1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.
Growing up with no parents, and living with his sister and her husband was a man named Pip, who lived the marshes of Kent. Pip was visiting his parents at their tombstones, where he is jumped from behind by an escaped convict, and forces Pip to bring him food and a file. Then, Pip is taken by his Uncle to play at the Satis House, this was the home of a rich woman named Miss Havisham. Hopelessly, Pip falls deeply in love with Estrella, and dreams of nothing but being by her side. He wants to a wealthy gentleman just so he can be worthy of being with the irresistable Estrella. He continues to hope that Miss Havisham will make him a gentleman in order to marry Estrella. However, this dream is not met, because Miss Havisham will not make Pip a gentleman or a husband. Miss Havishman decides to make him a common laborer instead. Pip meets a new guy name Herbert in London, and they become friends. Herbert told Pip he would him become a gentlemen. As the novel progresses, a complicated mystery begins to unfold. Compeyson is the man who abandoned Miss Havishman at the altar, and discovers Magwitch is Estrella's father. Being the kinda, and giving soul Pip is, he begins to see the real Magwitch, the good. He begans to care for him. Estrella ends up marrying some upper class lout name Bentley. However, at the end of the novel, Pip finds out how kind and gentle Estrella can be. The cruelty he saw was just a mask she had put on. They are left in the garden, holding hands, promising they will never be apart again.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
The theme of the novel is self-improvement and ambition. We are constantly trying to reach success. Society, itself, creates pressures to succeed. We are judging ourself by others success or failures. In the novel, Pip is so influential on his peer's careers, that instead of finding out what's right for Pip, he is how do I become like him? Great Expectations reveal how great expectations can help society, or drag it to the wrong direction.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include 3 excerpts that illustrate your point.Dicken's tone expresses the emotion in the text. The love Pip had for Estrella, and the realization that he could prosper.
"The broken heart. You think you will die, but you just keep living, day after day after terrible day.
"I looked at the stars, and considered how awful it would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death, and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude."
"It is not possible to know how far the influence of any amiable, honest-hearted duty-doing man flies out into the world, but it is very possible to know how it has touched one's self in going by."
4. Describe 5 literary techniques/elements you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone. Include 3 excerpts that will help your reader understand each one."Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape."
"Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces – and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her!"
"In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong."
"Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."
"We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me."
Symbolism: mist of the marshes, darkness, and statues
Anaphora – the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.” (Winston Churchill)
Apostrophe – a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present and the inanimate as if animate. These are all addressed directly: “Milton, thou shoulds’t be living at this hour.”
Bildungsroman – a novel of education or spiritual growth of the main character as he/she undergoes a moral crisis
Chiasmus – a verbal pattern in which the second half of the expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed, as in the saying, “You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl.”
Diction – word choice used to convey a certain effect
Euphemism -The substitution of a mild or less negative word or phrase for a harsh or blunt one, as in the use of "pass away" instead of "die." The basic psychology of euphemistic language is the desire to put something bad or embarrassing in a positive (or at least neutral light).
Hyperbole –a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration ex: “The shot heard ‘round the world.” It may be used for serious or comic effect.
Polysyndeton– the repetition of conjunctions in close succession for a rhetorical effect, as in the phrase “here and there and everywhere.”
Synecdoche – aa figure of speech in which a part is used for a whole (as a hand for a sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for a police officer), or the material of a thing for the thing made from it (steel for sword).
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?"Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle."
"In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong."
The author uses indirect characterization, along with direct characterization in many ways. Charles Dickens lets you into the character's thoughts, along with messages the characters reveal.
2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?The author changes his syntax and diction when focusing on one character, because each character is another lesson to reveal the theme.
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
Pip is the main character, therefore he is dynamic and round. In the beginning, Pip is so influential of everyone around him, and constantly wants success. At the end of the book, you can see how Pip has matured, and realizes that he cannot want his peers life, because he has a life of his own to succeed in.
4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
"Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule"
I believe Pip would be an amazing character to meet because the ambition he has is truly inspirational.
