The First Taste of Expectation

I am reading, as you already know, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. In this first blog I would like to do two things 1) discuss a little bit about the time the book is set in and the man behind the writing and 2) discuss the form of narration that is used within the story. First, Charles Dickens was one of the most successful English authors to ever live and Great Expectations was his best selling book. Dickens lived in the early 18th century in Landport, Southern England. He was one of eight children and lived a relatively good life, yet he only attended formal school for three years. With  little formal education, his experiences were largely a part his work and are seen throughout Great Expectations and the life of Pip. Now enough backstory, (I like the ability to actually play around with informal writing and blogging) I want to discuss the narration of Great Expectations and how it is used to tell the story since it has been such a large part of our classroom discussions of late. To get started, the narrator of the story is a boy named Pip, Philip Pirrip is his realy name but it is shortened to be just Pip since no one likes to say it. The entire story is told in first person, never shifting away from Pip and always radiating out around him. We as readers get a very good sense of what Pip is feeling and we see through Pip's eyes. While this gives us a great deal of insight into the life and tale of Pip, it forces Dickens to use Pip's observations to characterize the other characters within the book and all events revolve around his bias. For example, Pip is sent to a woman's home, named Miss Havisham, who is extremely wealthy and lives in isolation. After being led through the dark house by Estella with a single candle, a women around Pip's age who he falls in love with (dictating the actions and progression of Pip, but that is for later), he arrives in a room that "looks as if it has stopped in time". All of the clocks in the room are stopped exactly at the same time, the table is arranged for a dinner that never happened and a large wedding cake is just sitting and rotting on top. It appears as if light has not entered into the room for decades. Miss Havisham is wearing a yellowed and crumbling old wedding dress, which she never changes out of. These observations are made through the eyes of Pip and thus our perception and understanding of Miss Havisham is 'forged' by Pip (his father figure is a blacksmith). Now that brings me to the part that intrigues within the novel. Since Dickens has created this character named Pip and he uses him as an outlet to dictate the story, we need to view the entire story as a commentary that is designed by Dickens and worked out through Pip. Almost exactly like Briony in Atonement. Which brings up the question, just like how we couldn't necessarily trust what Briony said because she wrote in the first person and we were ultimately bomboozled in the end, can we not trust Pip? Or does the story that he occupies validate his authenticity? I believe it does validate his authenticity becaues we are reading the 'story of Pip'. Of course there is an underlying theme that has social criticism, an over arching message that Dickens is trying to convey, hidden subtleties that Pip doesn't pick up on, but we are being brought along through the story on Pip's shoulder. Therefore, as THE narrator, we have to make our assumptions and conclusions based off of what Pip tells us and what Pip experiences. This makes for a very interesting story that truly feels like a powerful and great work of fiction.