How does Dickens create sympathy for Pip in the opening chapters of Great Expectations?
Charles Dickens was born during the Victorian times, he wrote ‘great expectations’ in a weekly instalment, every week he sold one part to maintain the reader’s interest. He wanted people to understand the mass divide of the rich and poor. He wished the people would realise how badly the poor were treated at that time. He used Pip to grab the reader’s attention in the opening chapters by making him a likeable character. Dickens did this as he made the readers sympathise for Pip.
In this essay I am going to explore the language which dickens uses to create sympathy for Pip. Firstly, Pip is an unloved orphan who has no purpose in life. In the opening chapter, we are brought into light that Pip had never seen his parents as ‘’I never saw likeness of either of them’’. Dickens uses the word ‘’never’’ to emphasise the sympathy built for Pip at the start of the novel. Moreover, we are informed that he has too lost all 5 of his …show more content…
‘’That this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard’’ this setting reflects Pips feelings and life, dark, cold and lonely. The graveyard’s dim setting could also make Pip frightened as there is nobody else there beside himself. Sympathy is built for the orphan due to the fact that if something dreadful occurs, no one is there to help him. This would also attract the reader to carry on reading as they have strong interest in Pip and worry if anything will happen to him.
Furthermore, when the convict is brought into the story for the first time the readers would have had extreme worry for the child. As Magwich first says in an urgent tone ‘’keep still you little devil or I’ll cut your throat!’’ which immediately informs the readers that this man is dangerous and could harm Pip. Sympathy increases due to this as Pip is in clear danger of being