Study Questions
1. When Pip returns from the churchyard, where is Mrs. Joe?

2. How many times has Mrs. Joe been out looking for Pip?

3. What does Pip mean when he says he was “brought up by hand”?

4. What is the Tickler?

5. Where does Pip hide his bread?

6. What does Mrs. Joe give Pip when she thinks he has eaten his bread too fast?

7. How are the people on shore warned when a convict has escaped from the Hulks?

8. What are the Hulks?

9. What is unusual about the second convict’s face?

10. Who does Pip think the second convict is?

Answers
1. Mrs. Joe is out looking for Pip.

2. She has been out 13 times looking for him.

3. This phrase is an example of a pun, a play on words. The phrase could mean that he is being brought up in the watchful care of his sister. It could also mean that Pip is being brought up with many slaps and spankings from Mrs. Joe.

4. Tickler is a cane used by Mrs. Joe to discipline Pip.

5. Pip hides his bread down his pants leg.

6. Mrs. Joe makes Pip drink a pint of tar-water.

7. When a convict escapes from the Hulks, people on shore are warned by a cannon firing.

8. The Hulks are old ships used as a prison for convicts.

9. The second convict has a badly bruised left cheek.

10. Pip thinks that the second convict is the mysterious companion of the first convict.