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lucy94
lucy94
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In Chapter 39 of "Great Expectations", what language techniques does Dickens use to present plot, character, and setting?

 

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Posted by lucy94 on Tuesday February 3, 2009 at 9:02 AM and tagged with chapter 39, character, great expectations, language techniques, plot, setting.


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  1. ms-mcgregor Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    In Chapter 39,Pip discovers that Magwitch is his benefactor. Dickens heightens the suspense of this discovery through his use of imagery and dialogue. The first thing we notice is that there is a terrible storm. The storm reflects the confusion Pip feels and destruction of the dreams Pip had. When Pip first hears the news that Magwitch is the one who has been supporting him he says, "I stood so, looking wildly at him, until I grasped at the chair, when the room began to surge and turn. Pip realizes in an instant that this rough man does not fit into Estella's world..As he explains the details of how he supported Pip, his language is course and uneducated. " Let me finish wot I was a telling you, dear boy. From that there hut and that there hiring-out, I got money left me by my master (which died, and had been thesame as me), and got my liberty and went for myself. In every single thing I went for, I went for you. ‘Then Pip realizes the worst thing he has done. “But, sharpest and deepest pain of all … was that I had deserted Joe.” The convict imposes even more on Pip when he asks to stay the night. Pip realizes that person of low class is responsible for all his "great expectation" but that the man will never fit into the world of expectations Pip himself has created.

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    Posted by ms-mcgregor on Tuesday February 3, 2009 at 11:02 AM