1. Briefly summarize the plot of
the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past
courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.). Explain how the narrative
fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of
same).
So I think the
narrative fulfills the author’s purpose by exposing us to the truth about
materialism and how it affects our relationships with people. I have a notion
that every novel Dickens writes correlates to some event that happens in his life.
Starting with the basic plot line, the exposition lasts up until the point of
Pip’s sister getting terribly beaten. In the meantime, before the end of the
exposition, he helps out a convict by giving him food and stealing Joe’s
picket(or some tool like that) to help him survive. The inciting incident would
then have to be when Pip’s sister gets injured. Pip was supposed to apprentice
for Joe but instead went under the hand of Miss Havisham. The climax of the
book would be considered as to when Pip starts putting all the pieces together
and realizes Estella’s mother and father, and finds out that she is not
marrying him. He also breaks down the walls of Miss Havisham, who acts cold
hearted and relentless in the beginning. Last but not least, falling action
would have to be when Pip meets back with Magwitch.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of
the novel. Avoid cliches.
I believe the theme of the novel
would have to be that materialism should not determine who and what you love.
False expectations are granted with the idea of money and such, which leads to
unused depth of loved ones. I could go cliché and say money can’t buy love, or
money can’t buy you the world, but I’m supposed to avoid being cliché.
3. Describe the author's tone.
Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The author’s tone for the most of
the book had to be
4. Describe a minimum of ten
literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding
of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For
each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your
readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
Pg. 20 “… Ghost in Hamlet” the purpose of using this allusion
is to help the readers understand the time period this book was written in.
There’s also another allusion to Noah’s Arc to create a comparison of size.
Pg. 59 “..and that I wished I was
not a common” Dickens uses connotations to attach meanings of disparity
and ruefulness to ones natural born status. To be a common was a negative
connotation during this time because it meant you did not have money. Since a
theme of Great Expectations deals
with materialism, this negative connotation paints a picture in the readers
head about what a commoner would be like.
Pg. 108 “… as if Time in that
mysterious place…” So I don’t really know the particular literary device that
is used when capitalizing the T in the time but I found it quite unusual that
Charles did. It was as if he is stating that Time is another character in the
story and plays an important role to what is happening. I think that Dickens
chose to capitalize Time because that is the only thing that Miss Havisham has
to live with, because she was left at the alter and her house is left just as
if it was yesterday she was getting married.
Pg. 176 “…it was cut out and
painted like a battery mounted with guns” This is a highly unusual description
to a cottage because cottages are supposed to be homely and small, not so
aggressive. Dickens’s uses similes to create images and setting in the readers.
Pg.
183 “I’ll show you a wrist” Dickens’s creates this scene of Mr Jaggers
and his house maid getting almost into a conflict where Mr Jaggers clearly has
power over her. The dialogue used makes the readers question what
significance the maid is to the story.
Pg. 206 “…love her, love her, love
her!” This anaphora used to describe what Pip should do to Estella
really catches the readers’ attentions because in this scene Miss Havisham is
setting Pip up for failure. She is saying that even if Pip does get screwed
over, love Estella until he can’t anymore. The fact that Dickens’s choses to
say love repeatedly is also interesting because love is a very heavy subject and
corrollates negatively with materialism, which Estella is made from.
Pg. 212 “…most elegant and
beautiful creature” In this passage Pip is talking about Estella. At first it’s
very romantic until it comes to the part beautiful creature. This is an example
of a juxtaposition. Creatures have a connotation of being wild, or out
of the ordinary and odd. When Dickens’s puts beautiful creature together, he is
essentially saying as ugly as she can be, she has beauty deep inside her. Two
words that are opposites but really capture the essence of what Estella is.
Pg. 240 “Which I meantersay, Pip” dialect
is a highly used strategy through out the book. The reason being is that it
signifies education and class status. Characters with eloquent speech can be
deemed as having an education and characters with dialect that is seen as lower class are displayed as
characters who cannot speak well. This is important in this book to impose
Dickens’s idea of expectations of the high class and social status of what
money and materialism can do.
Pg. 258 “… I must give on chapter to
Estella” breaking down the fourth wall is seen in this sentence. The
readers get a sense of Estella’s important to Pip and the meaning of her
character to the author (Charles Dickens). I think he did this so that the
readers don’t forget why he wrote the novel.
Pg. 312 “Don’t go home!” This is an
obvious example of foreshadowing, which readers can infer that something
tragic may be up ahead.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct
characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does
the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression
of the character as a result)?
I think the author uses both
approaches of direct and indirect characterization to get the readers to look
at the characters at a different point of view. He uses direct characterization
to deliver first impressions of what the reader might have of the character and
to develop initial thoughts. But the use of indirect characterization creates
subtle character distinctions and pondering to why a character might act the
way they do. For example Miss Havisham is first presented as a women who is
heartless and cold because of being left at The Alter. Her actions such as
adopting Estella to be her resentment and revenge on men show her weakness
towards living her own life and accepting. Another direct characterization is when
Dickens describes Estella and her beauty to Pip. The obvious reaction given by
Estella left a lasting impression on Pip, which would foreshadow her meaning to
him. It also displays the difference of the love for Estella compared to why he
could not love Biddy.
2. Does the author's syntax and/or
diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The author’s syntax/ diction
actually does change when they focus on a character. For example, Pip is
actually rescued from his desperate means of a home and is adopted and raised
to be proper and gentlemen like. This form of character development can be seen
through his dialogue. Pip was actively engaged in his learning and the progress
from farm dialect to high-class society dialect is the example of diction
change.
3. Is the protagonist static or
dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
The protagonist is almost
99.9999999999% round. How so is that he develops his character through out the
story as he goes through rapid changes in society and internally. He is also
dynamic because as mentioned above, he changes to what happens to him. Through
the adoption, schooling, money, love, hate, death, and such, he continues to
learn more about himself and what he was meant to do in life.
4. After reading the book did you
come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze
one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
One textual example is when Pip
comes back to see Miss Havisham after figuring out who Estella’s parents are.
She also severely burns herself in this scene and starts going hysterical and
saying “What have I become and what have I done”.
Dickens’s books are not my cup of
tea particularly so for the most part I felt like I read a character. BUT there
are some points in particularly where I just wanted to know what happened or
what will happen between two characters like Estella and Pip. For some odd
reason, I did relate sometimes to Miss Havisham (have a shame if you analyze
it). Mainly because I know how she feels in a perculiar way, other times
because the heartless acts and resentment remind me of myself today and how I
should move on.
