Great Expectations

1. Great Expectations Mr. Czarnecki British Literature

2. What Does It Mean to Be “Dickensian”? • Charles Dickens’ work continues to be so influential that the adjective “Dickensian” is used today to describe something “of or like the novels of Charles Dickens (especially with regard to poor social and economic conditions),” according to WordNet. • For example, a 2008 article in The New York Times describes Mumbai, India this way: “For the writer, the Dickensian lens offers an easy view of Mumbai: wealthy and poor, apartment-dwelling and slumdwelling, bulbous and malnourished.”

3. TV Shows The Wire Shameless Roseanne Movies The Breakfast Club Clueless Good Will Hunting Braveheart Newsies Books Native Son The Great Gatsby The Outsiders The Divergent Series The Hunger Games What contemporary work—novel, film, television series, Web site—do you consider “Dickensian” in tone and/or content? What specific traits of the work do you find especially Dickensian?

4. The Dickensian Style • Aside from a lens through which you can read literature and media, the word “Dickensian” can also refer to writing style. • This can be applied to setting, characterization and character archetypes, description, diction (word choice) and syntax (sentence structure).

5. Pip’s Tone • Tone is defined as the apparent attitude to the narrative voice. • How would you describe Pip’s tone in the following passages? • After the convict threatens to eat Pip’s face, he tells the reader: “I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t” (3). • When describing his sister Pip tells us that she “had such a prevailing redness of skin that [he] sometimes used to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap” (6).

6. Archetypes • An archetype is defined as a symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as an element of one's literary experience as a whole. • However, psychologist Carl Jung theorized that the archetype originates in the “collective unconscious” of mankind—that is, the shared experiences of life birth, death, love, family life, etc.

7. Character Archetypes • Recurring character “types” are pervasive. Consider: • Witches who eat children, • The mad scientist • The strict older teacher whose chief objective is to make life miserable for his students • The skinny tie wearing younger teacher with the man-purse • The star-crossed lovers • Can you think of other archetypes in literature and pop culture?

8. Dickensian Archetypes • Dickens is known for his inventive and original characters. Still, he often relied on archetypes of his own. • Paying attention to these archetypes throughout your reading will help shed light on his view of human nature. • Some Dickensian archetypes to consider: • The frivolous but attractive young woman, the “saintly” young man/woman, the proud young woman, victimized or sickly young boys, the “fallen” woman

9. Characterization • Dickens also had a unique way of building his characters. • According to Everyone in Dickensby George Newlin (GreenwoodPress, 1995),Dickens created 13,143 separate characters. • Each, no matter how minor, is delineated by some idiosyncrasy of speech, dress, or manner.

10. Pip’s Duality • It can be said that in GE there exists two versions of Pip: that who is speaking and that who is being spoken about. • Consider this passage:

11. One night I was sitting in the chimney corner with my slate, expending great efforts on the production of a letter to Joe. I think it must have been a full year after our hunt upon the marshes, for it was a long time after, and it was winter and a hard frost. With an alphabet on the hearth at my feet for reference, I contrived in an hour or two to print and smear this epistle:— "MI DEER JO i OPE U R KR WITE WELL i OPE i SHAL SON B HABELL 4 2 TEEDGE U JO AN THEN WE SHORL B SO GLODD AN WEN i M PRENGTD 2 U JO WOT LARX AN BLEVE ME INF XN PIP.” There was no indispensable necessity for my communicating with Joe by letter, inasmuch as he sat beside me and we were alone. But I delivered this written communication (slate and all) with my own hand, and Joe received it as a miracle of erudition.

12. Relationships & Identity: ch. 1-11 • Pip’s relationship to the characters around him is in large part how he constructs a sense of self. • In groups of four, find a passage from ch.1-11 that you feel captures the relationship between Pip and your assigned character. • Then, closely read and analyze in a way that explains HOW that passage a) is indicative of their relationship and b) how it affects Pip’s sense of self.

13. Characters You’ll Focus On • Group 1: Mrs. Joe • Group 2: Joe • Group 3: Havisham • Group 4: Estella • Group 5: Biddy • Group 6: Pumblechook

14. Victorian England: The Basics • Dickens wrote during the Victorian era. • Victorian literally describes things and events in the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) • Victorian England saw great expansion of wealth, power, and culture. • In religion, the Victorians experienced a great age of doubt, the first that called into question institutional Christianity on such a large scale.

15. I guess this wasn’t so basic... • In ideology, politics, and society, the Victorians created astonishing innovation and change: democracy, feminism, unionization of workers, socialism, Marxism, and other modern movements took form. • Victorian, in other words, can be taken to mean parent of the modern -- and like most powerful parents, it provoked a powerful reaction against itself.

16. Social Class in Victorian England • Working class - men and women who performed physical labor, paid daily or weekly wages • Middle class - men performed mental or "clean" work, paid monthly or annually • Upper class - did not work, income came from inherited land and investments

17. Characteristics of Victorian Literature • Literature of this age tends to come closer to daily life which reflects its practical problems and interests. It becomes a powerful instrument for human progress. Socially & economically, Industrialism was on the rise and various reform movements like emancipation, child labor, women’s rights, and evolution. • Moral Purpose: The Victorian literature seems to deviate from "art for art's sake" and asserts its moral purpose. Tennyson, Browning, Carlyle, Ruskin - all were the teachers of England with the faith in their moral message to instruct the world.

18. The Bildungsroman: Sounds Funny, but It Ain’t • A Bildungsroman is, most generally, the story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a defined social order. • The growth process, at its roots a quest story, has been described as a "search for meaningful existence within society.” • To spur the hero or heroine on to their journey, some form of loss or discontent must jar them at an early stage away from the home or family setting.

19. Building Dung Romans? • The process of maturity is long, arduous, and gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between the protagonist's needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order. • Eventually, the spirit and values of the social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is then accommodated into society. The novel ends with an assessment by the protagonist of himself and his new place in that society.

20. Bildungsroman: A novel of formation • An interesting definition literary theorist Franco Moretti. He says, “Bildungsroman focuses on compromise in general and on the compromise between the aristocracy and the middle class in particular. It also focuses on everyday life, restless youth as a symbols of rising capitalism, and on the idea and practice of socialization [acquiring social norms] which often ends in marriage and marks the beginning of adulthood.”

21. Bildungsroman: A novel of formation • In groups of four, choose three characters (one from each social class—working, middle, upper) and find quotes that characterized them. • If the genre of the Bildungsroman is truly one of compromise between classes, what portrait is Dickens providing of the social system in Victorian England? • Convey your findings on a poster for display.