How does Charles Dickens capture the reader’s interest in the first chapter of Great Expectations?
At the start of Great Expectations Pip is the narrator as an adult but telling the story from Pip’s childhood point of view. Pip was wondering alone in the churchyard, where his parents and five brothers are buried,Pip is weeping for his dead family, establishing him as an orphan for whom we feel sorry for, when he has a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict who demands Pip to bring him food and a file or else he will slit his throat and rip his liver out and roast it in front of him, The plot of chapter one is directed around this mysterious event which is key for Charles Dickens to maintain his reader’s interest, because the reader is left with an uncertainty of who Magwitch is and if he is capable of doing what he has threatened to. The chapter keeps the suspense as to whether Pip will get the food and survive or not, however it’s ironic as we already know that Pip must have survived as he is telling the story which makes it more interesting about what happened next. Chapter one is important as it is the beginning of the story and it will reflect the rest of the novel so it has to have a meaningful plot and atmosphere to draw reader’s interest to begin with and this must become more dramatic through out to keep readers interest.
Dickens’s structure of the story keeps the reader interested by presenting it as an autobiography, because of this the reader can understand how Pip is feeling, the story being in the first person also helps the reader to believe it and relate to the characters, especially Pip. Dickens uses a detailed description of the setting which can reflect the character’s feelings, the use of pathetic fallacy in chapter one symbolizes the characters emotions for example: Pip is in the churchyard where it is “cold…dark and colorless” this demonstrates how Pip feels, “cold, lonely and unprotected which then leads the reader to become interested in the characters and feel for them in this case the readers may feel sympathetic towards Pip. Some of the disjointed sentences in chapter one can increase nervous tension e.g. When Magwitch is pushing Pip further back with every question “After each question he tilted me over a little more, so as to give me a greater sense of helplessness and danger” this creates immediate interest and tension at that moment, this then leaves the reader curious as to what will happen next. The drama in chapter one keeps the reader on a constant cliff hanger so they have to read on to reveal the next event.
The Essay on Joy Of Read Reader Interest Reading
How To Enjoy Reading A Novel As soon as a novel must be read or becomes part of a literary course, the joy of reading it is immediately lost due to the fact that the particular novel may not be interest to the student, the student may hurry to finish the novel and by the extent to which the novel is studied. The joy of reading a novel is lost when a novel is not of interest to the reader because ...
In the story Pip is recalling his memories and telling the story to the reader this gives it a realistic feel, Dickens use of dialogue also creates a believable story, because Pip cannot pronounce his full name this gives him a naive characteristic which is then presented through the rest of the story and aids the reader to connect with Pip as well as the other characters, Pip is a good person. He steals a file and food for the convict, but feels guilty about it this shows that Pip is caring and also quite vulnerable. When Magwitch threatens Pip the readers feel fear for him as if it was real because of the way Pips character has been presented previously.
In conclusion I think that Charles Dickens uses many techniques in which to keep readers interest in the first chapter of Great Expectations, this includes the stories structure, descriptive details such as characteristics and scenery and the style of the story, in this case it is like an autobiography which captures readers interest in believing the story giving a realistic feel. I think that Dickens has a specific method to keep readers intrigued, because chapter one is full of action which instantly captures the reader’s attention and keeps them engrossed in the story. Overall Dickens has lots of unique ways to keep the readers interest which is presented throughout the whole book, his own imagination and creativeness grabs the reader’s attention naturally and his dynamic techniques only help enhance his natural engagement to his audience.
The Essay on Young Man Pip Magwitch Dickens
During his early childhood Charles Dickens travelled Great Britain due to his father's job. H lived in mainly coastal towns as his father was a naval clerk and therefore became familiar with the scenes reflected in Great Expectations. Dickens has used memorable scenes and characters from his childhood; the marshes representing one of his youth time homes and many of the characters being written in ...
