This novel is considered a Bildungsroman...that's a fancy literary term for a coming-of-age story. Knowing this fact, there are a couple of symbols you should think about connecting to that idea. First, Phillip Pirrip's nickname is Pip. What is a pip, and how is that a symbol of the Bildungsroman? Also, Pip's sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, is married to -- you guessed it -- Joe Gargery, the local blacksmith. How might his profession have something to do with the Bildungsroman genre?
What are your thoughts about the first page and a half or so, especially when it comes to the importance of the background information and the setting?
What do you notice about the language in the dialogue? It changes as each character speaks...what does the language used tell you about each character (Pip and the pirate-looking guy)?
You may want to become friends with a dictionary...a couple of words that stick out to me are "wittles" and "gibbet."
What questions do you have about the opening chapter?
A pip usually refers to a seed, as in an apple pip. This is symbolic of the Bildungsroman, as over time in the story, the main character grows into a new person, much like how an apple pip grows into an apple tree.
ReplyDeleteAs the apple pip changes its name to apple tree as is grows, perhaps Pip will want to go by his full name as he matures.
DeleteAt the beginning of the chapter, Pip remarks on the setting in a lot of detail, talking about thememorable raw afternoon", how the church was "overgrown with nettles", and also remarks on the "dark flat wilderness...[the] scattered cattle...[and] the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing" ( Dickens 9-10). However, at the end of the chapter, the setting is again reflected on, this time in much sparser detail. Instead of a dark flat wilderness, the marsh is only a "long black horizontal line", the savage lair only "row[s] of of long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed"(13). This minimalism is Pips way of coping with the emotional trauma associated with seeing the vast landscape before him, but moreso with the encounter with the man. This chapter is a representation of the Bildungsroman, albeit in a very negative light. At the beginning of the chapter, Pip is afraid of the landscape before him, which shows us how pitifully young he is. However, when he encounters the man, and hears the horrible things said to him, he grows up. The landscape no longer holds wonder or fear for him, just indifference, hence the minimalism. This chapter is the first glance at how Pip grows up.
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