(Photo: S. Earl)
This novel is considered a Bildungsroman...that's a fancy literary term for a coming-of-age story. Knowing this fact, there are a couple of symbols you should think about connecting to that idea. First, Phillip Pirrip's nickname is Pip. What is a pip, and how is that a symbol of the Bildungsroman? Also, Pip's sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, is married to -- you guessed it -- Joe Gargery, the local blacksmith. How might his profession have something to do with the Bildungsroman genre?
What are your thoughts about the first page and a half or so, especially when it comes to the importance of the background information and the setting?
What do you notice about the language in the dialogue? It changes as each character speaks...what does the language used tell you about each character (Pip and the pirate-looking guy)?
You may want to become friends with a dictionary...a couple of words that stick out to me are "wittles" and "gibbet."
If you've read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, this may remind you of a scene from that novel. Anybody know what I'm referring to?
18 comments:
A pip is a single dot a on die or domino. This definition suggests that Pip is a small child and is therefore approached by the pirate as an easy target because of his child-like vulnerability. The small stature and fear Pip exudes when the pirate approaches makes him an easy way for the pirates to indirectly steal "wittles" (food) and a file from Joe Gargery. Being a child, however, Pip fears dying and agrees to the pirate's terms. Phillip's nickname, therefore acts as a symbol of his childhood vulneralbility and suggests change in the novel. The nickname acts as the fear and vulnerability of Pip in the childhood age of a Bildungsroman. Perhaps, as Pip grows up and changes he will lose his childhood nickname and use Phillip to show his maturity.
When the story began, I thought it was a bit boring and confusing. However, I was glad to see that some “action” started on the second page. Throughout the chapter, the author easily creates mental pictures. I could visualize the pirate “scene” like a movie. I was confused about his parent’s death. I felt like I was told how they died, but I missed it. The language between Pip and the pirate are noticeably different. For example, the pirate had to ask Pip if he knew what “wittles” and a “file” were. So I assumed these words are not common language. Also, because the pirate seems to be crazy, I do not believe he has a friend who is hiding. I don’t know if the pirate thinks that there is someone hiding or if that was just a scare tactic. Either way the book has become more interesting than I first thought.
Solid comments...looking for an additional definition of "pip," though.
The defininition that I found for "pip" was that of the small seeds of a fruit or a terrible disease of the bird, assuming that there are no relations to diseased birds I think that there is some corroboration between the fruit seeds and Pip's name. The name "Pip" that was ment to signify Pip as a seed (child) and how he grows or comes of age (Bildungsroman) or ripens like fruit. The symbolsim of the fruit and the seed mirrors the action of Pip maturing from child to adult. Upon reading the first few pages, I thought that the setting and the background kind of created this somber tone from the death of Pip's brothers and sisters and of his parents. It seems that Pip has a hard childhood from the deaths of his family and also the abuse he takes from his sister. Then add a pirate to the reminiscing graveyard scene and you've got yourself a story! The pirate definatly centered on the fears of a young child to acquire his "wittles" or grub as we modern folk term it. The fear tactic of carving out his entrails seemed a little overworked, but Pip being a child would have feared the thought of his liver being carved out.
I think that the first couple pages had a very mournful mood with the reference to Pip's lost family members. It appears that Pip is verbally abused by his sister who has raised him "by hand". I also get the feeling that both Joe and Pip are trapped by her. The pirate-looking man asks for "wittles" but when attempted to look up this word I came up short. I think that the diction implies the man to really being saying vittles, which are food supplies.
Looking up the word "Pip, I came across many different definitions. However, all of these definitions revolve around one central idea, that being small or minor things. I agree that his name is a symbol of his inferiority to his elders, who constantly harass him. Pip is verbally abused by almost everyone we have met so far except for Joe, who is a friend to him. When he stole the pie and file, he did not feel sympathy to his sister, but more so towards Joe. He had a feeling that he let him down and would not be able to look at him the same way.
When I looked up pip, there was a multitude of definitons. Many of which were related to something small, like the previous definitions. However, and it may just be a random defintion that means nothng, one different definition I found was, "one extraordinary of its kind." I see this as a relation to later in the novel where Pip feels he must become 'uncommon' and make something of himself for Estella. I feel some foreshadowing fast approaching from that definition, perhaps. Secondly, the dialogue, I feel, shows differences in class. We can see this in the difference from a prisoner, to Pip, to Estella.
As it has been pointed out, pip is defined as "something small and insignificant." This definition relates to Pip in both his small physical size and the vulnerability that comes with his size and age. Another definition that I found was "to break out of a shell." From the background, readers see that Pip is orphaned and living with his sister, most likely impoverished. The "breaking out" that Pip's name implies could be the escape from his sister's oppression and of poverty, or it could be the breaking out of his submission and youthful innocence. The bildungsroman genre focuses on the development of protagonists, so I can see this novel doing just that with Pip "breaking out" from his hard life as someone unimportant, developing into a strong, notable character. As for the blacksmith occupation in relation to bildungsroman, the molding and crafting of metal can be compared to the development of a character. And I have no idea whether this is the scene in Huck Finn that you're thinking of, Earl, but this first chapter reminds me of when Huck was paid a visit by his gnarly, threatening father.
Yes, Halter, that is exactly the scene I was thinking of.
At the start of the story, Dickens uses a dramatic technique within the novel to draw the reader in as if it were being played out on a stage. He 'paints a picture' so vivid to where the reader feels a part of the plot. I also noticed Dickens' use of dialogue and how he actively communicates Pip's thought process. In the beginning of the story when Pip compares his assumption of his parents' appearance to their tombstones, the reader feels connected to Pip's thoughts. Dickens' effectively connects the reader with a deeper insight within the character's conscious. Robin, I also noticed how the phrase "brought up by hand" is greatly emphazised. I'm not sure why, but I see how it connects to Pip's upbringing.
Courtney, I have a couple of thoughts on Pip being brought up "by hand" and it's connection to his upbringing, which may help answer your "why." On the surface, it's the idea that Pip's sister has had to work hard and raise him by herself. But then when you think about it, she can be quite abusive and oppressive; with this in mind, one could think of the phrase in terms of the firm, restrictive hand that is always on Pip's shoulder, and that Pip has been brought up BY his sister's hand (in the physical beating sense).
The novel starts out with Pip describing the way he imagines that his deceased family members would look. Dickens creates a somewhat depressing mood in the first few pages while Pip is examining his family members’ graves. The fact that Pip does not really know what his parents look like leads the reader to conclude that Pip’s parents did not play a significant role in his life, or that they never had the chance to. Since Pip’s parents aren’t around to take care of him, his sister has raised him “by hand.” The fact that Pip refers to his sister as Mrs. Joe shows that he doesn’t have much respect for her as a sister. He doesn’t consider her to be much more than an authority figure in his life. However, Pip easily relates himself to his sister’s husband, Joe. It is possible that Pip gets along well with Joe because Joe understands the way that Pip feels about his sister and the way she treats him.
The novel begins not as impressivily as i would have thought when i first realized the author to be Charles Dickens. It was no "It was the best of times, it was the worse of times" but Dickens style still allures the reader with his very unique descriptions of characters and settings.The beginning goes into some detail about how pip would precieve his parents since he never met them. this gives a very mournful tone, it also shows the reader bluntly that Pip has already went through alot of hardships in his life. PIp by one definition is "to exclude of osttracize." i believe this has a huge impact for pips character. you can feel this detachment pip feels from society. His sister and friends seem to treat him as a nussence =, even tho9ugh at this point i dont feel like he is one. The way his escorter at Miss Havisham's treated him as a low class, poverty stricken, baby. All of these false treatments makes Pip feel like he is an outcasts and needs to become common, or "uncommon" according to Joe.
When the novel began it was clear to me that the point of view would be that of a child. He introduces himself as "pip", which bloggers before me have defined as small. The way he describes his parent's gravestone I find adorable. He has the child-like understanding that they're gone but when asked who his mother is, he replies "Also Georgiana" (as it is written on the tombstone) The action with the runaway convict was exciting, it added a darker side to the beginning. I noticed that the language in the dialogue changes with each character depending on how educated the character is. The language will sometimes be broken up and hard to understand (meaning less education) or fuller sentences with better understanding (more education).
I agree with Olivia. I noticed that the dialogue seemed to changed depending on which characters and their education level. The start of the book was dark and depressing when he spoke about his family's tombstones. I'm interested to see how it all plays out with his sister being his "mother" and raising him.
The start of this novel had a creepy and depressing feeling to it because he was alone in the graveyard talking to his parents tombstones. From this scene I could tell that Pip was lonely and being in the graveyard was his escape from something. The first few chapters really painted a picture in my mind, for example, the pirate scene. I noticed some symbolism, for example, the prison ship and the man who was with Joe. I like this novel so far and I'm looking foreward to reading it further.
So I know there must be some symbolism with Philip calling himself "Pip". There's too many definitions of pip to figure out exactly what it means yet. Pip means a contagious disease of poultry, but it is also a small seed, which is highly potential for symbolism. What I've noticed about Pip so far is that he is very innocent, as any small child is. Pip is kind, in the way that he respects the convict in the beginning by getting him food and a file, and not telling anyone about the encounter. I think this seperates Pip from most children, while most other children would have told someone about their fears.
Well, to me it seems as though throughout the first page it is established that now the speaker is extremely educated and literate judging by his extravagant use of of words and imagery to drescribe various items of background. It is apparent though that Philip, or Pip, was not always as well educated as he is at the point at which he is telling the story, though perhaps still just as astute. Pip talks about how he could presume from looking at his father's tombstone that his father was a "square, stout, dark man, with curly hair." I would say that the story takes place in England during most likely somewhere in the 1800's based on the type of things mentioned.
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