Lockdown Literature 8.1

Hi all,

Welcome back! Only a few chapters of Great Expectations left to go.

Today, we’re going to do something a bit different. No reading this time; instead, we’ll practise annotating an extract with a question in mind. 

Here’s the work:

 

1) Do this quiz on Chapters 55 and 56.

2) Make your own copy of this Google doc (instructions on the doc) and do the tasks.

When you’ve done the work, please share your doc with me (by clicking the big share button). 

This task is designed to mimic the thought processes of answering an exam question. As we haven’t done a full Great Expectations question (yet), it’s an important task, so please give it your best shot.

If you have any trouble with the doc or with the task, please let me know straight away. On Friday, I’ll be asking you to read Chapter 57, so if you get bored and want to crack on with this before then, feel free.

Thanks,

Mr M

P.S. A couple of final thoughts based on recent chapters/tasks. Please read:

1) A reminder of the significance of the biblical allusion to the story of the Pharisee (a member of a strict religious sect, or a self-righteous, hypocritical person) and the tax collector:

This bible passage (especially the bits in blue) is key to understanding Dickens’s message. The tax collector knows he is a sinner and is humble. But the Pharisee thinks his behaviour is perfect. Dickens’s book about pride and ambition becomes one which advocates and rewards being humble.

2) My answer to the question of the significance of Trabb’s boy’s appearance in Chapter 53:

Becoming a gentleman transformed Pip from being the selfless, kind, unassuming little boy we met in chapter 1 to being self-absorbed, idle and delusional. He started to think that the world was a story of romance in which he was the hero and Estella the princess he was destined to marry. But at the same time, he became paranoid about being found out for who he really is (or at least who he was). His paranoid fears about Trabb’s boy (and also the Avenger) being out to get him exposes his weakness. Maybe they scare him because they remind him of his background and his pip-like insignificance. He called Trabb’s boy an ‘invulnerable and dodging serpent’, an ‘unlimited miscreant’ and ‘a boy whom no man could hurt.’ All of these descriptions are ridiculous. They show that, in Pip’s imagination, Trabb’s boy is an agent of evil who has a superhuman power to humiliate him. Of course, really he’s just a poor boy who recognises Pip for the humbug he is and gleefully exposes it. Just like Orlick, Pip tries to exercise his power and put him in his place by trying to get him fired from Trabb’s. It’s interesting that these two victims of Pip’s insecurity act very differently; Orlick tries to kill Pip, whereas Trabb’s boy seems oblivious and unconcerned – and ends up saving his life. This episode shows Pip that he is not the centre of the universe and that the world is not out to get him. Trabb’s boy has a life of his own and is capable of being good. Realising this helps Pip to let go of his self-centred mindset and insecurities - and grow up.