1) What does he see? What kind of people does he meet? What does he think? What words and phrases does Dickens use to describe this place?
2) Draw a conclusion about what impression Dickens want to create of London.....the place where Pip is to become a gentleman and improve his station in life.
Wemmick (Jagger's clerk) escorts Pip to Barnard's Inn where he will be staying with "young Mr. Pocket". Where have we seen this name before? Dickens is famous for introducing a character who promptly disappears, only to reappear later in the story.
3) What do we think of Wemmick? And what are mourning rings? Pip thinks Wemmick has "sustained a good many bereavements". This is not the case. Where do you think Wemmick gets the mourning rings from?
4) Pip's impression of Barnard's Inn is no better than London. How does he view it?
2) Dickens has created a very unappealing image of London. It is described as having "hot exhausted air... [and] being all asmear with filth and fat and blood and bone" (Dickens 180). Dickens also included the character of a drunken minister of justice. The minister proceeds to give Pip a tour of the many ways a person could be punished legally in london, including being hanged and being "publicly whipped"(181). Dickens creates the sense that London is dirty and that death and cruel punishment are not just commonplace but sources of amusement as well. Finally, we also see that this idea comes into Pips mind as well, as this tour gives him a "sickening idea of London"(181). Pip has finally made it in life, and the city he has so often thought of has turned out to be immoral and sickly.
ReplyDeleteI like your use of the word "immoral" What gives you this impression?
DeleteThe way the minister of justice describes the way the people are whipped and hanged in the same way that a tour guide might describe various tourist attractions is very immoral. It shows us that to the people of London, the taking of life is, under the right circumstances, entertaining. People go out of their way to see someone die. Now, it could be argued that the minister of justice has just seen to much death, and that the only way to cope with it is by not thinking about it in such an emotional way, but that is simply not the case. The fact that the minister is even touring the complex with Pip shows us that, even in an impaired state, the minister ascribes some small piece of pride to this place. The fact that most people in London love seeing people die colours London in an incredibly immoral light.
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