Sunday, September 23, 2012

Literary Analysis "Great Expectation"

1) In “great Expectations” there is a main character named Pip. He grew up with his parents who had passed on and was
raised by his sister who was a blacksmith. As Pip grows up he has great expectations for what he is to fulfill in his family. He is to grow up and take over the blacksmith position of his sister’s husband. He meets this girl named
Estella and grows to love her. When started to apprentice the blacksmith, shortly after his sister passed away, it had been six years till he was adopted by a very rich man. Once he was adopted Miss Havishum had intended to have him marry Estella, when he took Estella back to France with him a different man showed up that was all over Estella. After pip grew jealous he drifted away from Estella, but never stops loving her. Miss Havishum sets up Estella to marry the new guy she met while in France. Pip comes back before they were to be wed to tell Estella he loved her, he loved her since the day she made him cry in the garden. Miss Havishum is apologetic for setting up Estella with the new gentleman, after Estella leaves the room he answers Miss Havishums question of what she did to him by saying she destroyed his life. On Pips way out of the building Miss Havishum catches fire and burns to death. About a year later Pipreturns to a single Estella who had been mentally, and physically trapped in the house in which she grew up in, and the house her mother burnt to death. Estella had grown insane and believed her mother to still be there with her. In
response to Estella’s insane mind set Pip “lets in the light” and shakes Estella out of her insanity. They leave the house together, and in love.
2)The theme of the novel seems to be self-improvement. As Pip grows older he grows into a, blacksmith, then a wealthy teenager, into a man who is unsure of what he wants, to a wealthy man with a future, and the love of his life in his arms.
3)The authors tone is a new chance.Throughout the story there is tragedy, then a chance to turn it around. His sister
dies, he becomes a blacksmith apprentice. He gets adopted by a rich man. Estella is mean to him, calls him names and makes him cry, she allows him to kiss her. Estella’s mother dies, he comes back to be with her and shake her out
of her insanity. The author uses conflict: Pip and
Estella in the beginning when they first met. Miss Havishem setting Estella up with the gentlemen from France, and Pip telling Miss Havishum what she did to his life. Pip and his own wants, he has a number of times in which he walks
away from what he wants the most, Estella. This literary element showed me the idea of the theme with Its ups and downs and the obstacles Pip overcame. The author used a keen sense of characterization that helped develop each tone and minor tone. In the beginning of the story Pip meets this escaped convict who is very aggressive with Pip, his explanation of the convict developed the tone of distress and helplessness that not only accounted for this part of the book, but rolled over to help explain his type of life at home
with his sister. The way he explained Estella’s beauty to Pip showed his motivation and want for her which slightly foreshadowed the ending. In doing so it made me able to slightly guess the change in events and predict the theme.
The jealousy that overcame Pip when Estella met the new guy in France set a tone of revenge and anger, showing Pips love for Estella, but he soon overcame his jealous revengeful thoughts and improved his ways of life linking back to
the theme. Another element is the point of view that the author told the story from. He chose to tell the story in the point of view of a dynamic character rather
than a static one. There were several times throughout the story where there would be a change in thought of Pip. His idea on what he wanted to do would change. From when he first meets Estella he falls in love with her, but he decides to leave her, to never return when he starts to apprentice the
blacksmith. Later on in the story as he grows and begins to change he decides to go back for Estella, and take her to France with him. Showing the change in his belief in the way
to handle his new feelings changed for the better. At the ball Pip was dancing with Estella and decided to question her about the new gentlemen she met, he sort of took a high school approach to the situation, again later on in the story you see him go from being upset about the guy, to going to Estella’s and telling her straight out he loves her, even though he got his heart broken by finding out they were to be wed. He then had a new change in ideas; he got his heart broken and took to it with anger, and blew up in Miss Havishums face. Once again later on in the story he goes back to Estella, with momentum this time, he is going to ask for her hand, and win her back. His perspective changed which helped conclude the story. The author used a very unlikely antagonist, Pips own desires. As a child he desired to have his mom and dad back, the opening scene is him sitting by his parent’s grave and putting flowers next the head stones. There he runs into the convict that causes him go out late and give him food, on top of that he gets home late and his sister whips him for being late. Once he was adopted he was moving to France and wanted his step brother, the blacksmith, to go with him, but he couldn’t.
Pips desire drew him away from the blacksmith and conflicted with his relationship with his step brother, the only source of family he had left.This example I have
used a lot but it was such a turning point in the story that it contains all my points, when he yelled at Miss Havishum for setting up Estella with the gentlemen from France his desire to have Estella overcame his desire to be respectful for
a women who has been there most of his life. This desire lead up to Miss Havishums death and now, thanks to his desire to want Estella, he left his final words to Miss Havishum being angry and disrespectful.
1) Direct characterization was show when he described the fear of the boy when he first ran into the convict in the beginning of the story. Some indirect characterization was show when he described how Pip was by showing his actions, taking the convict food, visiting his dead parents, show care and compassion for another human being. Direct characterization was also shown when Pip directly tells Miss. Havishum how she mad him feel by putting Estella and the man from France.  More indirect characterization was displayed in Estella and Pips effection.  It was kept indirect till about the end of the story when Pip straight says, Estella, I love you. The author uses these types of characterization to bring a certain tone, if he said it directly,  he was mainly looking for a certain tone or feeling, right away. If he used indirect characterization he was generally trying to begin a tone or feeling that will later grow more and more obvious to set up a single big scene.
2) When he would use characterization he did not change his syntax, he made the display of each characterization roll with the story patter; However he would usually change the tone or mood to help press the characterization feeling he was trying to create.
3) The main character is definitely dynamic, as I stated previously the theme is change and self improvement. In order to have self improvement one must change. Pip was a dynamic and round character because he changes multiple times and you can see his change from a little boy, to a man.
4) I felt like I met a character because through out the story Pip grew, I got to watch him grow as a visual scene in your head.

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