Great Expectations Essay Example For Students

Great Expectations Essay There are many common, familiar cliches about illusion versus truth. All that glitters is not gold and Things are seldom what they seem are the most universal hackneyed phrases, but they do not cover entirely every aspect of appearance versus reality. In Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations, there are several differences between the illusion and the truth. The appearance of certain things is often detrimental to the outcomes of characters when the reality of a situation is revealed. These illusions are revealed through Pip, a lower class boy caught in the struggle of the social classes of 19th century England. Throughout the book, Charles Dickens emphasizes the difference between appearance and reality through Pips expectations of something better, social status, and settings in the book. By setting the scene here the author, Dickens, has been able to link it greatly to both Pip and Magwitch, as both of them are scared, neglected and lonely just like the graveyard. Dickens has been very clever in the way that he creates and builds up the whole of the scene. Placing Pip at the bottom of it all, he makes the setting seem so big and heavy against this small young boy, implying that it would be far too great for young Pip to handle. In conclusion I feel the opening chapter of Great Expectations is every effective as Dickens has cleverly told the novel as Pip remembering his childhood experience, and does a very good job of making the reader read further into the novel as it leaves the first chapter on a climax, with this young orphan boy becoming friends with an escaped convict. By Pip becoming friends with Magwitch it shows that there may be some hope later on in the novel for both characters. The beacon in the first chapter could symbolise the light at the end of the tunnel for both characters. This storyline makes the novel very unique in its own way and as Dickens cleverly describes each character to judge the way the reader will feel about each character in particular. We feel the sympathy and empathy for the young orphan Pip and want to find out how his encounter with Magwitch will later change his life but at the same time we wonder how the convicts encounter with the orphan who could have possible saved his life changed his thoughts on the world. It makes the read wonder weather the two will later meet again in the story and what effects it will have. Overall the first chapter of the novel is able to hook the reader with its description of the characters and the way Dickens sets the setting, by creating the kind of atmosphere that he does the reader is interested to find out why, on Christmas Eve, the young orphan wonders alone to have such an ordeal with such an animal like man, who will later change Pips life, forever. It is evident that the opening of Great Expectations is an extremely effective piece of writing and a thrilling and compelling story. By the end of the opening you can clearly see that Pip is no longer scared of Magwitch and the young, nae Pip that there was in the very beginning is starting to grow just like the title Great Expectations suggests. I conclude that by the language Dickens has used to create two realistic and believable characters, and by the way he makes the setting stand off the page that Great Expectations can only get better. And as the title suggests we can only come to expect great things from that small bundle of shivers Pip.