Great Expectations began as a serialized novel in All the Year Round, but eventually found its way into novel form. It is about a young boy, Pip, and his life in both upper- and lower-society. Pip faces many trials and tribulations during his journey through life, and Great Expectations chronicles these events. In many ways, Great Expectations is considered one of Dickens’ more autobiographical novels, as his life shares many similarities with Pip’s. 16 concordances for Great Expectations follow.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wittles Are Vittles
“And you know what wittles is?” (11).
Wittles is the vernacular pronunciation the convict uses to say ‘vittles’, which refers to food. Dickens gives the convict vernacular speech to show his level of education. Someone with a proper education would not pronounce the letter ‘v’ in the word ‘vittles’ as a ‘w’. Vernacular dialogue such as this appears throughout Great Expectations when Pip interacts with people who do not have a high level of education.
Works Cited: "vittles." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Merriam-Webster Online. 15 December 2008.
Photo Credit: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/fraser/2.html
Pirate
“The man was limping on towards this latter, as if he were the pirate come to life, and come down, and going back to hook himself up again.” (12).
Pirates are known for being greedy, selfish men, abusing those who will get them what they need. Pip sees the convict as a pirate because in many ways he compares to one. He is greedy for food and a file, and he abuses Pip until Pip promises to bring him the food and the file. Dickens compares the convict to a pirate to show that different occupations, such as a convict and a pirate, have many similarities.
Works Cited: Levy, Paul. "Bush: Planetary Pirate." Awaken In the Dream. 2007. 14 Dec. 2008 http://www.awakeninthedream.com/artis/bush%20planetary%20pirate.html.
Photo Credit: http://smhill.net/media/images/images/scott_the_pirate.png
Medical Tar-Water
“Some medical beast had revived Tar-water in those days as a fine medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard” (16).
Tar-water is an 18th and 19th century remedy for nearly every ailment. It was believed that a pint of tar-water a day could cure anything. Dickens’ use of tar-water in Great Expectations dates the novel to the mid-nineteenth century and establishes the society that Pip lives in before his inheritance.
Works Cited: C., T.E. "Charles Dickens on the Medical Use of Tar-water." Pediatrics. Dec. 1980. 14 Dec. 2008. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/6/839
Tar-water is an 18th and 19th century remedy for nearly every ailment. It was believed that a pint of tar-water a day could cure anything. Dickens’ use of tar-water in Great Expectations dates the novel to the mid-nineteenth century and establishes the society that Pip lives in before his inheritance.
Works Cited: C., T.E. "Charles Dickens on the Medical Use of Tar-water." Pediatrics. Dec. 1980. 14 Dec. 2008. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/6/839
Weak Hercules
“He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow—a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness.” (13).
Hercules is a well-known figure in Greek mythology known for his superhuman strength and courage, and the challenging labors he completed to gain immortality. Hercules’ weaknesses were his low intelligence, his gluttony, and his lust. Dickens compares Joe to Hercules because Joe is also strong and courageous, though on a more human scale, and he has a low intelligence, like Hercules. Juxtaposing Joe and Hercules suggests that Joe is not as simple as he appears and that he is a hero in his own way.
Works Cited: Regula, DeTraci. "Fast Facts On: Hercules." About.com: Greece Travel. 14 Dec. 2008
Photo Credit: http://www.logoi.com/pastimages/img/hercules_3.jpg
Rheumatic Ague
“You’ve been lying out on the meshes, and they’re dreadful aguish. Rheumatic too.” (21).
Ague and rheumatic fever are two common illnesses present during the 19th century, during which Great Expectations takes place. The ague is similar to the modern malaria, and during the 19th century was most common in the marshlands of Britain. Dickens uses the ague and rheumatic fever to show the suffering of the people in Pip’s village because of their poverty and proximity to the marshes.
Works Cited: Kuhn, Katrin G., Diarmid H. Campbell-Lendrum, Ben Armstrong, and Clive R. Davies. "Malaria in Britain: Past, present, and future." PubMed Central. 11 Aug. 2003. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 14 Dec. 2008. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/6/839
Ague and rheumatic fever are two common illnesses present during the 19th century, during which Great Expectations takes place. The ague is similar to the modern malaria, and during the 19th century was most common in the marshlands of Britain. Dickens uses the ague and rheumatic fever to show the suffering of the people in Pip’s village because of their poverty and proximity to the marshes.
Works Cited: Kuhn, Katrin G., Diarmid H. Campbell-Lendrum, Ben Armstrong, and Clive R. Davies. "Malaria in Britain: Past, present, and future." PubMed Central. 11 Aug. 2003. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 14 Dec. 2008
Monumental Crusaders
“This was so much her normal state, that Joe and I would often, for weeks together, be, as to our fingers, like monumental Crusaders as to their legs” (24).
The Crusaders were men who tried to recover the Holy Lands of Israel from the infidels of the region. When statues of the Crusaders were made, their legs were crossed to show that they had been in the war. By likening Joe and Pip to the Crusaders, who were known for their piety, Dickens brings religion into the novel, which was very important to many people during the time that Great Expectations was published and most popular.
Works Cited: "Great Expectations Chapter IV." ENotes. 14 Dec. 2008. http://www.enotes.com/expectations-text/chapter-iv.
Photo Credit: http://www.totalwar.org.pl/gallery/Crusaders%20-07.jpg
Shakespeare, Again
“It began the moment we sat down to dinner. Mr. Wopsle said grace with theatrical declamation—as it now appears to me, something like a religious cross of the Ghost in Hamlet with Richard the Third—and ended with the very proper aspiration that we might be truly grateful.” (26-27).
Hamlet and Richard the Third are two plays written by Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays have appeared in many other pieces of literature since their publishing. Dickens references several of Shakespeare’s plays throughout Great Expectations to appeal to his readers who are familiar with Shakespeare’s plays, and to help his readers understand what is transpiring in the novel.
Photo Credit: http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/original/bill%20shakespeare.jpg
Roman Noses
“I think the Romans must have aggravated one another very much, with their noses.” (28).
Romans are characterized by their hook-shaped noses with prominent bridges. Dickens, who had a nose shaped more like that of a Greek’s, is ridiculing the Romans with their odd noses. This adds humor to the otherwise dry story of the argument at the Christmas party.
Works Cited: "Human Nose Photos." All About Noses. 14 Dec. 2008
Photo Credit: http://www.all-about-noses.com/human-nose-photos.html
Wicked Ark
“By the light of the torches, we saw the black Hulk lying out a little way from the mud of the shore, like a wicked Noah’s ark.” (38).
Noah’s ark is the ship from stories in the Bible that was built large enough to hold two of every animal on Earth for 40 days and nights. Dickens illustrates the prison ship as a wicked Noah’s ark because of its immense size. Another comparison to something from the Bible interests the religious readers who feel honored to have an important part of their religion mentioned in a famous piece of literature.
Photo Credit: http://www.funnycollection.org/img/funny-cartoon-Noahs-Ark.jpg
Pip's National Debt
“I have an impression that they were to be contributed eventually towards the liquidation of the National Debt, but I know I had no hope of any personal participation in the treasure.” (40).
Dickens uses this passage to foreshadow the property that Pip acquires later in his life. He doubts that the money he earns from odd jobs around the village will ever be his, but a few years after beginning his apprenticeship to Joe, he receives an inheritance from an unknown benefactor.
Dickens uses this passage to foreshadow the property that Pip acquires later in his life. He doubts that the money he earns from odd jobs around the village will ever be his, but a few years after beginning his apprenticeship to Joe, he receives an inheritance from an unknown benefactor.
A Child's Rocking Horse
“It may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small, and its world is small, and its rocking-horse stands as many hands high, according to scale, as a big-boned Irish hunter.” (56).
Dickens takes the world of an adult, and scales it down to a child’s world using a rocking-horse as the scale. This object is an unusual choice to use as a scale, but it is appropriate to use because of its connections to children. A rocking-horse symbolizes youth and innocence, and provides an image of a small boy naïve to the world. Pip is both young and innocent, and in the beginning of the novel, he is naïve.
Photo Credit: http://www.rocking-horses.net/images/wooden-rocking-horse.jpg
Caught Red-Handed
“I say, we went over, but as I was pushed over by Pumblechook, exactly as if I had that moment picked a pocked or fired a rick; indeed, it was the general impression in Court that I had been taken red-handed” (88).
When someone is caught red-handed, it means that he or she has been found guilty of committing a crime. The term comes from murderers being caught with blood on their hands after committing the crime. Pip is not guilty of murder, but he is guilty of making choices that he regrets later in his life. Dickens uses the term to express the theme of guilt that recurs throughout the novel.
Works Cited: Martin, Gary. "Caught red-handed." The Phrase Finder. 14 Dec. 2008
Photo Credit: http://www.bearskinrug.co.uk/_work/fray_busted/hero.jpg
Feather Bed of Comfort
“Mr. Trabb had sliced his hot roll into three feather beds, and was slipping butter in between the blankets, and covering it up.” (124).
Feather beds are symbolic of comfort, wealth, and prosperity, and for Pip to see Mr. Trabb cutting his hot roll into feather beds, he must have displayed comfort also. Pip is not used to being in the company of wealthy people, so Dickens uses Mr. Trabb as a way to introduce Pip to his wealth.
Feather beds are symbolic of comfort, wealth, and prosperity, and for Pip to see Mr. Trabb cutting his hot roll into feather beds, he must have displayed comfort also. Pip is not used to being in the company of wealthy people, so Dickens uses Mr. Trabb as a way to introduce Pip to his wealth.
Vagabond Pip
“ ‘Are you bringing numbers five and eight, you vagabond,’ said Mr. Trabb to the boy after that, ‘or shall I kick you out of the shop and bring them myself?’ ” (125).
A vagabond is a tramp or someone who moves around because they do not have a home. The boy that Mr. Trabb calls a vagabond was once very close to Pip in terms of lifestyle and ease of living, but now that Pip has property, he and the boy are nearly polar opposites. Dickens uses contrasts between two characters many times throughout the novel to enhance their characterizations.
Works Cited: "Vagabond." Answer.com. Houghton Mifflin Company. 14 Dec. 2008. http://www.answers.com/vagabond
A vagabond is a tramp or someone who moves around because they do not have a home. The boy that Mr. Trabb calls a vagabond was once very close to Pip in terms of lifestyle and ease of living, but now that Pip has property, he and the boy are nearly polar opposites. Dickens uses contrasts between two characters many times throughout the novel to enhance their characterizations.
Works Cited: "Vagabond." Answer.com. Houghton Mifflin Company. 14 Dec. 2008
Old Mother Hubbard
“After this memorable event, I went to the hatter’s, and the boot-maker’s, and the hosier’s, and felt rather like Mother Hubbard’s dog whose outfit required the services of so many trades.” (126).
Mother Hubbard’s dog refers to the dog of a nursery rhyme whose owner went through great lengths to get a bone. Dickens’ reference to a nursery rhyme shows not only Pip’s immaturity and juvenile behavior, but his growth into an adult as well. Pip’s knowledge of a nursery rhyme is common for someone of Pip’s age, but his ability to connect to a character from it is a mature skill that Pip has acquired at an early age.
Works Cited: "Old Mother Hubbard." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Nov 2008, 05:23 UTC. 15 Dec 2008
Photo Credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/OldMotherHubbard_01.jpg
Dirty London
“We Britons had at that time particularly settled, that it was treasonable to doubt our having and our being the best of everything: otherwise, while I was scared by the immensity of London, I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty.” (133).
Dickens uses this passage to show the difference between high society life in England and the lower classes. To the people in the upper class, London is supposed to be a beautiful city, the best in the world; the lower society is able to see London the way it truly appears: ugly. Pip comes from a low class family, so he is able to see London for its worth, but because of his sudden acquisition of wealth, he joins the high society in seeing London as the immense city he must.
Photo Credit: http://www.arthaak.com/images/dirty_london.jpg
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