1) What do you think about the way Pip describes Biddy? How DOES he really feel about her? How does Biddy feel about Pip based on her behavior and their conversation? Does she like him? How does Estella fit into the equation? What's with Pip's relationships?????
2) How many references to ships in the sea can you find in this chapter? (Remember that repetition of elements are important in literature!) Quote them. Can you draw any conclusions?
1) At the beginning of chapter 17, Pip first describes Biddy to look clean and proper, which signifies that he has interest in her, but replies with her just being common and not beautiful like Estella. Pip goes back and forth with Biddy's qualities, describing her as "pleasent and wholesome and sweet-tempered."(Dickens,125) With that, there is one quality of Biddy that grabs Pip's attention, and that is her eyes. Pip describes them to be thoughtful and attentive eyes that were very pretty.
ReplyDeleteThe reader comes to know that Pip isn't sure how he feels about Biddy because he talks about how she is just common and not beautiful, but at the same time, describes her to look beautiful when it comes to her eyes and appearance. In reality, Pip likes Biddy but cannot admit to it because of his apparent feelings for Estella. Because of this, Pip tells Biddy that he has feelings for Estella and that he wants to be a gentleman so Estella would approve of him and love him. Biddy reacts to this by telling Pip that he is fine just they way he is and that he should just stay away from Estella because she's having a bad effect on him. An example from text is, "Biddy, I want to be a gentleman." "Pip; but don't you think you are happy as who you are?"(Dickens,128) There is also text where Biddy tells him' "I should think-but you know best-she was not worth gaining over."(Dickens,129) Biddy being so concerned about Pip and his feelings for Estella points out that she in fact likes him and wants him to stay the way that he is.
2) There are 4 references to "the ships" in this chapter, and looking back I found text to 3; "as she looked away at the ships"(Dickens,130), "she had looked at the sailing ships"(129), "Biddy sighed as she looked at the ships sailing on"(128) Everytime this is referred to, either both or individual characters are in silence because of something that has been said. An example is When Pip tells Biddy how he feels about Estella, Biddy looks at the sailing ships.