(Photo Credit: http://www.mooncostumes.com)
Another leap in time...now he's 23.
The last paragraph on page 333 starts a lengthy description of the weather conditions and how they affect Pip's environment. Weather always tells us something in literature. Always keep on eye on the weather.
Figurative Language Alert!!! Great personification/simile here: "the smoke came rolling down the chimney as though it could not bear to go out into such a night." Love that line.
So Pip's convict -- still no name at this point -- was/is his benefactor. How does this change Pip's prospects in life?
Why is he so ungrateful to the convict?
Why is Pip just now regretting how he has treated Joe and Biddy?
13 comments:
I thought something like this might happen. I find the fact that Pip's benefactor is not Miss Havisham to be quite exciting! This takes everything Pip has thought and believed, and turns it upside-down. I find plenty of irony in this chapter. One thing that I found ironic is the difference between the convict's view of Pip, and what Pip is actually like. The convict has put so much into making Pip a gentleman, but he has become anything but a gentleman in attitude. Pip must have seemed like such a caring person to that poor convict, a true-hearted gentleman worthy of becoming a literal gentleman. Pip is so far from being gentlemanly in attitude, though! Even when he sees how changed the convict is and how grateful for what Pip has done, Pip is disgusted with him and regrets ever helping him. Another thing that I find ironic is how embarrassed and ashamed Pip has been of his poor relations, yet it is the hard work of a poor man that has given Pip his opportunities. Pip would never even be in a position to be ashamed of his poor relatives if this uneducated man hadn't spent his life pampering Pip from afar. Pip spent his time of expectations believing that his fortune came from Miss Havisham, and that he was meant for Estella. This caused him to desperately try to leave behind his poor past and uneducated relations. How ironic that a man of such a low class and rank, the type of man Pip would be embarrased to be associated with, has held the strings controlling Pip's life of high class and expectations! This convict is so nice and grateful, even thinks of Pip as his son, and all Pip can do is be disgusted and disappointed with him. I hope this will soon create a change in Pip, and maybe cause him to be more nice.
I agree with Hannah that Pip is extremely far from being a gentlemen with regards to his gratitude. Pip had longed so much to become a gentlemen and then it is just handed to him, I feel that he should be eternally grateful to anyone who helped him. I understand that Pip wanted his benefactor to be Miss Havinsham because he wanted Estella, sadly that is not the case but that does not mean he should not be equally grateful to his convict for providing him with this life. He wanted so much to know who was his benefactor and then he learns and wishes he didnt? I do not quite understand. I think that once it sinks in that the convict changed his life for him, he will learn to accept it.
Pip seemed to let his expectations get the best of him with the guessing of his benefactor. He's upset for many reasons, one being that Miss Havisham did not pull him out of the common world for Estella. Pip will now have to face that he stands no greater of a chance against the other men in the world at winning Estella's cold heart. Instead of an honorable class change, Pip was helped by the convict, and this slowly destroys him. This realization causes Pip to behave rather ungrateful towards his convict. Pip feels ties to his convict tarnish his reputation and slim down his chances to continue rising through society. The superiority Pip feels towards those in lower societal classes diminishes as he learns he was supported by a man in a lower class than him. Hopefully in the later chapters Pip can begin to appreciate the help he was given no matter the source.
I think that it's so sweet of Pip's convict to have done all of this for Pip. The poor man worked years to save up all the money for Pip to become a gentleman. What angers me though is that Pip blew most of that money without even caring. Pip is almost like an unruly son, spending his "dad's" hard earned cash on superficial things. What a son Pip makes by being anything but grateful for what his convict has done for him. Pip says "He laid his hand on my shoulder. I shuddered at the thought that for anything I knew, his hand might be stained with blood." Really?! I don't understand why Pip is being so childish about this. Does he even comprehend everything that his convict has done for him? I think that out of any character in this book Pip should believe in second chances. He should get over the fact that the man who is responsible for Pip becoming a gentlemen was once a convict. Besides, not every person in jail killed somebody.
I knew that Pip's benefactor would be his convict all along, he just seemed like an important character. I agree with the above that Pip does not act like a gentleman in any way with his attitude towards the convict. He seems very confused and disapointed that his benefactor is not Miss Havisham. Pip almost seems embarased by this because he had such great expectations about his benefactor. Pip regrets how he treated his family because he thought that his fortune was his chance of becoming a rich man and getting away from his poor family (kind of selfish). When he realizes that his fortune came from a hardworking poor man, he sees no difference between himself and Joe now because he knows that he will never be good enough for Estella.
What is that called when the weather in a novel matches the characters moods, pathetic fallacy or something? It seems a little melodramatic to me. By discovering that his benefactor is not Miss Havisham, Pip goes into a shock depression. He had based all his expectaions on Estella, only to have that hope torn away. That is why he is ungrateful to the convict, it's not him, personally, just the embodiment of a crush washed away. To Mariah's comment: Pip may feel he is not good enough for Estella, but he is way better than her. She has no love and is a female dog wrapped up in a pretty package.
The stormy weather conditions that are described the evening that Pip's convict comes, seem to foreshadow a great amount of trouble that Pip will run into later on in the novel. Dickens' uses the weather throughout this chapter. Pip's convict comes and tells Pip that he was his benefactor and that he is sentenced to death if he were found. This immediately makes Pip very uneasy to learn that his convict is his benefactor and that he is now hiding a prisoner who is sentenced to death. The harsh weather continues into the morning and perhaps foreshadows more trouble to come.
When Pip discovers his convict was his benefactor all along he is rather disturbed and practically speechless. He is appalled that his benefactor comes from a lower social status than he. Pip seems to be embarrassed by this fact and this seems to cause a major change in his mindset. Suddenly, Pip feels sorry that he spent all the money and that he treated Joe and Biddy so badly. Pip realizes that he has been rude and nasty towards the people of the lower social class that his benefactor comes from. This is a major change in Pip's life and a turning point in the novel.
I thought that the convict was so thoughtful when he helped Pip. He even said himself that Pip was like his son, and he even felt that pride that a father might feel. I think that Pip is so ungrataeful because he thought his prospects came from a more dignified source, therefore making him more dignified. Once he realized that his money comes from a man that is beneath him, it knocks him down a few pegs. He never had a right to feel superior to those around him which is also why he regrets the way he treated Joe and Biddy.
The long desription about the wretched weather definitely means bad things are yet to come. Death is even mentioned. When the convict showed up to tell Pip that he was his benefactor, I was expecting a little more out of Pip than telling the convct to keep off when he tried to take his hands. This shows how Pip has changed from the beginning. I know Pip had always thought that his benefactor was Miss Havisham, but he really could be a little more grateful. He should have known by the signs that Estella was never meant for him. Now that the convict is his benefactor, he feels like his status isn't as high anymore because a convict helped him. Hopefully Pip will get things straightened out later on.
Pip’s benefactor changes his prospects on life because he realized he wasn’t meant for Estella. He realized that by Miss Havisham not being his benefactor, she really was just using him to test Estella’s abilities to break men’s hearts. Pip was so ungrateful to the benefactor because he now realized that instead of leaving everything he knew and grew up with for a girl he was to marry, he gave up his life so that a convict could have “raised” a gentleman. This fact made Pip sorry about the way he treated Joe and Biddy, the two people in the world who sincerely cared about him.
It's funny that just now Pip is starting to feel bad for his treatment of Joe and Biddy. Pip discovers his benefactor is not the genteel Miss Havisham but a dirty convict, meaning Pip himself is not necessarily a genteel man, but as many continuously said -- a boy who had fallen into some valuable property. So that's it -- all Pip is is a boy with money. Perhaps Pip has discovered he is not as high and mighty as he once thought. No, Pip is just the boy who doesn't belong. Now we see how Pip feels he's been unfair to the lowlies...he is still one of them.
When Pip discovers that his benefactor is his convict, his outlook on life changes drastically. He finally realizes that Miss Havisham had no intentions of him and Estella being together. For this reason, Pip is extremely ungrateful towards his convict. I agree with Hannah that it is ironic that the convict is Pip’s benefactor. After all of Pip’s wishful thinking, the reality of his fortunes is thrown at him and completely reverses every intention he had for his future. All of his hopes that Miss Havisham intended him for Estella are crushed, and he realizes how badly he had deserted Joe and Biddy. Pip is just now regretting the way he treated his loved ones because they were the ones who were always there for him. Pip has moved on and become a gentleman, but in the process of it all, he has forgotten what really matters in life. He realizes that he cannot undo what he has done. The fact that Pip’s benefactor is his convict really adds an interesting twist to the plot. Pip has always been so ashamed of ever associating himself with a convict, but his convict is the one who has given him his life.
I knew that someone completely unexpected would be Pips benefactor! I think that the fact that the benefactor is the convict is very important to the novel. Pip has tried to distance himself from his past life, when in actuality all of his fortune came from someone he helped when he was a child. Pip realizes that he was never intended for Estella and he is crushed by this revelation. I think that this proves that you should never assume anything. Pip assumed that Miss Havisham was the benefactor and he assumed that he was planned for Estella. When the truth is revealed, Miss Havisham and Estella have absolutely nothing to do with his fortune. Even though his assumptions were crushed when the convict reveals his identity as the benefactor, Pip could have been more grateful. Pip seemed ashamed that his fortune came from a lowly convict instead of an upper class member such as Miss Havisham. Pip also realizes that he treated Joe and Biddy so poorly when they always treated him kindly and cared for him. I hope that Pip finds a way to reconcile with Joe and Biddy because they were always there for him and truly cared for him even when he was ashamed of them.
Post a Comment