Charles Dickens Great Expectations Essay -- Charles Dickens Great Exp

Charles Dickens Great ExpectationsChapter one of the novel Great Expectations opens in a bleak andovergrown churchyard on the eerie marsh country. Here we areintroduced to post, as a young and nave boy, and we discover he isalso an orphan, who lives with sister and her husband the blacksmith,in a small village a mile or more from the church.Whilst Pip is in the churchyard, he meets an escaped convict,Magwitch, whom Pip gives food to, and this encounter remains poignantin both their lives, as Pip goes on to receive the opportunity tobecome a gentleman, from a mysterious benefactor, and he abandons hisfriends and family for his Great Expectations and his Londonlifestyle.The desolate choice of setting and location for the suck of the novelare relevant to Pips unhappy childhood. Dickens uses negativedescriptions such as bleak place overgrown with nettles to create avivid and miserable image in the readers mind. At once it becomesobvious that Pips tale is non going to be a cheery or pleasant one-more the reverse, as his surroundings are described with moredepressing phrases including dark flat wilderness, to describe themarshes and land beyond the churchyard, and distant savage lair, toemphasise the fierceness of the sea. We get the impression of anisolated, wild and barren marshland, and feel sorry for the poor youngboy allow out with nobody with him.We are told that Pip never saw his father or his mother, and told alsothat he childishly derived what they may have looked like from thecoming into court of their tombstones. Pip evidently felt alone and desertedat this time, as we see him in the churchyard visiting his parentsgraves, and looking at the five itty-bitty stone... ...gers that finish off each chapter.The fact that Magwitch is introduced to Pip in the first chapter isappealing for the reader, as this creates curiosity in wanting to knowwhat is going to draw to Pip, and what is to become of Magwitch. Thereader is persuaded to read on to discover out also whether Pip obeysMagwitch, and how Pip completes his task. Also, because we feel sorryfor the poor boy, we are curious to find out the outcome of his lifeand whether it gets any better.Overall, Chapter one of the novel Great Expectations provides us withsufficient information about Pip to know that he is not going to growup in a loving and caring environment, as we find out that he is anorphan, who lives with his sister and her husband, in a stiff andunloving household, and is let out alone in a deserted churchyardvisiting his parents graves one evening.