Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Literature Analysis #7
Literature Analysis #7
Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
1. After a long absence, Janie Crawford is now back at Eatonville, Florida. People gossip about her and her young husband, Tea Cake. Her grandmother's wants to marry Janie and finds the perfect fit, Logan Killicks. One day, Joe Starks and Janie flirt and she runs off with him and they get married. They travel to Eatonville where Jody hopes to have a “big voice.” Jody makes some negative comments about Janie's appearance, so she does the same. Jody beats her for making fun of him and their marriage breaks down. Jody gets ill and he soon dies. Janie feels free for the first time in years. Later when she encouters Tea Cake, a man twelve years her junior, Janie is attracted to him. Despite negative gossip people made, she begins dating Tea Cake. Janie marries Tea Cake and leaves town to go with Tea Cake to Jacksonville. A terrible hurricane takes place in the Everglades, and as they flee the rising waters, a rabid dog bites Tea Cake. Tea Cake doesn’t realize the dog’s condition and three weeks later, he falls ill. Tea Cake becomes convinced that Janie is cheating on him. He shoots at Janie, and in order to save herself, she kills him. She is put on trial for murder but all-male jury finds her not guilty.
2. One of the themes in this book is about gender issues. Janie needs to get married to a man so that her life would be safe. This leads to the idea that women are dependent on men to protect them.
3.Hurston’s main tones are celebratory and sympathy of the richness of African-American culture.
4. 1)Allusion: The author makes references to the, Civil War, General Sherman Eatonville, Florida, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Booker T. Washington
2) Metaphor: "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches."
3)Foreshadow: "Nanny sent Janie along with a stern mien, but she dwindled all the rest of the day as she worked. And when she [Nanny] gained the privacy of her own little shack she stayed on her knees so long she forgot she was there herself….Towards morning she muttered, "Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best Ah could do. De rest is left to you." She scuffled up from her knees and fell heavily across the bed. A month later she was dead.
4)Imagery : "She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid."
5)Symbolism: the head-rag Janie wears represents the constraints imposed on women by men in power.
FIRST QUARTER REVIEW
This first quarter has passed soooo quickly! In this class, lit terms, SMART goals, and Dickens have been prevalent .... With the curve ball, 'writing as a spectator sport', keeping us all on our toes. I have completed all of the assigned work and have been collaborating with Chanel and Ashley for our senior project. The days we have free play have been utilized to talk about our SMART goals among our groups. I think that the new, more independent, approach to learning is VERY beneficial and allows each of us to learn in a way that best suits us :)
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Lit Terms 109-the rest
1. Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer ot not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.
Example: "Yes. Why not?"
"Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?"--From Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.
"Are you serious?"
2. Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement toward climax.
3. Romanticism: movement in western culture begining in the eighteenth and pearking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.
Example: Jane Austen's Persuasion; Mansfield Park
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Height
4. Satire: ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of indivduals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.
Example: "The city stopped washing its buses because they kept getting dirty again."
"We should hire illegal immigrants as teachers because that way we can pay them less."
5. Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.
6. Setting: the time and place in whcih events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.
Example: A Tale Of Two Cities-London and Paris 1775-1790
background French Revolution
7. Simile: a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison.
Example: "My stomach is growling like a bear."
"You are as sweet as chocolate."
8. Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage.
Example: "To be or not to be"--Hamlet; Shakespeare
"O conspiracy,
Sham' st thou to show thy dan'rous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O, then by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability:
For if thou path, thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention."
--Brutus
9. Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme.
10. Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking.
Example: narrator
11. Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story.
Example: "All teenagers are rebels."
"All children don't enjoy healthy food."
" Women take forever to do anything."
12. Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character's thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them.
Example: "Such fools we all are, she thought, crossing Victoria Street. For Heaven only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making it up, building it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment afresh; but the veriest frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drink their downfall) do the same; can't be dealt with, she felt positive, by Acts of Parliament for that very reason: they love life. In people's eyes, in the swing, tramp, trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June."
-Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
13. Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.
14. Style: the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.
Example: Jane Austen--romantic; gothic; heroic
F.Scott Fitzgerald--imaginary sentences; american dream
15. Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language.
Example: "Even though the broccoli was covered in cheddar cheese, Emily refused to eat it." (subordinate clause+main clause)
"Unless Kate finished her calculus hw, she will have to suffer during class tomorrow."
16. Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal.
Example: Salvador Dali--The Persistence of Memory
17. Suspension of Disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it.
Example: Spider Man; Super Man
18. Symbol: something which stands for something else; yet has a meaning of its own.
Example: Flag is the symbol of the country.
Red-bloody; The Red Badge Of Courage-the tranformation(fail to success) of Henry Fleming and honor.
19. Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense.
Example: "I see the sound of the car."
"I catch the sound of rain."
20. Synecdoche: another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole.
Example: Wheels-Car
Thread-Clothes
Hand-Worker
21. Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.
22. Theme: main idea of the story; its message(s).
23. Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disaproved: the main idea.
24. Tone: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view.
Example: "Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell."
"Caltholics are always trying to find out if you're Catholic."--Catcher in the Rye:Bitter; Sacrastic; Tough
25. Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; a.k.a. "dry" or "dead pan".
26. Tradegy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusions; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically(fatally) flawed.
27. Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis.
28. Vernacular: everyday speech
29. Voice: the textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's persona.
30. Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history.
Example: "Yes. Why not?"
"Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?"--From Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.
"Are you serious?"
2. Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement toward climax.
3. Romanticism: movement in western culture begining in the eighteenth and pearking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.
Example: Jane Austen's Persuasion; Mansfield Park
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Height
4. Satire: ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of indivduals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.
Example: "The city stopped washing its buses because they kept getting dirty again."
"We should hire illegal immigrants as teachers because that way we can pay them less."
5. Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.
6. Setting: the time and place in whcih events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.
Example: A Tale Of Two Cities-London and Paris 1775-1790
background French Revolution
7. Simile: a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison.
Example: "My stomach is growling like a bear."
"You are as sweet as chocolate."
8. Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage.
Example: "To be or not to be"--Hamlet; Shakespeare
"O conspiracy,
Sham' st thou to show thy dan'rous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O, then by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability:
For if thou path, thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention."
--Brutus
9. Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme.
10. Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking.
Example: narrator
11. Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story.
Example: "All teenagers are rebels."
"All children don't enjoy healthy food."
" Women take forever to do anything."
12. Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character's thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them.
Example: "Such fools we all are, she thought, crossing Victoria Street. For Heaven only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making it up, building it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment afresh; but the veriest frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drink their downfall) do the same; can't be dealt with, she felt positive, by Acts of Parliament for that very reason: they love life. In people's eyes, in the swing, tramp, trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June."
-Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
13. Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.
14. Style: the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.
Example: Jane Austen--romantic; gothic; heroic
F.Scott Fitzgerald--imaginary sentences; american dream
15. Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language.
Example: "Even though the broccoli was covered in cheddar cheese, Emily refused to eat it." (subordinate clause+main clause)
"Unless Kate finished her calculus hw, she will have to suffer during class tomorrow."
16. Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal.
Example: Salvador Dali--The Persistence of Memory
17. Suspension of Disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it.
Example: Spider Man; Super Man
18. Symbol: something which stands for something else; yet has a meaning of its own.
Example: Flag is the symbol of the country.
Red-bloody; The Red Badge Of Courage-the tranformation(fail to success) of Henry Fleming and honor.
19. Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense.
Example: "I see the sound of the car."
"I catch the sound of rain."
20. Synecdoche: another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole.
Example: Wheels-Car
Thread-Clothes
Hand-Worker
21. Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.
22. Theme: main idea of the story; its message(s).
23. Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disaproved: the main idea.
24. Tone: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view.
Example: "Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell."
"Caltholics are always trying to find out if you're Catholic."--Catcher in the Rye:Bitter; Sacrastic; Tough
25. Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; a.k.a. "dry" or "dead pan".
26. Tradegy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusions; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically(fatally) flawed.
27. Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis.
28. Vernacular: everyday speech
29. Voice: the textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's persona.
30. Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
BOB 1
There is a clear distinction between those who have and those who haven't. After looking over the third period member blogs, this is what I think:
GREAT JOB:
GOOD:
BEHIND:
Monday, February 18, 2013
I AM HERE
This grading period in Dr. Preston's class has been so much more rewarding than last semester. I am now following my peer's blogs, shifting my focus in many aspects to my ultimate goal, and finally becoming accustomed to the new learning environment. We now have working days, Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's, where we can work with classmates to collaborate on our individual talents and futures. We still are preparing for the AP exam in some form daily, just in a way that is useful for each individual. The freedom we now have is extremely helpful in each of us achieving our goals in the most efficient way. In my case, I have been focusing lately on creating my senior project along with Ashley and Chanel. Also, at the top of my list, is now finding my candidate and prompt for the "Writing as a Spectator Sport" assignment, which I will have up soon. :)
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Let Terms 83-108
LIT TERMS 83-108 (Omniscient POV to Rhetorical Question)
Omniscient Point of View: knowing all things, usually the third person.
Onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning.
Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.
Pacing: rate of movement; tempo.
CLICK FOR EXAMPLE
Parable: a story designed to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth.
Paradox: a statement apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really containing a possible truth; an opinion contrary to generally accepted ideas.
Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form.
Parody: an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.
Pathos: the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.
Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.
Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.
Poignant: eliciting sorrow or sentiment.
Point of View: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.
Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary.
Prose: the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.
Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.
Pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.
Purpose: the intended result wished by an author.
Realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightfoward manner to reflect life as it actually is.
Refrain: a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.
Requiem: any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.
Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.
Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.
Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.
Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.
Omniscient Point of View: knowing all things, usually the third person.
Onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning.
Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.
Pacing: rate of movement; tempo.
CLICK FOR EXAMPLE
Parable: a story designed to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth.
Paradox: a statement apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really containing a possible truth; an opinion contrary to generally accepted ideas.
Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form.
Parody: an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.
Pathos: the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.
Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.
Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.
Poignant: eliciting sorrow or sentiment.
Point of View: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.
Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary.
Prose: the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.
Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.
Pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.
Purpose: the intended result wished by an author.
Realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightfoward manner to reflect life as it actually is.
Refrain: a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.
Requiem: any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.
Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.
Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.
Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.
Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Dicken's Group LAQ's
Literary Analysis: Great Expectation
1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, is his thirteenth novel which is a blidungsroman, or a coming of age novel. Pip, an orphan who is about six years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting the graves of his mother, father, and siblings. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file to grind away his shackles from the home he shares with his abusive older sister and her kind, passive husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The next day, soldiers recapture the convict while he is engaged in a fight with another convict; the two are returned to the prison ships they escaped from. He is unclear with his thoughts about a father, he is always testing and questioning the men around him and trying to pull ideas of what a father would or should be like. There is Joe, who is emotional and kind, wanting a emotional relationship amongst people and then there is Jagger, who is all about the profits and making more money than others, he cares to be wealthy and high class in society. Jagger is described as an over powering animal who Pip wants to avoid becoming, but at the same time, it is a great possibility that Jagger is a reflection of what Pip can and may become. His feelings and heart is torn by Estella who is adopted by Mrs. Havisham, who has trained her into destroying men. She has lost the ability to love and care, later on asking for Pip's forgiveness (eleven years later, aat the end of the novel) after the death of her absuvise husband's death.
2. Themes
Notions of and obsession with society and class lead the protagonist of Great Expectations into self-destruction and a loss of dignity. In the world of this novel, society is divided among class lines, creating impenetrable barriers between social classes. When characters attempt to break through these barriers, they only find loneliness and loss. Society is both exalted as a productive and efficient means of organizing human chaos and it is revealed to be internally rotten.
Those characters in Great Expectations who dream the most, hope the most, and plan the most are ultimately wounded by their dreams, hopes, and plans. Likewise, when characters realize their dreams, they do not find the happiness that they expected. Characters use their dreams, hopes, and plans to erase or undo the past.Great Expectations is a novel about the loss and rediscovery of innocence. Innocence is lost when it is introduced to society and to a societal value system. This encounter establishes a habit of self-consciousness and self-absorption within in the protagonist leading to his ultimate denial of his identity. Innocence is understood as the human state of being unaware of any other values than one’s own and it is characterized by a solid sense of identity.
In Dickens's Great Expectations, love is closely tied to destruction, and it is the protagonist’s guiding light and reason for living. Love is defined and portrayed in many different ways: as romance, narcissistic love, filial love, infatuation, obsession, and unconditional love. Love both blinds the protagonist and sets him free. Love is closely tied to appearances, and, therefore, to deception
Friendship is closely tied to loyalty and is tested often in Great Expectations. Friendship is not found to be indestructible and immune to human folly. Friendship quietly and gradually disintegrates when wealth and social are introduced. Characters who are obsessed with their future often forget the past and the relationships that dwelt there. Loss of friendship and betrayal wounds the protagonist.
3.
"I had heard of Miss Havisham up town – everybody for miles round, had heard of Miss Havisham up town – as an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion."
-Pip’s hometown is socially stratified. He lives in the "village," and Miss Havisham lives "up town." Apart from reminding us of a certain Billy Joel song, this delineation between the wealthy and working class in Kent is palpable and is reinforced by the gate that guards Miss Havisham’s decaying riches. Early on, we see how great privilege is closely linked to loneliness.
"I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too."
-Pip takes all his cues from Joe. He learns how to interact with the world through his brother-in-law. Here, we see Pip focused on what the he lacks rather than what he has. His introduction to "society" makes him fully aware of the absence of things. Pip wants to belong to Miss Havisham’s world, but he does not have the key to unlock it.
"Whenever I watched the vessels standing out to sea with their white sails spread, I somehow thought of Miss Havisham and Estella; and whenever the light struck aslant, afar off, upon a cloud or sail or green hill-side or water-line, it was just the same. Miss Havisham and Estella and the strange house and the strange life appeared to have something to do with everything that was picturesque. "
-The horizon in Great Expectations is often tied to the concept of dreams, hopes, and plans. Sometimes, Pip looks out onto the marshes and sees nothing but low, flat, wet land that leads to nothing. However, whenever the horizon is populated by sails or other things, Pip instantly feels closer to his dreams. His fear is having nothing on the horizon, nothing to live for, and nothing upon which to hang his hopes. The marsh land is almost like a mirror of Pip’s mind.
"She had adopted Estella, she had as good as adopted me, and it could not fail to be her intention to bring us together. She reserved it for me to restore the desolate house, admit the sunshine into the dark rooms, set the clocks a going and the cold hearths a blazing, tear down the cobwebs, destroy the vermin – in short, do all the shining deeds of the young Knight of romance, and marry the Princess"
-Pip’s dreams seem to be made of images, actions, and theatrical elements rather than emotions or substantive encounters. Instead of being able to imagine a real moment of happiness and understanding with Estella, Pip imagines dramatically and magically curing Satis House. It’s all very Beauty and the Beast.
"But if you think as Money can make compensation to me for the loss of the little child – what come to the forge – and ever the best of friends! –"
-Jaggers, who is used to London society, assumes that all humans are greedy and are hungry for money. Joe defies this assumption and is later angered by it. Jaggers seems unaware that relationships exist that are stronger than money. He deals with a corrupt society daily.
"Well," said he, "I believe you. You'd be but a fierce young hound indeed, if at your time of life you could help to hunt a wretched warmint, hunted as near death and dunghill as this poor wretched warmint is!"
-Six year-old Pip is completely truthful and honest. Here we see the sharp contrast between innocent youth and the corrupt criminal. Pip loses a bit of this innocence, however, by feeding the convict and by supplying him with a file. He becomes an accessory to the convict’s crime, and this evening stays with Pip forevermore, causing him huge guilt at having to rob his sister and lie to Joe.
"The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her nonetheless because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection."
-So, Pip is not necessarily in love with Estella, but he may just be in lust with Estella? He sees her faults clear as day, but he has not power over this love/list. Even though loving Estella promises sadness, destruction, and pain, Pip cannot help but be drawn to her. She’s like a Siren from Homer’s Odyssey. She’s impossible to resist, and there’s something a little out of the ordinary or fantastical about the strength of her power over Pip.
4. Characters
- Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip, an orphan and the protagonist and narrator of Great Expectations. Throughout his childhood, Pip dreamed of becoming a blacksmith. As a result of Magwitch's anonymous patronage, Pip travels to London and becomes a gentleman. Pip assumes his benefactor is Miss Havisham, and discovering that his true benefactor is a convict shocks him.
-Joe Gargery, Pip's brother-in-law, and his first father figure. He is a blacksmith who is always kind to Pip and the only person with whom Pip is always honest. Joe is very disappointed when Pip decided to leave his home and travel to London to become a gentleman rather than be a blacksmith
-Mrs. Joe Gargery, Pip's hot-tempered adult sister, who raises him after their parents' death but constantly complains of the burden of raising Pip. Orlick, her husband's journeyman, attacks her, and she is left disabled until her death.
-Miss Havisham, wealthy spinster who takes Pip on as a companion and who Pip suspects is his benefactor. Miss Havisham does not deny this as it fits into her own spiteful plans that derive from her desire for revenge after being jilted at the altar several years before. She later apologises to Pip as she is overtaken by guilt. He accepts her apology, and she is badly burnt when her wedding dress, which she has never taken off since her jilting, catches fire when she sits too close to the fireplace. Pip saves her, but she later dies from her injuries.
-Estella, Miss Havisham's adopted daughter, whom Pip pursues throughout the novel. She does not know that she is the daughter of Molly, Jaggers's housekeeper, and Abel Magwitch, Pip's convict. Estella was given up for adoption to Miss Havisham after her mother, Molly, is tried for murder. Estella represents the life of wealth and culture for which Pip strives. Since Miss Havisham ruined Estella's ability to love, Estella cannot return Pip's passion. She warns Pip of this repeatedly, but he will not or cannot believe her.
-Jaggers, prominent London lawyer who represents the interests of diverse clients, both criminal and civil. He represents Pip's benefactor and Miss Havisham as well. By the end of the story, his law practice links many of the characters.
2. Themes
Notions of and obsession with society and class lead the protagonist of Great Expectations into self-destruction and a loss of dignity. In the world of this novel, society is divided among class lines, creating impenetrable barriers between social classes. When characters attempt to break through these barriers, they only find loneliness and loss. Society is both exalted as a productive and efficient means of organizing human chaos and it is revealed to be internally rotten.
Those characters in Great Expectations who dream the most, hope the most, and plan the most are ultimately wounded by their dreams, hopes, and plans. Likewise, when characters realize their dreams, they do not find the happiness that they expected. Characters use their dreams, hopes, and plans to erase or undo the past.Great Expectations is a novel about the loss and rediscovery of innocence. Innocence is lost when it is introduced to society and to a societal value system. This encounter establishes a habit of self-consciousness and self-absorption within in the protagonist leading to his ultimate denial of his identity. Innocence is understood as the human state of being unaware of any other values than one’s own and it is characterized by a solid sense of identity.
In Dickens's Great Expectations, love is closely tied to destruction, and it is the protagonist’s guiding light and reason for living. Love is defined and portrayed in many different ways: as romance, narcissistic love, filial love, infatuation, obsession, and unconditional love. Love both blinds the protagonist and sets him free. Love is closely tied to appearances, and, therefore, to deception
Friendship is closely tied to loyalty and is tested often in Great Expectations. Friendship is not found to be indestructible and immune to human folly. Friendship quietly and gradually disintegrates when wealth and social are introduced. Characters who are obsessed with their future often forget the past and the relationships that dwelt there. Loss of friendship and betrayal wounds the protagonist.
3.
"I had heard of Miss Havisham up town – everybody for miles round, had heard of Miss Havisham up town – as an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion."
-Pip’s hometown is socially stratified. He lives in the "village," and Miss Havisham lives "up town." Apart from reminding us of a certain Billy Joel song, this delineation between the wealthy and working class in Kent is palpable and is reinforced by the gate that guards Miss Havisham’s decaying riches. Early on, we see how great privilege is closely linked to loneliness.
"I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too."
-Pip takes all his cues from Joe. He learns how to interact with the world through his brother-in-law. Here, we see Pip focused on what the he lacks rather than what he has. His introduction to "society" makes him fully aware of the absence of things. Pip wants to belong to Miss Havisham’s world, but he does not have the key to unlock it.
"Whenever I watched the vessels standing out to sea with their white sails spread, I somehow thought of Miss Havisham and Estella; and whenever the light struck aslant, afar off, upon a cloud or sail or green hill-side or water-line, it was just the same. Miss Havisham and Estella and the strange house and the strange life appeared to have something to do with everything that was picturesque. "
-The horizon in Great Expectations is often tied to the concept of dreams, hopes, and plans. Sometimes, Pip looks out onto the marshes and sees nothing but low, flat, wet land that leads to nothing. However, whenever the horizon is populated by sails or other things, Pip instantly feels closer to his dreams. His fear is having nothing on the horizon, nothing to live for, and nothing upon which to hang his hopes. The marsh land is almost like a mirror of Pip’s mind.
"She had adopted Estella, she had as good as adopted me, and it could not fail to be her intention to bring us together. She reserved it for me to restore the desolate house, admit the sunshine into the dark rooms, set the clocks a going and the cold hearths a blazing, tear down the cobwebs, destroy the vermin – in short, do all the shining deeds of the young Knight of romance, and marry the Princess"
-Pip’s dreams seem to be made of images, actions, and theatrical elements rather than emotions or substantive encounters. Instead of being able to imagine a real moment of happiness and understanding with Estella, Pip imagines dramatically and magically curing Satis House. It’s all very Beauty and the Beast.
"But if you think as Money can make compensation to me for the loss of the little child – what come to the forge – and ever the best of friends! –"
-Jaggers, who is used to London society, assumes that all humans are greedy and are hungry for money. Joe defies this assumption and is later angered by it. Jaggers seems unaware that relationships exist that are stronger than money. He deals with a corrupt society daily.
"Well," said he, "I believe you. You'd be but a fierce young hound indeed, if at your time of life you could help to hunt a wretched warmint, hunted as near death and dunghill as this poor wretched warmint is!"
-Six year-old Pip is completely truthful and honest. Here we see the sharp contrast between innocent youth and the corrupt criminal. Pip loses a bit of this innocence, however, by feeding the convict and by supplying him with a file. He becomes an accessory to the convict’s crime, and this evening stays with Pip forevermore, causing him huge guilt at having to rob his sister and lie to Joe.
"The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her nonetheless because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection."
-So, Pip is not necessarily in love with Estella, but he may just be in lust with Estella? He sees her faults clear as day, but he has not power over this love/list. Even though loving Estella promises sadness, destruction, and pain, Pip cannot help but be drawn to her. She’s like a Siren from Homer’s Odyssey. She’s impossible to resist, and there’s something a little out of the ordinary or fantastical about the strength of her power over Pip.
4. Characters
- Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip, an orphan and the protagonist and narrator of Great Expectations. Throughout his childhood, Pip dreamed of becoming a blacksmith. As a result of Magwitch's anonymous patronage, Pip travels to London and becomes a gentleman. Pip assumes his benefactor is Miss Havisham, and discovering that his true benefactor is a convict shocks him.
-Joe Gargery, Pip's brother-in-law, and his first father figure. He is a blacksmith who is always kind to Pip and the only person with whom Pip is always honest. Joe is very disappointed when Pip decided to leave his home and travel to London to become a gentleman rather than be a blacksmith
-Mrs. Joe Gargery, Pip's hot-tempered adult sister, who raises him after their parents' death but constantly complains of the burden of raising Pip. Orlick, her husband's journeyman, attacks her, and she is left disabled until her death.
-Miss Havisham, wealthy spinster who takes Pip on as a companion and who Pip suspects is his benefactor. Miss Havisham does not deny this as it fits into her own spiteful plans that derive from her desire for revenge after being jilted at the altar several years before. She later apologises to Pip as she is overtaken by guilt. He accepts her apology, and she is badly burnt when her wedding dress, which she has never taken off since her jilting, catches fire when she sits too close to the fireplace. Pip saves her, but she later dies from her injuries.
-Estella, Miss Havisham's adopted daughter, whom Pip pursues throughout the novel. She does not know that she is the daughter of Molly, Jaggers's housekeeper, and Abel Magwitch, Pip's convict. Estella was given up for adoption to Miss Havisham after her mother, Molly, is tried for murder. Estella represents the life of wealth and culture for which Pip strives. Since Miss Havisham ruined Estella's ability to love, Estella cannot return Pip's passion. She warns Pip of this repeatedly, but he will not or cannot believe her.
-Jaggers, prominent London lawyer who represents the interests of diverse clients, both criminal and civil. He represents Pip's benefactor and Miss Havisham as well. By the end of the story, his law practice links many of the characters.