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Analysis

GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer of nineteenth century. His novels and short stories are still widely read today. Among his best-known works are «The Pickwick Papers», «Oliver Twist» «Nicholas Nickleby» «A Christmas Carol» «David Copperfield» «Bleak House» «Little Dorrit» «A Tale of Two Cities» and of course «Great Expectations».

«Great Expectations» is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1860. The main character of the novel is an orphan named Pip. The genre features of the novel are located in the plane of a classic work of the era of realism, generously flavored with original English humor and some bit of European sentimentality.

In chapter 39, the author shows us a restless night when there is a knock on the door. Pip was planning to read the book until 11 a.m. when he suddenly heard footsteps. Pip thought it was the ghost of his dead sister. But suddenly he heard a knock on the door and realized that it was a man. The visitor is a stranger to Pip. Pip invites him in. He seemed rather strange to Pip. But suddenly he realizes that it is a convict. He helped him get away from the chase when he was a little boy. It turned out that the convict secretly helped the boy was Pip's mysterious benefactor. He worked for many years and sent all his money to Pip to make him a gentleman. This discovery is a terrible blow to Pip, for all his great expectations are shattered in an instant.

The main idea of the passage can be described in one sentence : «Happy is the one who, having rushed through time and trials of dreams, managed to realize them.» The convict through his thorny path was able to earn money and raise a boy. No wonder he says, " I made you a gentleman." There are several problems. This is both a problem of upbringing and a problem of inequality and hypocritical relations. After all, for a boy, the money of a convict is dirty, and this is where we see the problem of arrogance.

The chapter can be divided into three logically complete parts. The first part is an introduction, a brief description of the weather and some anxiety of the main character. Pip reads his book, intending to close it at eleven o'clock. When he closes it, many churches strike at this hour. The sound of the clock has a symbolic meaning, since it means an impending catastrophe or some kind of danger. The second part is a stranger in Pip's house, a conversation between them. As Pip says “Why do you, a stranger coming into my rooms at this time of the night, ask that question?”  the detachment in the question displays Boy’s dislike for a visitor. The third part, a flash in Pip's memory is a convict visitor whom Pip helped as a child. « I relinquished the intention he had detected, for I knew him! Even yet I could not recall a single feature, but I knew him! I could not have known my convict more distinctly than I knew him now. I knew him before he gave me one of those aids.» Parts can be named. The first is «Alarm steps». The second is «Flash in memory», the third is «The collapse of great expectations or The convict is Pip's benefactor»

The atmosphere of the chapter is conveyed from the first lines of the book. Inversion “So furious had been the guests” intensify the feeling of gloom and fear, which creates by author. Epithets related to nature: wet, gloomy, wretched, furious, stormy, violent; metaphors: rages of the wind, support the emotional impact of the paragraph. The metonymy «I heard a footstep on the stair» continues the atmosphere of growing suspense. Pip talks about the unknown steps as if they belonged to his dead sister. And this once again confirms the atmosphere of tension.

After we read about the bad weather and Pip's fear, a brief description of the stranger is given «That he had a long iron-grey hair. That his age was about sixty. That he was a muscular man, strong on his legs, and that he was browned and hardened by exposure to weather». The man admires Pip and is very happy to meet him , but Pip is not happy , the catch repetition also illustrate admiration for a boy « even at the table he looks with the strangest air – an air of wondering pleasure, as if he has some part in the things he admires». Pip suspects him to be mad. The stranger says «after having looked forward so distant, and come so fur; but you are not to blame for that – nether on us is to blame for that. I’ll speak in half a minute. Give me half a minute, please». The author compares the characters, even through such a low colloquial syntax and morphology given in the last quote. Through the manner of speech and behavior. Suddenly, Pip finds out the man : «I relinquished the intention he had detected, for I knew him! Even yet I could not recall a single feature, but I knew him! I could not have known my convict more distinctly than I knew him now. I knew him before he gave me one of those aids.»

Answering the question why the life of the convict was sacrificed, it should be noted that the convict worked and sent all the money to Pip, which for the orphan boy was a large fortune.

As you read the conversation between them, it should be noted that the manner of behavior is different. The convict behaves himself tougher, which is proved by antithesis “He put a foot up to the bars, to dry and warm it, and the wet boot began to steam; but he neither looked at it, nor at the fire, but steadily looked at me.” Pip is afraid of the convict and begins to tremble “When my lips had parted, and had shaped some words that were without sound, I forced myself to tell him (though I could not do it distinctly)”. He’s unable to control himself.

The last paragraph is a confession, a story of the convict, expressed in parallel constructions: «  I swore that time, sure as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you. I swore afterwards, sure as ever I speculated and got rich, you should get rich. »

The author masterfully conveyed the relationship between a convict and a boy. Reflected the convict's kindness to the boy. In my opinion, the main theme of the book is the theme of upbringing. People of the upper strata of society live more easily and comfortably than ordinary workers, but the latter are in fact more sincere, honest and kind. In any case, after reading this small chapter, there is a great desire to learn more about the work of Dickens and read the novel in full.