Hello, everyone! I know it has been a long time since I have posted. So I have come back with a book review which is a little out of the ordinary. Today, I am going to review an evergreen classic and one of Charles Dickens’ greatest novels, Great Expectations. Get ready for this, because it is going to be a long one.
About the Author:
Charles Dickens was born on 7th February, 1812 at Portsea, near Portsmouth, where his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay office. On promotion, his father moved to Chatham, when Dickens was three years old. As a boy he was able to visit the theatre, to buy books and began to have dreams of acquiring education.
But things changed as his father got hopelessly into depth and was arrested in February 1824. Charles had to work in Warren’s Blacking factory owned by a relative. He had to work in the dirty, rat-infested old house, sticking labels on blacking bottles. This was the first raw impact of life on a sensitive boy who had lived in a world of dreams. Such experiences became the subject of his novels and have been immortalized in his fiction.
Charles became a reporter in the Press Gallery of the House of Commons due to his great speed and accuracy in shorthand. This set the stage for fiction writing. His first book Sketches by Boz appeared in 1936 followed by The Pickwick Papers. The Pickwick Papers made Dickens instantaneously famous due to its character Sam Weller. Dickens soon became the conscience of the country. Dickens’ death was sudden and dramatic due to a stroke. He was buried with pomp at Westminster’s Abbey, an honor which he fully deserved.
Great Expectations:
Frankly, this book made such a powerful impression on me that I don’t know where to start. But I have to begin somewhere. So let me first give you a very dry and rough sketch of the whole story. The novel revolves around the life and times of Mr Phillip Pirrip, known throughout the book as Pip. It is written in first person and is completely narrated by Pip himself.
The story follows his childhood, his acquaintance with an escaped convict whom he helps, his sudden contact with a rich lady, news of him coming into a lot of money, and in the end, losing it. And yes, with a love story too. In short, it is the rise and apparent fall of Mr Pip. But wait, I have not given away the suspense yet. To recite the above and claim that you have described Great Expectations would not do it justice.
Pip’s life begins in the marshy countryside of one of the many small towns scattered across England. He lives with his sister and her husband – Mr and Mrs Joe Gargery. His parents are dead, and so are his five younger brothers. One day while wandering among the tombstones of his parents and the other deceased members of the town, he meets an escaped convict.
The man orders Pip to bring him food and makes him promise that he will not reveal their meeting to anyone. Pip is scared of the man and readily agrees. He steals some food from him kitchen and gives it to the man. Pip sees the convict once after that, at the moment when he is recaptured. Pip believes that he shall see no more of the man. His brief interaction and kind actions towards the escaped convict, however, will play a large role later in life.
At home, Pip and Joe Gargery share a nice comradery. They are both constantly at the receiving end of angry words from Mrs Gargery. She has brought up Pip by hand and considers it a great boon that she has bestowed upon her little brother, for which he must always be in her debt. He is forever being reprimanded for indiscipline (which he does not commit), and ungratefulness. Joe, trying to defend the poor fellow, gets fired at too. And then there are some of the other townsfolk – friend and acquaintances of Mrs Gargery. They too do not shy from scolding Pip for his apparently ungrateful conduct.
One of those friends is Mr Pumblechook – a hypocrite to the last degree. One day he comes to Pip’s house and says that Miss Havisham wishes to see Pip. There is much excitement – for Miss Havisham is supposed to be very rich and is a recluse who hasn’t left her house for years. Presently, Pip is driven to Miss Havisham’s house. There he meets Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter, Estella – a stunning beauty, with incomparable arrogance, and a heart of stone. Pip’s life changes forever. He falls in love with her, despite the fact that she has always treated him rudely and with indifference. Anyway, we will leave these things here with a little ambiguity, and move on. Pip is called to Miss Havisham’s house regularly and it seems that she has become a little fond of him.
One day, he and Joe are visited by Mr Jaggers – one of London’s most feared and sought-after lawyers. He declares that a person who does not wish to be named, has bestowed upon Pip a large fortune and has great expectations of him. Pip is to use that money and receive higher education and live in London like a gentleman. Here, Pip’s great expectations begin.
Now, to go further and elaborate the rest of the story would only make it less interesting for readers to read. Great Expectations is a long novel and is written in the classic Dickensian language. If you are reading Charles Dickens for the first time, I would recommend reading some of his other, lighter, works first, and getting acquainted with the language. It is sometimes difficult for readers to understand his style and vocabulary if they are not used to it. Once you have grown familiar with it, you may take up Great Expectations. Otherwise, you may not understand the book very clearly, and the its effect may be lost.
I believe books fall in roughly three categories: ones that care for feelings of the audience, ones that care for the feelings of the author, and ones that care for the feelings of the characters in the book. And for me, the books that fall in all three categories are the greatest, and Great Expectations is one of them. It stimulates the readers, makes room for the whims of the writer, and makes sure that Pip ends up living a life that is the best for him. And it is for this reason that I greatly respect Charles Dickens.
Anyways, I am sure you must have got my point by now. There is just one thing I want to say before signing off: when you have finished reading the book, go online and look up its conclusion and why the story ended the way it did. It is another very interesting story.
Outro:
So that is it, everyone! I hope you liked the review. If you did, please subscribe to my blog here. If you did not like it, stay tuned all the same. Who knows, you might like my next post. Until then, au revoir!