even taking it over and running it himself. Even though he is enjoying his new life, I think he is just having a few regrets. The interesting part will be to see if he acts upon them, and goes back to that life, or if he will marry Estella, and live his uncommon life for the rest of his life.
the above comment, once again, has two dialectical journals. in fact, the rest of my comments will contain 2 dialectical journals each and i will number all of them
7. “Bentley Drummle, who was so sulky a fellow that he even took up a book as if its writer had done him an injury, did not take up an acquaintance in a more agreeable spirit.”
Page 213, chapter 23
This is another one of Mr. Pocket’s students who wants to become a gentleman. It seems as if Pip will have to spend a great deal of time with this fellow. How will Pip get along with him? It doesn’t seem like he likes him very much at the present moment. Will he warm up to him? We shall see.
8. “Startop had been spoiled by a weak mother, and kept at home when he ought to have been at school, but he was devotedly attached to her, and admired her beyond measure.”
Startop seems to be more suited to Pip. He seems to be the opposite of Pip. Pip is an orphan and was very much unhappy during his childhood. Startop is spoiled and babied. However, Startop seems to be the nicer, gentler of the two fellow students. I think Pip will create a more meaningful relationship with Startop.
"He lead me into a corner and conducted me up a filght of stairs-which appeared to me to be slowly collapsing into sawdust, so that one of thoes days the upper lodgers would look out at their doors and find themselves without the means of comming down-to a set of chambers on the top floor. Mr.POCKET, JUN., was painted on the door, and there was a lable on the letter-box, 'Return shortly.'"
chapter 21 page 190 paragraph 3
This house remind me of a haunted house old, dusty, and broken. Is the letter box in our times a maail box? I wonder if Pip is wondering who is Pocket Jun? I am pretty sure he is not expecting the pale young gentleman.
9. “’And they’re property. They may not be worth much, but, after all, they’re property and portable. It don’t signify to you with your brilliant look-out, but as to myself, my guiding-star always is, Get hold of portable property.’”
Page 210, chapter24
This passage tells of how hard this time was. The two men are talking about modest rings given to Wemmick by two of his deceased friends. He contends that they are not worth much, but they are something. He seems to be a very appreciative person and does not like to waste anything. He also says they are portable and seems to value that as well. He likes the fact that he can take these objects with him and have the security they will not be stolen.
10. “’He never lets a door or window be fastened at night.’ ‘Is he never robbed?’
Page 215 chapter 25
Mr. Jaggers seems to be overly confident and quite arrogant. However, Wemmick says that no one is bold enough to actually try to pull a heist on Jaggers. He seems to be very much different than Wemmick. I can tell from these two passages that Jaggers is likely to be well-to-do and can afford to be more risky while Wemmick seems like he’d be poorer and would therefore be more conscientious of his belongings.
11. “My dear Mr. Pip, I write this by request of Mr. Gargery, for to let you know that he is going to London in company with Mr. Wopsle and would be glad if agreeable to be allowed to see you.”
Page 229 chapter 27
How will Pip react to this letter? Will he be glad of his beloved brother-in-law’s coming to visit him? Or will he feel ashamed? I wonder if he will consent to his request and meet him. He seems to like becoming a gentleman and I wonder if he will not be excited to see his old pal.
12. “We talk about you in the kitchen every night, and wonder what you are saying and doing. If now considered in the light of a liberty, excuse it for the love of poor old days. No more, dear Mr. Pip, from Your ever obliged and affectionate servant, Biddy.”
Page 229 chapter 27
This is a very interesting part of the letter. Biddy seems to be torn with Pip. She knows that he doesn’t love her and never will, but I think she is trying to imply some underlying feelings she has for him; however, she is also trying to be as professional as possible. I think that she is confused with the relationship they now have. She wishes for the old days with him, but she tries to be realistic and thus refers to him as ‘Mr.’ Pip. I can’t help but feel sorry for Biddy as well as Joe.
13. “I had little objection to his being seen by Herbert or his father, for both of whom I had a respect, but I had the sharpest sensitiveness as to his being seen by Drummle, whom I held in contempt. So throughout life our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.”
Page 230 chapter 27
I have a couple things to say about this passage. First, I think it is terrible that Pip is ashamed to have someone see his family. Family always comes first and I think it a terrible sin to be ashamed of the people one loves. Secondly, I like how Dickens intertwines life lessons into his plots. He cleverly includes the last statement into this passage that pertains to the story. I think it is very true that our weaknesses stand out to those we despise. I believe this is true because if they loved us, these weaknesses would be illegitimate. Brava, Dickens, brava.
14. “’Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say…Divisions among such mus come, and must be met as they come. If there’s been any fault at all today, it’s mine. You and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor yet anywheres else but what is private, and beknown, and understood among friends. I am not right in these clothes.’”
Page 236 chapter 27
This is a very moving statement made by Joe to Pip. It is clear that Joe was trying to impress Pip during this visit, but he apparently failed in his mind. Joe then realizes that he doesn’t want to change himself and comes to the hard conclusion that he and Pip must take different paths. I’m sure it pains Joe, as he loves Pip very much, when Pip seems to be ashamed of him when introducing him to his new ‘friends’. Joe is a very smart man, and a very kind one at that. All the while, he thinks of Pip before himself. I’m positive that he would much rather have Pip back home and he doesn’t want to lose him, but feels he has to for the well-being and growth of the one that he loves, Pip.
"'Good day.'
I put out my hand, and Mr. Wemmick at first looked at it as if he thought I wanted something. Then he looked at me, and said, correcting himself
'To be sure! Yes. You're in the habit of shaking hands?'
I was rather confused thinking it must be out of London fashion, but said yes.
'I have got so out of it! said Mr. Wemmick-'except at the least. Vary glad, I'm sure, to make your acquaintance. Good day'
Chapter 21 page 191 paragraph 1
Is it really out of fashion to not shake hands? That must of raelly suprised Pip. I thought shaking hands was a polite way to thank someone, so it London doesn't shake hands anymore then how polite is London?
15. “I entertain a conviction, based upon large experience, that if in the days of my prosperity I had gone to the North Pole, I should have met somebody, there, wandering Eskimo or civilized man, who would have told me that Pumblechook was my earliest patron and the founder of my fortunes.”
Page 244 chapter 28
I was quite intrigued with this passage. It says that Pumblechook is taking credit for Pip’s sudden good fortune and rise in status. I am for certain that he is not the provider of Pip’s money and I think that he is just trying to raise himself up and make him seem like a nice man so he may become somewhat famous. Everyone likes a person who gives to the poor, take Robin Hood for example. I wonder who, however, is responsible for his newfound wealth.
16. “Estella laughed, and looked at the shoe in her hand, and laughed again, and looked at me, and put the shoe down. She treated me as a boy still, but she lured me on.”
Page 249 chapter 29
I could foresee this as happening. As I’m sure Pip can now account for, it doesn’t matter to her that he is now a gentleman, she will be mean to him no matter how he looks or acts. She says that he has changed very much, but she still treats him like her inferior. Hopefully, Pip soon realizes she is the wretch that she is and goes after the woman who is more deserving: Biddy.
17. “…they begged to inform me that Mrs. J. Gargery had departed this life on Monday last at twenty minutes past six in the evening, and that my attendance was requested at the interment on Monday next at three o’clock in the afternoon.”
Page 295 chapter 34
This is a terrible tragedy for young Pip. Having his sister, who was like a mother to him, die has got to be very hard to handle. Even though she was less than nice to him, the fact that she cared for him and brought him up should stir up some emotions of grief and sorrow. I wonder how Pip will react. It seems as if he has had a slight change of heart as of late, being remorseful of his treatment of Joe and Biddy. Hopefully, this will further make him think of the path he has chosen and will make him reconsider how he wants to live his life. I think he will undergo vast changes when he returns home for the funeral.
18. “Mr. Wemmick, I want to ask your opinion. I am very desirous to serve a friend.”
Page 309 chapter 36
It seems as if Pip might actually have a change of heart and is returning to the kind, giving self he once, not so long ago, was. It is refreshing that he is willing to do something for someone besides himself. It seems as if it has been awhile since he has wanted to help someone. I hope that he continues his transformation and realizes where he belongs and who he belongs with.
19. “’I begin to think,’ said Estella, in a musing way, after another moment of calm wonder, ‘that I almost understand how this comes about. If you had brought up your adopted daughter wholly in the dark confinement of these rooms, and had never let her know that there was such a thing as the daylight…you would have been disappointed and angry?’”
Page 327 chapter38
This is a very interesting passage and important to the building of Miss Estella’s character. Miss Havisham is angry at Estella for not showing love towards her and Estella comes back with a very witty and true statement. It was but Miss Havisham that created the monster we have come to know as Estella. She taught her to not love, basically telling her that love and emotion was the devil and that it was foolish to love anyone. So why does she expect her to show love towards her? I think this is a turning point in her character and she will try to forget her past and sort of start over. I believe she will become a good person.
20. “’Look’ee here, Pip. I’m your second father. You’re my son—more to me nor any son. I’ve put away money, only for you to spend… but wot, if I gets liberty and money, I’ll make that boy a gentleman!’ And I done it. Why, look at you, dear boy! Look at these here lodgings of yourn, fit for a lord! A lord? Ah! You shall show money with lords for wagers, and beat ’em!’”
Page 340 chapter 39
This is a perfect ending to this section. I was totally in shock that a man of his stature was responsible for Pip’s wealth. This is the convict that Pip meets in the bar at the beginning of our wonderful adventure. A simple convict could not have provided Pip with such riches. Surely this must be a mistake. It must have been someone well off like Havisham or Jaggers. I wonder if Pip will learn from this not to covet so much wealth and material things, but to appreciate and love those who love him back, much like the love and sense of loyalty this stranger has shown towards him. I hope that he begins to realize that beauty comes from within rather than from the way you dress or how much ‘stuff’ you have. I wonder what kind of relationship these two will have now. We shall see.
"Mr. Pockets idea of shortly was not mine, for I had nearly maddened myself with looking out for half an hour, and had written my name with my finger several times in the dirt of every pane in the window, before I heard footsteps on the stairs."
chapter 21 page 191 paragraph 6
How long was Mr. Pocket gone for? Is Mr. Pocket going to get mad at Pip for writing on the windows? Does Mr. Pocket feel ashamed for the dirt on the window, and for being late?
Until next time Blogger, i bid thee fairwell.We shall meet again.
"When we had shaken hands and he was gone, I opened the stair case window and had nearly beheaded myself, for, the lines had rotted away, and it came down like the guillotine. Happily it went so quick tht i had not put my head out."
chapater 22 page 191 paragraph 5
I like how Dickens compared the window to the guillotine, it helped me imagine what happened when the window fell. What would of happened if he got his head tough the window and then it fell?
"As I stood opposite to Mr. Pocket, Junior, delivering him the bags, One, Two, I saw the starting appearance come into his own eyes that I knew to be in mine , and he said, falling back:
'Lord bless me, you're the prowling boy!'
'And you,' said I,'are the pale young gentleman!'
Chapter 21 page 193 last paragraph
This is an unexpected twist in the story. I thought the young pale gentleman was out of the story after the fight. It is amazing how they recognized each otehr after like ten minuets. I never knew the pale young gentleman was Mr. Pockets child!
20. "i could not have known my convict more distinctly then i knew him now, as he sat in the chair before the fire."
chapter 39 pg 304
the convicts back and i wonder how pips going to take it. i would be scared but pip is 23 years old so he might not care. hes probably wondering what hes doing here.
39. “As I am now generalizing a period of my life with the object of clearing my way before me, I can scarcely do so better than by at once completing the description of our usual manners and customs at Barnard’s Inn.”
Chapter 34, Page 291, Paragraph 3
I know this is a common question that is asked as we all read this book, but how old is Pip now? From this passage I want to think that he is starting to be more of an adult and venturing out on his own, but I cannot be certain yet.
40. “The letter was signed TRABB & Co., and its contents were simply that I was an honoured sir, and that they begged to inform me that Mrs. J. Gargery had departed this life on Monday last at twenty minutes past six in the evening, and that my attendance was requested at the interment on Monday next at three o’clock in the afternoon.”
Chapter 34, Page 295, Paragraph 2
First off, I think that the times of the service were yet another unneeded detail added by Dickens and I would like to point out that that is starting to drive me crazy because it is a waste of paper and my reading time! Now, more importantly, I wonder how Pip is going to react to this. He was never all that attached to his sister because she was never very nice to him. When she became a vegetable, Pip really didn’t seem to act like he cared all that much, so I am very curious to see how he will feel about her dieing. I mean he hasn’t seen or talked to her since he left, but she is still his sister, and she did raise him however nice or mean she did it. So I think he should be naturally a little upset being that it is kind of like his last remaining relative, but he really never seemed to like her.
17. "'- Then, my dear Herbert, I cannot tell you how dependent and uncertain I feel, and how exposed to hundreds of chances. Avoiding forbidden ground, as you did just now, I may still say that on the constancy of one person (naming no person) all my expectations I demand.'" Page 262, chapter 30
Love is about everything Pip is describing - taking risks, being unsure of everything, and being dependent. Against all odds, love pushes through, but it has to be true. It is finding that one person who meets all your expectations, or exceeds them. But sometimes, it is finding that one person who goes against all your expectations.
tara
"The pale young gentleman and I stood contemplating one another in Barnard's Inn until we both burst out laughing. 'The idea of its being you!' said he. 'The idea of it being you!' said I. Then we contemplated one another afresh and laughed again. 'Well!' said the pale young gentleman, raching out his hand good-humouredly,'it's all over now, I hope, and it will be magnanimous in you if you'll forgive me for having knocked me about so.'"
Chapter 22 page 194 paragraph 1
Why did they both start laughing? Are they friends again? The pale young gentleman offers his hand for peace becasue he thinks he knocked Pip about, but Junior Pocket is the oen who knocked about.
18. "I am to come to London the day after to-morrow by the midday coach. I believe it was settled you should meet me? At all events Miss Havisham has that impression, and I write in obedience to it. She sends you her regard. - Yours, Estella." Page 274, chapter 32
Estella and Biddy's letters differ immensely. Biddy's letter is so much more inviting, I actually liked reading it. Estella's is so cold, completely the opposite. I wonder why Pip is so infatuated with Estella when she is so bitter. She is like Miss Havisham's robot, and Pip knows that. What exactly does he see in her?
tara
19. "Many a time of an evening, when I sat alone looking at the fire, I thought, after all, there was no fire like the forge fire and the kitchen fire at home." Page 289, chapter 34
Pip is starting to question if what he did was right. What if he had never gone to Miss Havisham's. What if he had never seen Estella? What if he had been content with who he was? I think that everyone has a time like this in their lives. What if…? Without the mistakes that we make, we never learn. We need to make rash decisions sometimes; we need to take a leap of faith every once in a while.
tara
"'i don't say no to that, but I mean Estella. That girl's hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree, and has been brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex'
'What relation is she to Miss Havisham?'
'None,' said he, 'Only adopted.'
'Why should she seek revenge on all male sex? What revenge?'
'Lord, Mr. Pip!' said he 'Don't you know?'
'No,' said I.
'Dear me! It's quite a story, and shall be saved till dinnertime.'"
Chapter 22 page 195 paragraph 4
Why does Miss havisham want revenge against all men? Why did she have to teach Estella to be evil? How does Junior Pocket know about Miss Havisham? Did his dad tell him? Why are they saving that story tell dinner? Did Junior expect Pip to already know about Miss Havisham? Why did Junior expect that?
"I shouldn't mind anything that you propose,' I answered, 'but i don't understand you.'
'Would you mind Handel for a familiar name? There's a charming piece of music by Handel, called the Harmonious Blacksmith.'
'I should like that vary much.'
chapter 22 page 197 paragraph 3
Why doesn't Pip understand Junior?
Does Junior understand Pip? It is nice that Junior is helping Pip to find his fimilar name to call each other by. I like how Junior came up with Handel becasue Pip was a blacksmith's apprintice. Junior wants to be called by Herbert, and Pip by Handel.
20!!!! "It was the first time that a grave has opened in my road of life, and the gap it made in the smooth ground was wonderful. The figure of my sister in her chair by the kitchen fire haunted me night and day. That the place could possibly be without her was something my mind seemed unable to compass, and whereas she had seldom or never been in my thought of late, I had now the strangest idea that she was coming towards me in the street, or that she would presently knock at the door. In my rooms, too, with which she had never been at all associated, there was once the blankness of death and a perpetual suggestion of the sound of her voice or the turn of her face or figure, as if she were still alive and had often been there." Page 296, chapter 35
When someone dies, there is a vast hole in the heart that is unexplainable. Even if you don't know the person very well, it is amazing to think that they were here two or three minutes ago; why do they have to be gone now? But the thing is, although the death created a gap in the road, life goes on, just like the road. You can't dwell in the gap forever, you have to keep going, even though sometimes you might need a tow truck to help you out.
tara
33. “I must request to know what you mean by this?”
“By this? said Biddy.
“Now, don’t echo,” I retorted. “You used not to echo, Biddy.”
“Used not!” said Biddy. “Oh, Mr. Pip! Used!”
Ch. 35 Page 307
One character whose role is underrated is Biddy. She is just as important as Estella. She mirrors her personality almost exactly. And yet, she causes the same feelings in Pip as Estella. Where Estella uses her higher class to instill guilt and shame, Biddy uses her lower class. Pip essentially deserted the family after getting money, and Biddy uses this shame to appeal to Pip. She uses childish fighting strategies and Pip sinks to her level to argue back. She shows him that he has made no progress as a person despite his wealth. This causes even more shame on Pip’s part. She, like Estella, is not afraid to hurt Pip, but tries to avoid it until it is necessary.
Jojo
34. His business, is the law?” I nodded harder. “Which makes it more surprising in my son,” said the old man, “for he was not brought up to the law, but to the wine-coopering.”
Ch. 37 Page 317
In any classical trilogy, the first episode introduces the characters and the conflict, the second introduces the complications and the third resolves the conflict. If this is to be held true, then the fact that Wemmick was raised to be working with wine is important. Mrs. Havisham’s house shared the lot with an old brewery and most of her family was accordingly employed. Havisham and Wemmick might be related. Perhaps Wemmick is the son or nephew of the man who left Mrs. Havisham at the altar and will be important to finally having Mrs. Havisham reach peace before she dies.
Jojo
35. She hung upon Estella’s beauty, hung upon her words, hung upon her gestures, and sat mumbling her own trembling fingers while she looked at her, as thought she were devouring the beautiful creature she had reared.
Ch. 38 Page 327
How much longer can Estella and Mrs. Havisham maintain their current relationship? Surely, Estella has gone and seen the world, independent of her former guardian and awakened to her faults. Soon, she might challenge the balance of power and the odds are for her. She has been reared to be powerful, controlling and shrewd all her life. Mrs. Havisham is a heartbroken old woman. Mrs. Havisham built her weapon of revenge but she made it smarter, and more powerful than she could control. If their story continues to follow the same plot of Frankenstein, when and how will the village people destroy the monster that Estella has become?
Jojo
36. At last, when the night was slow to creep on towards two o’clock, I felt that I absolutely could no longer bear the place as a place to lie down in, and that I must get up.
Ch. 38 Page 332
I think that Pip can not sleep in the Havisham house because he remembers when Mrs. Havisham told him of her death bed. It would make sense to a person like Pip, who has an overactive imagination, that any bed in the house could become a death bed if only you slept in it. In such a dreary place, Mrs. Havisham’s heartbreak drove her to madness and a withdrawal from life. Pip’s heartache for Estella could easily cause him the same fate.
Jojo
37. “Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures,” replied Estella, with a glance towards him, “hover about a lighted candle. Can the candle help it?”
“No,” I returned: “but cannot the Estella help it?”
Ch. 38 Page 336
With how much free will does Estella live? If she has stopped taking orders from Mrs. Havisham will we be able to see a difference? She would probably end up acting exactly the same because she knows no other purpose in life other than to torture men. How will she respond when she starts to want authentic affection? If she ever truly loved someone, would she have the tools to attract him? Mrs. Havisham claimed to have loved Estella when they were fighting, but even if this was true, she destroyed what chance of a happy life Estella had when she decided to use her as a weapon in her own personal vendetta.
Jojo
38. “Do you deceive and entrap him, Estella?”
“Yes, and many others – all but you. Here is Mrs. Brandley. I’ll say no more.
Ch. 38 Page 337
Her answer could be taken three ways, none of which will make Pip happy. The first is that she is lying and is only toying with Pip. The next is that she doesn’t try to attract Pip because she doesn’t love him or have any interest in him at all and he is not worth the effort of chasing. The final is that she genuinely loves Pip, but not even this will satisfy Pip because every moment that he spends with Estella is torture to him. Even if he wins, he loses.
Jojo
39. ‘If I ain’t a gentleman, not yet ain’t got no learning, I’m the owner of such. All on you owns stock and land; which on you owns a brought-up London gentleman?’
Ch. 39 Page 347
Pip often complains that he wishes the money had never been given to him, but Estella has had an incredibly more disadvantageous “gift” given to her. Most other lower class people would be jealous of them but they both become the victims of their fortune. In contrast, Biddy, who is outwardly unhappy and struggling in lower class rural England, has a loving relationship with Mr. Joe and is actually happy. For all their wealth and power, neither Pip nor Estella can claim to be happy. Perhaps the convict’s attempts to help Pip are doomed because no matter which class Pip was in, he was miserable.
Jojo
40. Nothing was needed but this; the wretched man, after loading me with his wretched gold and silver chains for years, had risked his life to come to me, and I held it there in my keeping!
Ch. 39 Page 348
Chains are a recurring theme in Charles Dickens’ writing. He used them in Scrooge to represent the acts of sin that the ghost of Marley must carry with him in the after life. Even Mr. Jaggers’ watch chain is financed by thievery. He paid for the watch with fees to people who stole to pay him. Dickens made the point that Pip accepts the chains made of silver and gold, but they remain chains none the less.
Jojo
"'It's not that,' said he, 'but she charged him, in the preasence of he intended husband, with being disappointed in the hope of fawning upon her for his own advancement, and, if he were to go to her nw, it would look true-even to him-and even to her. To return to the man and make an end of him. The marriage day was fixed, the wedding dress wre brought, the wedding tour was planned out, the wedding guests were invited. The day came, but not the bridegroom. He wrote a letter-'
'Which she recived,' I struck in,'When she was dressing for her marriage? At twenty minuets to nine?
'At the hour and minuet,' said Herbert, nodding,'at which she afterwards stopped all the clocks . What was in it, further then it most heartlesly broke the marriage off, I can't tell you, becasue I don't know. When she recovered from a bad illness that she had , she laid the whole place wast, as you have seen it, and has never looked upon the light of day'"
Chapter 22 page 200 paragraph 3
So thats what happened that made Miss Havisham that way. What bad illness did she have? Why didn't the birdegroom show up? What was in the letter that Miss Havisham was given from her bridesgroom? Why did she have to stop the clocks because she didn't get married? This explain why Miss havisham acts the way she does and why she hates the male sex but why did she hav to go and train Estella?
1) “As I stood opposite to Mr. Pocket, Junior, delivering him the bags, one, two I saw the starting appearance come into his own eyes that I knew to be in mine and he said, falling back: ‘Lord bless me, you’re the prowling boy!’ ‘And you,’ said I, ‘are the pale young gentleman!’”
Chapter 21, pg. 183
This is the kid that Pip knocked around? I didn’t expect him to be a ‘gentleman.’ I expected him to be some other poor kid, like Pip, that Miss Havisham was taking interest in. Why, if he is a gentleman, did he attack Pip in the manner he did?
2) “’How did you bear your disappointment?’ I asked. ‘Pooh!’ said he, ‘I didn’t care much for it. She’s a Tartar.’ ‘Miss Havisham?’ ‘I don’t say no to that, but I meant Estella. That girl’s hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree, and has been brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex.’”
Chapter 22, pg. 185
Why is Miss Havisham so intent on using Estella to ‘wreak revenge’ on all the guys? What could have possibly happened to make her so cruel and vengeful? And why use a mere girl to do it?
3) “He was still a pale young gentleman, and had a certain conquered languor about him in the midst of his spirits and briskness, that did not seem indicative of natural strength. He had not a handsome face, but it was better than handsome, being extremely amiable and cheerful. His figure was a little ungainly, as in the days when my knuckles had taken such liberties with it, but it looked as if it would always be light and young.”
Chapter 22, pg. 186
This is a nicer description of the man than the last one was. Is it simply because Pip has met him and realized what a nice man he is, or is it because he’s gotten a better look at him? I like how he isn’t called handsome, but it is explained that he looks the way he does because he’s a happy man. It shows that people are truly beautiful on the inside.
4) “’The dresses were fixed, the wedding dresses were bought, the wedding tour was planned out, the wedding guests were invited. The day came, but no the bridegroom. He wrote a letter-‘ ‘Which she received,’ I struck in, ‘when she was dressing for her marriage? At twenty minutes to nine?’ ‘At the hour and minute,’ said Herbert, nodding…”
Chapter 22, pg. 190
Ah, so this is why Miss Havisham is so distressed. She was cheated by her fiancé and left with no real explanation why. As sad as it is, I don’t feel sorry for her. She was warned by Matthew Pocket and just threw him out.
5) “’Here! Give me your fork, mum, and take the baby,’ said Flopson. ‘Don’t take it that way, or you’ll get its head under the table.’ Thus advised, Mrs. Pocket took it the other way, and got its head upon the table; which was announced to all present by a prodigious concussion.”
Chapter 23, pg. 201
Is there something mentally wrong it Mrs. Pocket? She continues to confuse me. She just sits there, like she hasn’t had, I think, seven other kids. She smacks the baby’s head on the table, and she kept dropping her handkerchief earlier. She doesn’t seem all there to me.
6) “’But has she not taken me downstairs, Belinda,’ returned Mr. Pocket, ‘and shown me the woman, and the bundle too?’ ‘And do you defend her, Matthew,’ said Mrs. Pocket, ‘for making mischief?’ Mr. Pocket uttered a dismal groan. ‘Am I, Grandpapa’s granddaughter, to be nothing in the house?’ said Mrs. Pocket. ‘Besides, the cook has always been a very nice respectful woman, and said in the most natural manner when she came to look after the situation that she felt I was born to be a duchess.’”
Chapter 23, pg. 205
Why do they fight over something this simple? Why does Mrs. Pocket thing she is pure royalty? Why does Mr. Pocket pull at his hair? Why does this family seem all too messed up?
7) “’Well,’ said Wemmick, ‘he’ll give you wine, and good wine. I’ll give you punch and not bad punch. And now I’ll tell you something. When you do to dine with Mr. Jaggers, look at his housekeeper.’ ‘Shall I see something very uncommon?’ ‘Well,’ said Wemmick, ‘you’ll see a wild beast tamed. Not so very uncommon, you’ll tell me. I reply, that depends on the original wildness of the beast, and the amount of taming. It won’t lower your opinion of Mr. Jaggers’s powers. Keep you eye on it.’” Chapter 24, pg. 211
Who is this housekeeper suppose to be? Could it be Estella? Why does Wemmick call her a beast? And why does he give so much credit to Jaggers for ‘taming’ her?
8) “’And there’s another rum thing in his house,’ proceeded Wemmick after a moment’s pause, as if the remark followed on, the housekeeper understood; ‘he never lets a door or window be fastened at night.’ ‘Is he never robbed?’ ‘That’s it!’ returned Wemmick. ‘He says, and gives it out publicly, ‘I want to see the man who’ll rob me.’ Lord bless you, I have heard him a hundred times if I have heard once say to regular cracksmen in our front office…”
Chapter 25, pg. 215
Are people really that terrified of him? He doesn’t seem a scary character, but just a very intimidating character. Why is he so open with the public that he leaves his house unlocked? Does he really think or know that people are frightened?
9) “By degrees, Wemmick got dryer and harder as we went along, and his mouth tightened into a post office again. At last, when we got to his place of business and he pulled out his key from his coat-collar, he looked as unconscious of his Walworth property as if the castle and the drawbridge and the arbour and the lake and the fountain and the Aged has all been blown into space together by the last discharge of the stinger.”
Chapter 25, pg. 220
Either he’s really good with separating his work life with his personal life, or he just doesn’t want anyone to know or interfere with his personal life. Like a lot of people, he acts one way at work and a completely different way at home.
10) “I knew that he wrenched the weakest part of our dispositions out of us. For myself, I found that I was expressing my tendency to lavish expenditure, and to patronize Herbert, and to boast of my great prospects before I quite knew that I had opened my lips.” Chapter 26, pg. 224
Why does Pip brag about his fortune? Is it that the money has truly changed him, or is it that he is trying to compete for Jaggers’s attention? Why is he mean to Herbert if he’s claimed that Herbert is his friend?
11) “I received the letter by post on Monday morning, and therefore its appointment was for next day. Let me confess exactly with what feelings I looked forward to Joe’s coming. Not with pleasure, though I was bound to him by so many ties; no; with considerable disturbance, some mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity. If I could have kept him away by paying money, certainly would have paid money.” Chapter 27, pg. 229
Why doesn’t he want to see Joe? He’s known Joe his entire life and he adores him. What would keep him from wanting to see his friend? Is it because he feels he is above Joe or is he ashamed that a family member is common as Joe is?
12) “’So he says,’ resumed the convict I had recognized, ‘-it was all said and done in half a minute, behind a pile of timber in the dockyard- ‘you’re a-going to be discharged!’ Yes, I was. Would I find out that boy that had fed him and kep’ his secret, and give him them two one-pound notes? Yes I would. And I did.’”
Chapter 28, pg. 242
The convict almost makes Pip sound like a hero. But why did he give Pip the money? Why is he telling this other convict? Is the convict that Pip assisted some ‘famous; convict or is he just a friend to both the convicts?
13) “’Hear me Pip! I adopted her to be loved. I bred her and educated her ot be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!’’
Chapter 29, pg. 253
Is that really why Miss Havisham adopted Estella and raised her like she did? Or is she trying to get back men? Why was Pip chosen to love Estella? And why does Miss Havisham insist he loves her so?
14) “’I am going to Richmond,’ she told me. ‘Our lesson is that there are two Richmonds, one in Surrey and one in Yorkshire, and that mine is the Surrey Richmond. The distance is ten miles. I am to have a carriage, and you are to take me. This is my purse, and you are to pay my charges out of it. Oh, you must take the purse! We have no choice, you and I, but to obey our instructions. We are not free to follow our own devices, you and I.’”
Chapter 33, pg. 281
She is just a bit demanding, isn’t she? She seems to say that it’s an order and they have no choice. But how hard is it to tell him what has been asked in a nice and less forceful way?
15) “We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one.”
Chapter 34, pg. 291
At first, Pip thinks that having lots of money would be great and he’d have lots of fun and he’d be happy. But now that he realizes that doing that night after night after night isn’t a very fun way to be living.
16) “As we got more and more into debt, breakfast became a hollower and hollower form, and being on one occasion at breakfast-time threatened (by letter) with legal proceedings, ‘not unwholly unconnected,’ as my local paper might put it, ‘with jewellery.’” Chapter 34, pg. 292
Not only is he not truly enjoying the money and the rich life, but he also learns he will be faced with new hardships. The only problem with letting Pip have access to this money is that he has so much he doesn’t know what to do with it.
17) “The letter was sighed TRABB & Co., and its contents were simply that I was an honoured sir, and that they begged to inform me that Mrs. J. Gargery had departed this life on Monday last at twenty minutes past six in the evening, and that my attendance was requested at the interment on Monday next at three o’clock in the afternoon.”
Chapter 34, pg. 295
How will Pip take this? How are Biddy and Joe taking it? Joe and Pip have seen both sides of Mrs. Joe. Also, Pip was getting beat up by her, but how will Pip react at the funeral?
18) “’She had been in one of her bad states- though they had got better of late, rather than worse- for four days, when she came out of it in the evening, just at tea-time, and said quite plainly, ‘Joe.’ As she had never said any word for a long while, I ran and fetched Mr. Gargery from the forge. She made signs to me that she wanted him to sit down close to her, and wanted me to put her arms round his neck. So I put them round his neck, and she laid her head down on his shoulder quite content and satisfied. And so she presently said ‘Joe’ again, and once ‘Pardon,’ and once ‘Pip.’ And so she never lifter her head up any more, and it was just an hour later when we laid it down on her own bed, because we found she was gone.’”
Chapter 35, pg. 301
So, that’s how she went. That’d be a horrible way to die. She was hit from behind years back and then passes without anyone noticing right away. I feel sorry for Pip. His name was the last word out of her mouth.
19) “The responsible duty of making the toast was delegated to the Aged, and that excellent old gentleman was so intent upon it that he seemed to be in some danger of melting his eyes. It was no nominal meal that we were going to make, but a vigorous reality. The Aged prepared such a haystack of buttered toast that I could scarcely see him over it as it simmered on an iron stand hooked on to the top-bar…”
Chapter 37, pg. 316
I like this old man. He reminds me of my great grandfather. He cares so much for his son and his family. He also is a very happy man. He is very entertaining as my grandfather is. It gives the reader a chance to smile
20) “’There is no doubt you do,’ said I something hurriedly, ‘for I have seen you give him looks and smiles this very night, such as you never give to-me.’ ‘Do you want me then,’ said Estella, turning suddenly with a fixed and serious, if not angry look, ‘to deceive and entrap you?’ ‘Do you deceive and entrap him, Estella?’ ‘Yes, and many others-all of them but you. Here is Mrs. Brandly. I’ll say no more.’”
Chapter 38, pg. 332
So, why does Estella look at Pip in a more caring, passionate way? Is it because she really does care for Pip or is it because those are the wishes of Miss Havisham?
"'Yes, Pip, dear boy, I've made a gentleman on you...'"
Chapter 39 pg. 345
I guessed all along that the convict was the one who gave Pip the money. I still don't quite understand why he did though? He was grateful of Pip, but he threatened him to bring him food and a file. Something about Pip must have sparked something in the convict. How will Pip be able to receive the man? What was the crime he was punished for? Now that he knows that the money is not from Miss Havisham he realizes that Estella was not meant for him. That was his drive to win Estella, what will happen to him now?
1 "When he had got his shilling, and had in course of time completed the ascent to his box, and had got away (which appeared to relieve his mind)..."
It earlier says that he knows Jaggers, and I wonder why this worries him. Is Jaggers a mean fellow to be feared? I wonder what kind of a reputation Jaggers has.
2 "'Pray come in,' said Mr. Pocket, Junior. 'Allow me to lead the way. I am rather bare here, but I hope you'll be able to make out tolerably well till Monday. My father thought you would get on more agreeably through to-morrow with me than with him, and might like to take a walk about London. I am sure I shall be very happy to show London to you."
Ch 21 pg 192
This character is unlike any other that Pip has met so far. He has a sort of calming and welcoming escense to him. He is a very kind individual, and hospitable. Everything he says seems as if it is truly sincere. I am curious to see what role this character plays in the rest of the story.
3 "Lord bless me, you're the prowling boy!"
"And you," said I, "are the pale young gentleman!"
Pg 193 Ch 21
This is such a surprise! I can't believe he is meeting this random boy that he beat up in London. Now I am that much more curious to see his role in the pages to come.
4 "Then, my dear Handel," said he, turning round as the door opened, "here is the dinner, and I must beg of you to take the top of the table, because the dinner is of your providing."
Pg 197 Ch 22
Herbert came from being a pale young gentleman that challenged Pip to a fight, and lost terribly, to a pale young gentleman befriending Pip nad sharing dinner. I think this twist on the story is only a taste for what is to come and that many more will make this story interesting as this one has.
5 "At the hour and minute," said Herbert, nodding, "at which she afterwards stopped all the clocks. What was in it, further than that it most heartlessly broke the marriage off, I can't tell you, because I don't know. When she recovered from a bad illness that she had, she laid the whole place waste, as you have seen it, and she has never since looked upon the light of day."
Pg 201 Ch 22
This is the first time you actually get proof of what happened to Miss Havisham. Her wedding was fixed only so her step-brother could get money, as well as her fiance. The clocks in her room are stopped at the time she received the letter. Although she had always been proud you cannot help but feel sorrow for Miss Havisham she was used horribly, and now she is forever stuck in sorrow.
6 "Mrs. Coiler then changed the subject, and began to flatter me. I liked it for a few moments, but she flattered me so very grossly that the pleasure was soon over. She had a serpentine way of coming close at me when she pretended to be vitally interested in the friends and localities I had left, which was altogether snaky and fork-tongued; and when she made an occasional bounce upon Startop (who said very little to her), or upon Drummle (who said less), I rather envied them for being on the opposite side of the table."
Pg 212 Ch 23
I would have never thought it possible to be an unpleasant thing to be flattered. I suppose that you can be flattered to much and that it seems fake. Now I feel sorry for Pip who must sit through this. It must be a horrible ordeal. I would agree with Pip's wish to be like Drummel or Startop on the other end of the table and not have to be the victim of her flattering.
7 "We don't run much into clerks, because there's only one Jaggers, and people won't have him at second-hand. There are only four of us. Would you like to see 'em? You are one of us, as I may say."
Pg 219 Ch 24
I am quite happy to see Pip making more aquiantances in London. He seems to attract people that are like him. It is easy for him to make friends with people that he understands. I hope that Pip will continue to do well in London, and that he will make many more friends to help him on his way.
1. "This was horrible, and gave me a sickening idea of London: the more so as the Lord Chief Justice's proprietor wore (from his hat down to his boots and up again to his pocket-handkerchief inclusive) mildewed clothes, which had evidently not belonged to him originally, and which, I took it into my head, he had bought cheap of the executioner."
(Chapter 20, page 181, paragraph 1)
Pip's opinions of London are based on what he has seen within a few hours of arriving. These opinions based on first impressions are common in every society including that of today's. Pip sees the negative side to London and automatically has a negative opinion of London.
2. "If I want you, I know where to find you; I don't want you to find me. Now I won't have it. I won't hear a word."
(Chapter 20, page 183, paragraph 6)
Mr. Jaggers can be described as a loner. He knows what he has learned and observed and does not like to hear the inputs of others. He would rather be alone. He is very forceful about no one disturbing him; this allows him to be the lawyer that he is.
3. "Mr. Pocket, Jun., was painted on the door, and there was a label on the letter-box, 'Return shortly.'"
(Chapter 21, page 190, paragraph 2)
The sign shows the importance of not missing visitors to people in this society. For Herbert to leave a sign specifically telling that he was to be back soon, and not leaving for months at a time, signals that he is expecting Pip and he does not want him to leave.
4. "'The day came, but not the bridegroom. He wrote her a letter-'"
(Chapter 22, page 200, paragraph 2)
This act of the man not showing up for his wedding threw Miss Havisham's life to one that was completely foreign to her. This happening left her in a whirlwind; she was thrown into a state of depression. She could not cope with anything happening after this one event. She refuses to face the future.
5. "'Am I, grandpapa's granddaughter, to be nothing in the house?' said Mrs. Pocket."
Chapter 23, page 216, paragraph 11)
Mrs. Pocket cannot let go of what might have been. She, like Miss Havisham, is stuck in the past. She cannot get over the fact that she could have had a higher station in life. She is like Miss Havisham, but she isn't as extreme.
6. "'Tell him that, and he'll take it as a compliment,' answered Wemmick; 'he don't mean that you should know what to make of it.-Oh!' for I looked surprised, 'it's not personal; it's professional: only professional.'"
(Chapter 24, page 219, paragraph 1)
This description of Mr. Jaggars shows more to his personality. It shows why so many fear him. They are not able to act normally around him because they are careful of how they act as to not upset him.
7. "Heavy in figure, movement, and comprehension-in the sluggish complexion of his face, and in the large awkward tongue that seemed to loll about in his mouth as he himself lolled about in a room-he was idle, proud, niggardly, reserved, and suspicious."
(Chapter 25, page 224, paragraph 1)
Drummle is a great opposite to most of the characters introduced thus far in this book. He is a prideful person who does not mind showing off to others. He can easily be seen as conceited.
8."Startop had been spoilt by a weak mother and kept at home when he ought to have been at school, but he was devotedly attached to her, and admired her beyond measure."
(Chapter 25, page 224, paragraph 2)
Startop and Drummle are two of the greatest opposites in this book. They share very little in common, whereas similarities can be found among other characters such as Biddy and Estella. Startop was shown love as a child while Drummle was raised to care a lot about money.
9. "As a matter of course, they fawned upon me in my prosperity with the basest meanness."
(Chapter 25, page 225, paragraph 1)
Pip was overlooked when he first met these people, but the moment he comes across a great sum of money they respect and fawn over him. They suddenly care about him. This is also seen with Mr. Pumblechook when Pip is to leave for London.
10. "We took our seats at the round table, and my guardian kept Drummle on one side of him, while Startop sat on the other."
(Chapter 26, page 235, paragraph 7)
Mr. Jaggar's liking to Drummle is based on similarities. Both of these men do not converse with others very often. They both are favorable to a quiet life and do not like the opinions of others. Mr. Jaggar sees this in Drummle and takes and immediate liking to him.
11. "My greatest reassurance was, that he was coming to Barnard's Inn, not to Hammersmith, and consequently would not fall in Bentley Drummle's way."
(Chapter 27, page 241, paragraph 2)
In the society that Pip is in now with gentlemen and expectations, Pip is letting people change him greatly. When he lived with Joe and his sister, he did not care so much about others' opinions. He would care about himself and Joe, and them alone. He is letting others change him. Without Biddy there to try to keep him the same, he is changing greatly.
12. "I had neither the good sense not the good felling to know that this was all my fault, and that if I had been easier with Joe, Joe would have been easier with me."
(Chapter 27, page 246, paragraph 4)
Pip is blind to his surrounding most of the time. He does not realize people feelings when they wear the hearts on their sleeves as Joe does. He remains oblivious to anyone's feeling of being uncomfortable unless he is feeling it and wants the other to as well.
13. "'Well, Sir,' pursued Joe, 'this is how it were. I were at the Bargemen t'other night, Pip;' whenever he subsided into affection, he called me Pip, and whenever he relapsed into politeness he called me Sir' 'when there come up in his shay-cart, Pumblechook.'"
(Chapter 27, page 247, paragraph 6)
Joe is unaware of how to address Pip. Since marrying Mrs. Joe, Pip has always been known as Pip, but as he now has money, Joe repeatedly reminds himself that Pip deserves respect, in his mind, for having a higher station. Joe keeps forgetting about Pip's station and then reminding himself.
14. "There stood the man whom I had seen on the settle at the Three Jolly Bargemen on a Saturday night, and who had brought them down with his invisible gun!"
(Chapter 28, page 252, paragraph 1)
Pip will continue to be haunted by his past like this until he finally confesses to someone everything of his past. Whenever things seem to be going right for Pip something that reminds him of the night in the cemetery comes back to him. He must tell someone to be completely guilt free.
15. "'Hear me, Pip! I adopted her to be loved. I bred her and educated her to be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!'"
(Chapter 29, page 266, paragraph 3)
Here Miss Havisham shows that she wants Estella to have what she did not. She wants to live through Estella and have a happy ending. Miss Havisham does not want Estella to be left on her wedding day like she was, she wants someone to love her and not leave her.
16. "But I never thought there was anything low and small in my keeping away from Joe, because I knew she would be contemplating away from Joe, because I knew she would be contemptuous of him."
(Chapter 29, page 270, paragraph 2)
Pip lets everyone around him change him even when he realizes what is going on. He doesn't stop people from keeping him from those he actually belongs with. Estella has caused him to change this much and she still insists upon changing him more. Pip is steadily loosing those around him because of these changes, and it's only the beginning.
17. "'You have always adored her, ever since I have known you.'"
(Chapter 30, page 274, paragraph 13)
Here Herbert shows how much Pip is really caring about Estella. The only person who has shown that they knew Pip to be in love with Estella thus far was Miss Havisham. Herbert brings to light that others might have noticed as well.
18. "'Now, that's the way with them here, Mr. Pip,' remarked Wemmick, turning to me with his post-office elongated."
(Chapter 32, page 291, paragraph 7)
The descriptions of Wemmick make him appear to almost have split lives or personalities. His personalities are the office and the post-office. He separates his lives and never lets one interfere with the other.
19. "'You had not your little wits sharpened by their intriguing against you, suppressed and defenceless, under the mask of sympathy and pity and what not, that is soft and soothing.'"
(Chapter 33, page 296, paragraph 7)
This is the first time that Dickens shows any sympathy towards Estella. She is seen as a cold-hearted person until now where she seems more real. She shows that she was taught hard and didn't live completely perfect.
20. "And still I stood looking ant the house, thinking how happy I should be if I lived there with her, and knowing that I never was happy with her, but always miserable."
(Chapter 33, page 300-301, paragraph 1)
Pip makes these realizations that life is not completely happy with Estella yet he still continues to chase her. He realizes that life would not be completely happy with her and that he would be miserable, yet he refuses to give up.
8 "Herbert was my intimate companion and friend. I presented him with a half-share in my boat, which was the occasion of his often coming down to Hammersmith; and my possession of a halfshare in his chambers often took me up to London. We used to walk between the two places at all hours. I have an affection for the road yet (though it is not so pleasant a road as it was then), formed in the impressibility of untried youth and hope."
Pg 224-225 Ch 25
Pip and Herbert remind me of the saying, opposites attract. Herbert seems to be everything that Pip is not, and Pip likes that about Herbert. Pip wants to be like Herbert, and if He does become like him, he shall also become a gentleman.
9 "No; the office is one thing, and private life is another. When I go into the office, I leave the Castle behind me, and when I come into the Castle, I leave the office behind me. If it's not in any way disagreeable to you, you'll oblige me by doing the same. I don't wish it professionally spoken about."
Pg 230 Ch 25
Wemmick seems to be a completely different man at the office, than he is at his castle of a home. At the office he is a stern man. I think this is because he is working for a cold, hard, stern man, Jaggers. When he is at home he is happy and joyful, and he is not burdened by Jaggers. I think this brings Wemmick to dislike Jaggers a great deal.
10 "He conducted us to Gerrard-street, Soho, to a house on the south side of that street. Rather a stately house of its kind, but dolefully in want of painting, and with dirty windows. He took out his key and opened the door, and we all went into a stone hall, bare, gloomy, and little used. So, up a dark brown staircase into a series of three dark brown rooms on the first floor. There were carved garlands on the panelled walls, and as he stood among them giving us welcome, I know what kind of loops I thought they looked like. "
Pg 234, ch 26
Jaggers place reflects his personality, as Wemmick's reflected him. Jaggers has a dark and dirty house, it seems very bleak. His personality is cold and hard. Wemmick, however, has a castle of a house that seems warming, as is his personality.
11 "MY DEAR MR PIP,
I write this by request of Mr. Gargery, for to let you know that he is going to London in company with Mr. Wopsle and would be glad if agreeable to be allowed to see you. He would call at Barnard's Hotel Tuesday morning 9 o'clock, when if not agreeable please leave word. Your poor sister is much the same as when you left. We talk of you in the kitchen every night, and wonder what you are saying and doing. If now considered in the light of a liberty, excuse it for the love of poor old days. No more, dear Mr. Pip, from
Your ever obliged, and affectionate servant,
BIDDY.
Pg 241 Ch 27
This letter saddens me, but i think there is hope in it. Joe and Biddy are respectable characters. Much can be learned from them, more on the moral standard than being a gentleman. They never give up on Pip, and Joe being the poor blacksmith he is is travelling all the way to London to see Pip.
12 "I received this letter by the post on Monday morning, and therefore its appointment was for next day. Let me confess exactly, with what feelings I looked forward to Joe's coming.
Not with pleasure, though I was bound to him by so many ties; no; with considerable disturbance, some mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity. If I could have kept him away by paying money, I certainly would have paid money."
Pg 241 Ch 27
This saddens me even more than the letter. Joe is doing everything for Pip, and Pip is being completely selfish. He is ashamed of Joe and for less than credible reasons. I am appalled that Pip would even think of acting this way towards Joe, the man who befriended him and maybe more so than Pip's sister "brought him up by hand".
13 "Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man's a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Diwisions among such must come, and must be met as they come. If there's been any fault at all to-day, it's mine. You and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor yet anywheres else but what is private, and beknown, and understood among friends. It ain't that I am proud, but that I want to be right, as you shall never see me no more in these clothes. I'm wrong in these clothes. I'm wrong out of the forge, the kitchen, or off th' meshes."
Pg 248-249 Ch 27
Joe shows that he is very wise, I think that this is how Pip should have acted. Joe is content with who he is and doesnt want to be anything more. Pip always wanted more, and it drove him to London. If Pip had been happy I think it would have made Joe and Biddy happy as well.
14 "After overhearing this dialogue, I should assuredly have got down and been left in the solitude and darkness of the highway, but for feeling certain that the man had no suspicion of my identity."
Pg 255 Ch 28
The way i read the passeges that proceeded this, the convict that Pip help is the one that gave Pip his riches. Like i said earlier, i expected a twist, but could never have expected this. Once again Dickens has shown his Genius as a writer and has consumed me in his book.
15 "The lady whom I had never seen before, lifted up her eyes and looked archly at me, and then I saw that the eyes were Estella's eyes. But she was so much changed, was so much more beautiful, so much more womanly, in all things winning admiration had made such wonderful advance, that I seemed to have made none. I fancied, as I looked at her, that I slipped hopelessly back into the coarse and common boy again. O the sense of distance and disparity that came upon me, and the inaccessibility that came about her!"
Pg 260 Ch 29
I can relate to Pip. He is now a gentleman, but the sight of Estella makes him forget all that he has learned and his is once again common. I know this "going blank" feeling. He is speechless because of Estella. He has built her up in his head for so long that he can hardly stand the sight of her.
16 "I must have been a singular little creature to hide and see that fight that day: but I did, and I enjoyed it very much."
Pg 262 Ch 29
Finally, Dickens explains why Pip got a kiss that day. I knew that she saw the fight, and i am quite happy to read about it.
17 "You must know," said Estella, condescending to me as a brilliant and beautiful woman might, "that I have no heart - if that has anything to do with my memory...
...Oh! I have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, I have no doubt," said Estella, "and, of course, if it ceased to beat I should cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there, no - sympathy - sentiment - nonsense."
Pg 263 Ch 29
I think that Estella does have a heart. If she did not have a heart, then i dont believe that she would know this, for she would not know what it felt like. I think she does have some feelings for Pip and only time will reveal what happens between them.
18 "It was interesting to be in the quiet old town once more, and it was not disagreeable to be here and there suddenly recognized and stared after. One or two of the tradespeople even darted out of their shops and went a little way down the street before me, that they might turn, as if they had forgotten something, and pass me face to face - on which occasions I don't know whether they or I made the worse pretence; they of not doing it, or I of not seeing it. Still my position was a distinguished one, and I was not at all dissatisfied with it..."
Pg 271-272 Ch 30
I begin to wonder if there is any hope left for Pip. He has become selfish and proud. All he cares about is being rich, and being a gentleman. I find myself wishing that he had never met Miss Havisham or Estella, and that he was happily working with Joe in the forge, but that wouldnt make much of a story.
19 "I am to come to London the day after to-morrow by the mid-day coach. I believe it was settled you should meet me? At all events Miss Havisham has that impression, and I write in obedience to it. She sends you her regard.
Yours, Estella."
Pg 287 Ch 32
Estella is still sort of Teasing Pip. We never know if she actually likes him, or if Miss Havisham is playing with them as pawns, but she is definately playing an interesting role thus far.
20 "In her furred travelling-dress, Estella seemed more delicately beautiful than she had ever seemed yet, even in my eyes."
Pg 294 Ch 33
I dont think that it is possible for her to be any more beautiful. Throughout the story Pip has siad that Estella was more beautiful than ever, Pip is in love with Estella. This is making him vulnerable, and I fear that she will hurt him.
Chapter 20,Page 160,Para.1-
"'Have you paid Wemmick?' 'Oh yes, sir! Every farden.' 'Very well. Then you have done all you have got to do. Say another word--one single word--and Wemmick shall give you your money back.'"
Mr. Jaggers is so much more concerned about getting his money, then the actually well-being of the so called people he's "helping". He shoo's them away with only one thing to say to them, have you paid wemmick. Hardly what i call customer satisfaction.
_kathrin hardy
Chapter 21,Page 164,Para. 10-
"We entered this haven through a wicket-gate, and were disgorged by an intoductory passage into a melancholy little square that looked to me like a flat burying-ground. I thought it had the most dismal trees in it, and the most dismal sparrows, and the most dismal cats, and the most dismal houses (in number half a dozen or so), that I had ever seen. I thought the windows of the sets of chambers into which those houses were devided, were in every stage of dilapidated blind and curtain, crippled flower-pot, cracked glass, dusty decay, and miserable makeshift; while To Let To Let To Let, glared at me from empty rooms, as if no new wretches ever came there, and the vengeance of the sould of Barnard were being slowly appeased by the gradual suicide of the present occupants and their unholy interment under the gravel."
I like the way Dickens describes the Inn and how he reflects the way that Pip sees it, he doesn't just say how it looks, he describes it vividly through Pip's eyes and how he precieves it. It's like your in Pip's mind looking at the depressing Inn and the darkness that falls on it. Amazing imagery.
x kathrin
Chapter 22,Page 170,Para. 7-
"'Would you mind Handel,for a familiar name? There's a charming piece of music by Handel, called the Harmonious Blacksmith.' ' I should like it very much.'"
What's the deal with Herbert remanaming Pip, just because you don't like someone's name doesn't mean that you can change it. I mean it's not even a nick name or any shape, or form of Phillip. Herbert is a weird kid.
x__kathrin__
Chapter 22,Page. 171,Para. 5-
"'Now,' he pursued, 'concerning Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham, you must know, was a spoilt child. Her mother died when she was a baby, and her father denied her nothing..."
Well, now we know where the money comes from and why she acts like a spoiled two year old, but we still don't know why she's still in her wedding dress, what happened on her big day that she won't live down.
x_kathrin
Chapter 22,Page 173,Para. 3-5-
"'..The marriage day was fixed, the wedding dresses were bought, the wedding tour was planned out, the wedding guests were invited. The day came, but not the bridegroom. He wrote her a letter-' 'Which she recieved,' I struck in,'when she was dressing for her marriage? At twenty minutes to nine?' 'At the hour and minute,' said Herbert, nodding 'at which she afterwards stopped all the clocks..'"
Oooohh.. now i get it. Well i prosumed before that something happened around the time of her wedding, at the time that the clocks were all stopped on, but now i know for sure, that she was left by some poser gentleman who feasted upon her soul and left her in shambles. Jerk.
..kathrin..
"Then the time comes," said Herbert, "when you see your opening. And you go in, and you swoop upon it and you make your capital, and then there you are! When you have once made your capital, you have nothing to do but employ it."
Pg. 201 Paragraph 4
This is an interesting passage. it shows you Herbert's mindset. He can see the big picture. This shows us that he is a good teacher because he understands how to make money. He also realizes why you would want to make money. This knowledge is very important to have in the crazy odyssey known as life. It also unleashes some of Herberts character.
"He was a young-looking man, in spite of his perplexitites and his very grey hair, and his manner seemed quite natural. I use the word natural in the sense of its being unaffected."
Pg. 205 Paragraph 1
The fact that he would describe someone as young when they have grey hair is very interesting. He(Dickens) is in a way genius, but also stupid. He describes someone as young, but has grey hair and perplexities. This makes the argument of the character actually being old. Somehow Dickens is able to pull it off. I believe that this is what makes his genius.
"Mr. Pocket took me into the house and showed me my room; which was a pleasant one, and so furnished as that I could use it with comfort for my own private sitting-room."
Pg. 206 Paragraph 3
This passage makes me feel a warm room. It paints me a picture of a perfect room in the city. I see nice furniture with a comfortable bed drapped with a canopy for warmth. I also see a warm fireplace where conversations of life and capital are frequent. This is a simple, but beautiful picture. This again shows Dickens genius as a writer and a member of the work force.
"I had begun to work in earnest, it occurred to me that if I could retain my bedroom in Barnard's Inn, my life would be agreeably varied, while my manners did not object to this arrangement, but urged that before any step could possibly be taken in it, it must be submitted to my guardian."
Pg. 215 Paragraph: 1
Pip is weak. He is weak in every way. He leans on others wherever he goes. He often dreams of being strong and being different, but he is not. He has no gumption whatsoever. He is a little fish in a big bowl. He has no ability to fit in, make friends and please people. Without these attributes he has no chance of becoming different. He has no chance of becoming the man. The man with the mansion. The man with the lady. The man with the power.
"We dived into the City, and came up in crowded police court, where a blood relation (in the murderous sense) of the deceased with the fanciful taste in brooches was standing at the bar, uncomfortably chewing something"
Pg. 219 Paragraph 7
This is an interesting passage it shows the complete randomness of Dickens. He is also genius. It gets confused in my head. The interesting description of the courtroom is pleasing to the senses. It makes you appreciate Dickens writing, but it also makes you hate it. It shows you why the book is nearly five hundred and a quarter pages long.
"Bently Drummle, who was so sulky a fellow that he even took up a book as if its writer had done him an injury, did not take up an acquaintance in a more agreeable spirit."
Pg. 221 Paragraph 1
This is the best description of a kid in a book I think I've ever read. He describes this perticular kid as hating even books he is reading. He demonstrates right from the get go the anger in the individual. He shows the complete nastiness of his spirits in a quick few sentences. I would stay away from that individual.
"I have an affection for the road yet though it is not so pleasant a road as it was then, formed in the impressibility of untried youth and hope."
Pg. 222 Paragraph 1
This passage jogs memories of younger years in my life. Alex and I would spend endless hours commuting between houses and tree houses. This has built up a love for my neighborhood. It has constructed friendships and allows me to see the beauty in the simplist of things.
"She was a woman of about forty, I supposed--but I may have thought her younger than she was. Rather tall, of a lithe nimble figure, extremely pale, with large faded eyes, and a quantity of streaming hair. I cannot say whether any diseased affection of the heart caused her lips to be parted as if she were panting, her face to bear a curious expression of suddenness and flutter, but I know that I had been to see Macbeth at the theatre a night or two before, and that her face looked to me as if it were two before"
Pg. 231 Paragraph 4
Why is he describing in detail the maid. I see no purpose for this stupid in depth description of the maid. Unless she is another possible suitor for weak young Pip. This is a pointless description which is unnecissary for the story so far. It seems that she is not going to become a main character, and yet he spends an entire paragraph with her.
Chapter 22,Page 179,Para. 7-
"Mrs. Pocket acted on the advice, and inexpertly danced the infant a little in her lap, while the other children played about it. This had lasted but a very short time, when Mrs. Pocket issued summary orders that they were all to be taken into the house for a nap. Thus I made the second discovery on that first occasion, that the nurture of the little Pockets consisted of alternately tumbling up an dlying down."
It doesn't look to me that Mrs. Pocket cares much for her kids, that she lets the nursemaids due all the taking care of and that she spends very little time with them. She doesn't come off as being a very good parent.
>>kathrin<<
"Not with pleasure, though I was bound to him by so many ties; no; with considerable disturbance, some mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity."
pg. 237 paragraph 3
This is sad to me. Pip the weakest person in the story has now forgot his friends and family. He has now lost all hope. He thinks that his uncle or old guardian Joe is an inconvenience. He does not want him to visit him in his new home. This shows me that Pip is not only worthless in every way but that he is stupid. How could he get more worthless?
Chapter 23,Page 186&187,Para. 4-1-
"There was a supper-tray after we got home at night, and I think we should all have enjoyed ourselves, but for a rather disagreeable doemstic occurence. Mr Pocket was in good spirits, when a housemaid came in, and said, 'If you please, sir, I should wish to speak to you.' 'Speak to your master?' said Mrs. Pocket, whose dignity was roused again. 'How can you think of such a thing? Go and speak to Flpson. Or speak to me--at some other time.'"
Woah, can you say rude. Mrs. Pocket just needs to take a chill pill, i think that she is too high on herself, thinking that she is above everyone else, almost like Estella was treating Pip, and Pip with Biddy.
||kathrin||
Chapter 23,Page 185, Para. 6-
"'Belinda,' remonstrated Mr. Pocket, from the other end of the table, 'how can you be so unreasonable? Jane only interfered for the protection of baby.' 'I will not allow anybody to interfere,' said Mrs. Pocket. 'I am surprised, Matthew, that you should expose me to the affront of interference.' 'Good God!' cried Mr. Pocket, in an outbreak of desolate desperation. 'Are infants to be nutcrackered into their tombs, and is nobody to same them?'"
I like Mr. Pocket already. He is willing to stand up to Mrs. Pocket when he knows she's being unreasonable and acting as if the kids are nothing and that she knows best, after seeing how she handled the baby, she doesn't have a clue. Mr. Pocket reminds me of Biddy and how she is willing to stand up to Pip, when he's being a jerk.
kathrin
"It was easy to make sure that as yet he knew me no more than if he had never seen me in his life. he looked across at me, and his eye appraised my watch-chain, and then he incidentally spat and said something to the other convict, and they laughed and slued."
Pg. 247 Paragraph 2
This is an interesting passage. It shows me the simplicity of the book and the plot at the same time. It is a beautiful vision of how different people look at you. It shows you a beautiful picture of a mans look. This again demonstrates the pure genius in dickens writing.
Chapter 23,Page 187,Para. 11-
"'Am I, grandpaa's granddaughter,to be nothing in the house?' said Mrs. Pocket."
As if she doesn't use that excuse to get out of everything else. She's used that like three times already in this chapter and it's like she thinks that because her dead grandaddy had a title, it means that she is entitled to everything and that she is belle of the ball, always, and anyone who challenges her authority will be guillotined.
kathrin
"It was too early yet to go to Miss Havisham's, so I loitered into the country on Miss Havisham's side of town--which was not Joe's side; I could go there tomorrow thinking about my patroness, and painting brilliant pictures of her plans for me."
Pg. 252 Paragraph 1
This passage leads into his dreaming of what could be for him and Estella he beleives that Miss Havisham had brought the two together. She had her only reasoning for bringing them together was to destroy Pip. She was a horrible women at heart.
He always carried (I have not yet mentioned it, I think) a pocket-handkerchief of rich silk and of imposing proportions wich was of great value to him in his profession.
Pg. 261 Paragraph 3
This is a worthless passage. I do not understand why there is a passage about the fact that he owns an expensive handkerchief that is useful in his proffession. What in the world would we want to know that for. I do not understand why we would want to know that.
Chapter 24,Page, 191,Para. 4-
"'These,' said Wemmick, getting upon the chair, and blowing the dust off the horrible heads before bringing them down. 'These are two celebrated ones. Famous clients of ours that got us a world of credit. This chap (why you must have come down in the night and been peeping into the inkstand, to get this blot upon your eyebrow, you old rascal!) murdered his master, and, considering that he wasn't brought up to evidence, didn't plan it badly.' 'Is it like him?' I asked, recoiling from the brute, as Wemmick spat upon his eyebrow and gave it a rub with his sleeve."
Wemmick is frickin weird, who does that? Talks to a dead head in the first place and then cleans it. All the while holding it, the actual dead head of one of his clients. I'm sorry i know that people in this time did a lot of things that we may not consider to be acceptble, but that's just weird.
x_x kathrin
"If there had been time, I should probably have ordered several suits of clothes for this occasion; but as there was not, I was fain to be content with those I had."
Pg. 280 Paragraph 3
It is quite amazing to me to see what us men will do for a women. We will need her. We will want her. We will even wait on her. Men that would never get dressed up for anything somehow clean up. If it is in the name of a lady then the possibilities are endless. We will change our entire way of life(Great Expectations) if it is in the name of a dame.
"Yah!" said Wemmick, touching me on the breast with his forefinger; "you're a deep one, Mr. Pip! would you like to have a look at Newgate? Have you time to spare.
Pg. 281 Paragraph 5
This makes me think of the movies Supertroopers and Beerfest. It makes me think that Wemmick is actually German and has a funny accent. The only reason is because of the Yah, but this passage makes me laugh at the sure bipolarness of Wemmick.
"It struck me that Wemmick walked among the prisoners as a gardener might walk among his plants."
Pg. 282 Paragraph 2
It is an interesting comparison that the author creates in this passage. It sticks out and stands alone. It reveals the character of Wemmick in a way that has been thought about, but not supported yet in the story it works well.
"In her furred travelling-dress Estella seemed more delicately beautiful than she had ever seemed yet, even in my eyes. Her manner was more winning than she had cared to let it be to me before, and I thought I saw Miss Havisham's influence in the change."
Pg. 286 Paragraph 1
Miss Havisham's influence is corrupt. She has made Estella into a horrible person. She has made Estella a man eating nasty person. She is prim and proper and has no reguard for anyone else's feelings. The way she dresses directly correlates to this.
"Oh yes, you are to see me; you are to come when you think proper; you are to be mentioned to the family indeed, you are already mentioned."
Pg. 291 Paragraph 5
She says that she wants him, but he has entered a dangerous area. It is called the friend zone. Robert Downy Jr. touches on it in the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang when he states,"I know see how caring about someone and wanting to F*** them can get messed up in my mind"
This happens to our friend Pip in this section.
"As I had grown accustomed to my expectations, I had insensibly begun to notice their effect upon myself."
Pg 294 Paragraph 1
This is a comment I have wanted Pip to make for sometime now. I realize that Pip has now aged and become a little wise. This shows a great deal in the following chapters at some points. This is an important theme because he finally is realizing what he has been doing to the people that have helped him. Maybe just maybe he will be able to put that to good use.
Chapter 25,Page 198,Para. 6-
"'I am my own engineer, my own carpenter, and my own plumber, and my oven gardener, and my own Jack of all Trades.' said Wemmick."
It's sad to think that Wemmick living in such a small house has to take care of everything, and with an elder being presented, to think he would have to look after them too. I pity him.
kathrin
"It was the first time that a grave had opened in my road of life and the gap it made in the smooth ground was wonderful. The figure of my sister in her chair by the kitchen fire haunted me night and day."
Pg. 301 Paragraph 1
Dickens finally shows Pip's true feelings towards his sister. I think we all know what they say: You don't know what you have 'till it's gone. I think this is another time where that cleashae is true. It is a thing in life that people have a hard time understanding. They don't understand that you should make the most of the time while you have it. Pip learned this lesson the hard way.
"Poor dear Joe, entangled in a little black cloak tied in a large bow under his chin, was seated apart at the upper end of the room; where as chief mourner, he had evidently been stationed by Trabb."
Pg. 302 Paragraph 4
When a person who was close to you that you can read is lost it hurts you. You can tell what they are thinking and how they are feeling. You hurt when you see them hurt. You cry when you see them cry. The saddest thing in this world is to see a loved one mourn this is the hardest thing to endure. It is above all.
Chapter 25,Page 199,Para. 1-
"'This is a pretty pleasure ground, sir. This spot and these beautiful works upon it ought to be kept together by the Nation, after my son's time, for the people's enjoyment.'"
Aww i think this is so cute. I think that elderly people are the cutest and that it is adorable when they talk all quiet, and this passage makes me think of that. It's nice to have something familiar to refer to when reading and being able to picture it, and in this case imagine how it sounds and the way that the old man looks sitting by the fire.
kathrin
Chapter 25,Page 200,Para. 3-
"There was a neat little girl in attendance, who looked after the Aged in the day. When she had laid the supper-cloth, the bridge was lowered to give her the means of egress, and she withdrew for the night."
Well it's good to know that there is someone there to accompany the "Aged" as Wemmick couldn't possibly be able to handle taking care of him all the time, not only would he be exuasted, but he wouldn't give it up, becuase he seems so sweet to the "Aged", being his father and all. He is such a wonderful character it seems.. although still a little weird, that whole talking to the dead heads thing.
kathrin
1. "To my thinking there was something in him that made it hopeless to attempt to diguise him, and the better I dressed him, the more he looked like the slouching fugitive on the marshes. This effect on my anxious fancy was partly referable, no doubt, to his old face and manner growing more familiar to me; but i believed too, that he dragged one of his legs as if there were still a weight of iron on it, and that from head to foot there was covict in the very grain of the man." page 356-357, chapter 40
Once again, the theme of trying to hide who you are comes up in this book. Who you are is compared to the grain in wood. The grain will never change, no matter what is painted or stained onto it. When Pip is trying to hide the convict's identity, he tries to do so with expensive clothing, but he finds that the more he attempts to conceal the identity, the more the identity is revealed. If people are trying to be someone else, most of the time it is pretty obvious. The more layers of secrecy that are added, the more exposed people become.
tara
2. "'I know'd my name to be Magwitch, chrisen'd Abel. How did I know it? Much as I know'd the birds' names in the hedges to be chaffinch, sparrer, thrush. I might have thought it was all lies together, only as the birds' names come out true, I supposed mine did.'" Page 366, chapter 41
I can't imagine basing a judgment of my identity on the names of birds! Provis seems to have gone through life sure of who he was, but based on very inconsistent reasons. I wonder if it makes him stronger. It would be pretty cool going through life creating yourself from scratch, going off only your opinion and your thoughts. A lot of times, people go through life basing their opinions and thoughts off of the people that surround them. I am sure that Provis is more in touch with who he truly is for these reasons.
tara
3. "'When we was put in the dock, I noticed first of all what a gentlemen Compeyson looked, wi' his curly hair and his black clothes and his white pocket-handkercher, and what a common sort of wretch I looked….'My lord and gentlemen, here you has afore you, side by side, two persons as your eyes can separate wide; one, the younger, well brought up, who will be spoke to as such; one, the elder, ill brought up, who will be spoke to as such; one, the younger, seldom if ever seen in these transactions, and only suspected; t'other, the elder, always seen in 'em and always wi' his guilt brought home." Page 371, chapter 41
Provis' trial reminds me of celebrity trials. Many decisions are made based upon status. Some things may even be overlooked because the person is a celebrity. This is very unjust. The law is the law, and it applies to anyone and everyone, no matter their status. People can look at the appearance of someone and right then and there make their judgment. That person doesn't have a fighting chance. Provis did not deserve to have the crime pinned completely on him, especially considering the fact that the only reason that did occur was because of the two men's difference in upbringing.
tara
Oops!! my number 2 and 3 entries were not from chapter 41, but chapter 42!! my bad.
tara
4. "Young Havisham's name was Arthur. Compeyson is the man who professed to be Miss Havisham's lover." Page 373, chapter 42
It's a small world after all…! This book is becoming more and more interconnected by the chapter!! When I read this passage I could not believe it. It is so crazy when you think you know something about someone; you think you've got it all figured out. Then, suddenly you are exposed to an entirely different quality and you find that the person or thing you thought you knew didn't even exist in the first place!
tara
5. "'I did. Why, they would have it so! So would you. What has been my history that I should be at the pains of entreating either them or you not to have it so! You made your snares. I never made them.'" Page 382, chapter 44
For the longest time, Pip has been avoiding the fact that he is the one who makes his decisions. He is always saying What if so-and-so had not invited me to do this?. He seems to have trouble accepting responsibility for his actions. This may be because sometimes we do not recognize our decisions because our motives are a part of who we are, and we cannot distinguish the difference between the two. This may be a turning point for Pip; realizing that he is responsible for his decisions, his life.
tara
6. "'I should have said this sooner, but for my long mistake. It induced me to hope that Miss Havisham meant us for one another. While I thought you could not help yourself, as it were, I refrained from saying it. But I must say it now.'" Page 383, chapter 44
Pip had never told Estella that he loved her because he thought that it would mean nothing since they were going to be together anyway. When he finds out that that is the case, he finds the courage to tell her how he really feels. So many things in life are ruined with assumptions. If Pip had not assumed, then maybe he could have told Estella sooner. A lot of times I assume things that turn out to be completely wrong, but I certainly learn, and I think Pip is learning also.
tara
7. "'When you say you love me, I know what you mean as a form of words, but nothing more. You address nothing in my breast, you touch nothing there. I don't care for what you say at all. I have tried to warn you of this, now, have I not?'" page 384, chapter 44
It takes two people for true love to exist. Love is when two people give of themselves. Pip has obviously tried, but Estella has not. It is so weird to me that Estella is saying this to Pip because it actually makes sense to me. I never really understood her or what she was trying to say. Pip's feelings are not reciprocated. Pip wants to be in love, but he just so happens to be one person short.
tara
8. "'Miss Havisham gives you to him as the greatest slight and injury that could be done to the many far better men who admire you, and to the few who truly love you. Among those few, there may be one who loves you even as dearly, though he has not loved you as long as I. Take him, and I can bear it better for your sake!'" page 385, chapter 44
This reminds me of a part from the movie Hitch when Hitch first meets Albert and Albert says that he wakes up in the morning, knowing that the person he loves is waking up with the wrong man, but even thought that hurts him, he still wants her to be happy so if that is the only way, then he is ok with that. Pip is saying that although he knows that he would be the best for Estella, he would rather her marry a better guy than Drummle so that at least she would be happy.
tara
9. "'Out of my thoughts! You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough and common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since - on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with….Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but to remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil.'" Page 386, chapter 44
In this passage I see to what extent Pip really loves Estella. Estella is so much a part of who he is, that he can hardly separate the two. He sees her in everything he looks at. She is a part of him in every way imaginable. I don’t understand why Estella can't see how good Pip really is for her. Maybe Pip was right in that Miss Havisham is making her marry Drummle just to break all the other men's hearts. How can Estella live such a life? That is the only life she has ever known. I constantly wonder what Estella would be like if she was brought up by someone other than Miss Havisham.
tara
10. "Herbert had sometimes said to me that he found it pleasant to stand at one of our windows after dark, when the tide was running down, and to think that it was flowing, with everything it bore, towards Clara. But I thought with dread that it was flowing towards Magwitch, and that any black mark on its surface might be his pursuers, going swiftly, silently, and surely to take him." Page 403, chapter 46
It is amazing how different Pip and Herbert see the river. Herbert is always thinking of Clara, while Pip is always thinking of Provis (Magwitch). Their perspectives of the river differ immensely because of the main things that weigh upon their minds.
tara
11. "By the wilderness of casks that I had walked on long ago, and on which the rain of years had fallen since, rotting the in many places, and leaving miniature swamps and pools of water upon those that stood on end, I made my way to the ruined garden. I went all around it; round by the corner where Herbert and I had fought our battle; round by the paths where Estella and I had walked. So cold, so lonely, so dreary all!" page 425, chapter 49
A great expression of time takes place in this passage. I feel like I jumped back about thirty chapters back into the fight with the "pale young gentlemen", or the kiss awarded out of pity. The house seems so incredibly empty without Estella, and I can't quite explain why. There is no one to criticize or hurt Pip. That part of Pip, that part that criticizes and swindles, is also gone. Part of Pip is gone, along with the absence of Estella.
tara
12. "'I know I am quite myself. And the man we have in hiding down the river is Estella's father.'" Page 433, chapter 50
I cannot believe this!! Never in a million years did the thought even occur to me that Provis was Estella's father. If there was only one reason for liking this book, it would be the unexpected surprises.
tara
"I would sit and look at him, wondering what he had done, and loading him with all the crimes in the calendar, until the impulse was powerful on me to start up and run."
Chapter 40 pg. 362
What should Pip do with Provis? If Provis has committed a crime is it Pip's duty to turn him in. Was Provis framed? If somebody you knew had committed a crime, but had always been nice to you and stuck-up for you, would you turn them in?
"'Muzzled I have been since that half a minute when I was betrayed into lowness, muzzled I am at the present time, muzzled I ever will be.'"
Chapter 41 pg. 365
Ever since Provis was betrayed he has been muzzled. Muzzled as in softened. He has started to treat others gently after he was betrayed. He will never hurt Pip or Handel and he will never betray anyone. Sometimes we become kind to others only after someone has done us a great hurt.
"'Then.'" said I, "'after all, stopping short here, never taking another penny from him, thik what I owe him already! Then again, I am heavily in debt-very heavily for me, who have now no expectations-and I have been bred to no calling, and am fit for nothing.'"
Chapter 41 pg. 367
What you you do if you were in Pip's place. You have no money, are heavily in debt, and have no occupation or any sort of knowledge in any job field. Then a stranger offers you enough money to get you out of debt and get you started again. You don't now how he got the money, he could have stolen it. What is Pip to do?
"two persons as your eyes can separate wide; one, the younger, well brought up, who will be spoke to as such; one, the elder, ill brought up, who will be spoke to as such..."
Chapter 42 pg. 376
Since the beginnings of time humans have never seen each other as equals. There are always those who belive they are above others. The English justice system at the time of Provis' case was very biased and often did not use evidence to incriminate people. I don't know how Provis is so calm nowadays after he was setup and framed.
"Young Havisham's name was Arthur. Compeyson is the man who professed to be Miss Havisham's lover."
Chapter 42 pg. 378
It all makes sense now. All but one thing. Who are Estella's parents? I think that when Pip finds out he will be able to talk to Estella and maybe even get to know her better.
"'Take him, and I can bear it better for your sake!'"
Chapter 44 pg. 390
Pip must truly love Estella. For the first time he want what is better for her even if it means that she will not be with him. If only Estella could see the damage she is doing to Pip's heart. She could help him but not before she finds her true heart.
"You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with."
Chapter 44 pg. 391
Why can't Pip let go? Estella has proven over and over that she is not for him. Why can't he let go and move on? Is he really in love with her, or does he see something else in her? She appears to be completly unsensitive and heartless.
Post a Comment