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What was Mr. Pumblechook's theory about the convict's robbery in Great Expectations?
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Mr. Pumblechook theorized that the convict who stole food from Mrs. Joe's pantry in Great Expectations climbed onto the forge's roof and descended the chimney using ropes made from his bedding. Despite the theory's absurdity, his status in the village led everyone to accept it without question. This inadvertently protected Pip, who had actually stolen the food, from suspicion and potential punishment from Mrs. Joe and disappointment from Joe.
Mr. Pumblechook has no idea that Pip is the one who stole the food for the convict from Mrs. Joe's pantry. Because the convict is caught with a dram of liquor and a pie, the assumption is that he himself got into the house and made off with these items.
Mr. Pumblechook devises a complicated theory in which the convict climbed onto the roof of the forge and lowered himself down with ropes made of his own bedding. Because Pumblechook is a man of some importance in the village, everyone accepts his version of the story without question.
This is the best of news for Pip, as nobody thinks to suspect him. He knows Mrs. Joe would be furious and very harsh with him if she knew what he did, but most of all, Pip fears that Joe would no longer think well of him if he found out he...
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had stolen. Therefore, Pip is glad to be able to keep this secret. Pumblechook would never willingly do Pip such a favor, but in this instance, he unwittingly helps the boy.
Mr. Pumblechook is a foolish and arrogant man in Great Expectations, and his guess as to how the convicts carried out their robbery bears that out. The robbery of the pantry is Pip’s fault, and he knows exactly how they got into the house, but to everyone else, it is a mystery. Mr. Pumblechook looks around and comes up with the idea that the men came down the chimney. The book says,
Mr. Pumblechook made out, after carefully surveying the premises, that he had first got upon the roof of the forge, and had then got upon the roof of the house, and had then let himself down the kitchen chimney by a rope made of his bedding cut into strips; and as Mr. Pumblechook was very positive and drove his own chaise-cart—over everybody—it was agreed that it must be so. (Chapter 6)
Being a rather boisterous loud-mouth, Pumblechook can overrule everyone else—basically shouting down other plausible theories. His idea is so far-fetched that it adds to the comedy that Dickens is using to mock the character. He plays into the tropes so well with his strange idea—the man so sure of his own brilliance that he can convince everyone else that his foolishness is correct.