Notes on Great Expectations Chpt 1-3

The Perspective employed in this paragraph is both the adult pips and child’s. This is because the language used shows that the adult pip is educated, which can be seen form the choice of words such as ‘conscience is a dreadful thing’ , nevertheless the readers should see Pips experiences and this gives us his perspective as a child who encountered these events and continues to reflect upon them. An example of this can be seen from ‘in the case of a boy, that secret burden co-operates with another secret down the leg of the trousers it is (as I testify)’.

We mostly see the perspective of the adult narrator, however, both the adult perspective and child perspective of Pip have a tendency to blur in and out of each other. This can be seen through Pips choice of words but yet showing his adult viewpoint but sharing feelings during the time he was a child. What this creates is a complex narrative with two levels of consciousness.

The very first example of Crime and Punishment that is offered to readers can be seen from the convict’s introduction. From the text “‘hold your noise!’ cried a voice terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. ‘Keep still, you little devil, or ill cut you throat’”. The convicts disheveled look, his harsh language and violence give off a sense that he could be a criminal. ‘This great iron on his legs’ reinforces this and indicates that he is a criminal being punished. Hence, the iron is a symbol that generates the notion of crime and punishment is the Gibbet that Pip sees. This is because Gibbet’s were used during execution, which connects it to crime and punishment. The idea of crime and punishment is not limited to the convict. Pip too committed a crime through stealing for the criminal. The ramification he has is very different from the criminal. He punishes himself through vivid imaginations he has such as the encounter with the violent cattle. The difference between Pip and the convict