What's the Story?

Why did Charles Dickens write the novel you're reading/reviewing? What in your analysis of literary techniques led you to this conclusion? (Make sure to include textual support illustrating Dickens' use of at least three techniques we've studied/discussed this year.)

The Charles Dickens novel I read was Great Expectations. This book was originally featured in a magazine and two chapters were published every week. I believe Dickens wrote this novel to show the dichotomy between the upper and lower class of England. "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." Miss Havisham is a wealthy lady who helps Pip become an apprentice for Joe. Though she has a lot of money, she is a very lonely person as her fiance left her at the wedding altar hours before the wedding. Though Pip was raised in a different environment than Miss Havisham, he was always happy and positive about everything. "I took the opportunity of being alone in the court-yard, to look at my coarse hands and my common boots." Dickens's use of imagery helps readers to visualize Pip. When Estella comments on Pip's hands and boots, he becomes very self-conscious and rethinks everything about his life.''I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.'' Ever since Pip started visiting Miss Havisham and Estella, he became more ashamed of his life. By contrasting Pip as a boy and Pip as a teenager, we can see how a glimpse into the life of the wealthy has changed him.