GREAT EXPECTATIONS PHOTO POST.

In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, crime is a recurring idea that has happened all throughout the novel so far. All the convicts in this book are at one point trying to be free and escape what they've done wrong and to run away. Magwitch, being the main example in my case, ask's Pip for Joe's file so he can cut through his leg iron and escape. No matter what they have to do, they will do it for their right to be free. Pip encounters convicts throughout his whole life. Starting when he was a young boy until now in the novel where he is still with Magwitch but also has Compeyson stalking him. :0. I think that everyone deserves a right to be free, but once you do something against the law then I do think that you should have to pay for what you've done and not be able to just break out like they did in the book.

CONNECTION

        A connection that I made while I was connecting Great Expectations to another book was the Harry Potter series. First of all, they are both told from the same perspective. Yes, the Harry Potter books are written in the third person and Great Expectations in first person but both of the stories revolve around two young boys and their lives. Neither of the boys have very good childhoods, Pip not having his parents and having to grow up with his sister that detests him, and Harry not having parents either and having to live with his awful relatives who treat him like crap.
        Another connection that I made between the two different books were that after their awful childhoods, something great happened to them. They both came into money and got to live a totally different life than before. Pip was able to move to London, get educated, get money and learn to be a gentlemen. Harry came into money as well, moved into Hogwarts away from his awful relatives, became educated, and learns to be a wizard. Both of the boys had their hard times that they had to get through but weren't they worth it all in the end?


Harry as a young boy.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS, THE SECOND STAGE.

        Pip's meeting of Herbert Pocket or "the pale young gentlemen" enhances themes and motifs in the novel. Also, along with Mr. Jaggers. They're characters who at first don't have much to do in the First Stage but are come back towards the end of the First Stage or in the beginning of the Second Stage and they're to play a greater or larger part in Pip's life. At first, Herbert plays the "pale young gentlemen" and gets into a fight with Pip in the first stage at Miss Havisham's house but during the second part he comes back to become a great friend of Pip and the son of Pip's tutor. Mr. Jaggers is also first brought up in Miss Havisham's house when he encounters Pip on the staircase, and he is brought back into the novel when he informs Pip that he has a benefactor and wants to give him his "great expectations". "Becoming a gentlemen" is the main motif in the novel right now. Pip is off in London working his way up to becoming a gentlemen along with the help of Herbert who teaches him table manners. As Pip grew older, he started wanting more and more for himself until he wanted to be much more than stuck at home working as a blacksmith such as Joe.
        Pip entering London was a large disappointment among his part. He was hoping for it to be fancy and more "upper-class" but to his astonishment "...it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty." (161). His dreams are to become a gentlemen and being around Estelle and Miss Havisham are what I think to have brought on his high hopes of his "great expectations". Thanks to the mysterious benefactor, he has a place to live, learn and even the money to live out his new life. Entering London though brought down his hopes I believe though, because it's like finally being able to go somewhere you've been wanting to go to, only to realize it's nothing like you expected it to be and it caused disappointment. I just hope that Pip will come to reason with reality and that becoming a gentlemen all isn't what it's cracked up to be. He'd be better off living back with what little family he has left, working as a blacksmith and to be loved for who he truly is and not what he's turning into.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS PASSAGE

        In this passage, Pip is referring back to the day when he first met Mrs. Havisham and how she impacted his life from then on. Mostly the relationship that the two of them share. I think that the iron and gold, thorns and roses, are a way of saying that whether the situation is good or bad, you are stuck with it without a way of getting out. Confined in a way. In chapter nine, he returns from Mrs. Havisham's and lies to Joe and Mrs. Joe what it is that he did while he was there. He's in a situation where is stuck because he starts feeling guilty about hiding the truth and lying to Joe but he doesn't want to have to share with anybody what it was that he did over there. Meeting Mrs. Havisham introduced Pip more into the life of the high-class. This is the turning point for Pip, and it's a positive one at that. He knows that he doesn't want to be common and mistreated anymore, so he tries and gets a good education from Biddy and learn what it's like to be high-class from Biddy. He's achieving more and realizes that if you want something, you're going to have to work for it.
        One thing that started a "chain" in my life was when we moved when I was seven. It's not that we moved far or anything, just from Rochester to Olympia. It impacted me A LOT though. I had lived in that house ever since I was born and the thought of leaving it was just terrifying, but then I was also kind of excited because I got to go and explore my new house and imagine what adventures lie there waiting for me. I was young at the time, but I realized that there was no turning back. I couldn't have influenced the decision about not moving. I was stuck and I was going to have to deal with what was going to happen. On top of all this, it was even the year that I switched schools. Private to public. Having to leave my friends was tough to deal with but looking on the brighter side, I set new goals to make friends!

QUESTION ABOUT A PASSAGE.

Citation: "You'll drive me to the churchyard betwixt you, one of these days, and oh, a pr-r-recious pair you'd be without me!" (Mrs. Joe Gargery pg. 9)

My book has different page numbers, but it's on the second or third page of Chapter 2.

Questions: There are two things that I got confused about. One, what does the word betwixt mean? It's used multiple times in the novel already and I just don't know what it means! Second, I understand that she thinks that if she wasn't in Pip's life, his life would be awful, but why does she include saying that Joe wouldn't be good without her because he hasn't done anything wrong!?

GROUP INTRO PARAGRAPH.

This is only posted for editing purposes:

INTRO PARAGRAPH:
         To be honest, sometimes you have to lie to be truthful. In Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, dishonesty Is used by many of the characters so that they can be honest to themselves. Like a veil, their lies hide who they are in truth. These lies trickle into their social lifes and allow, or hinder, them to get away from their social positions and act on what they really wish to do. Lying allows the characters to be with those they truly love and care for, rather than having to lie in a relationship that they get forced into. Another way dishonesty is displayed throughout the book is in Algernon’s “bunburying” or rather his hunt for self-gain. Not telling the truth to avoid what you’re afraid of is how the characters protect themselves.

GROUP ESSAY COLLABORATION.

        Okay, so I know that Mathew doesn't have a blog and not sure if he is even going to read this or not but for Enola; I know that we weren't at the stage on Friday to even share our paragraphs so I'm going to post my paragraph and do the best that I can with the post anyway.

2nd BODY PARAGRAPH:
        Wilde has the characters pretend to be those who they aren’t, just to be with the people that they love. First off, having an affair with someone was considered normal believe it or not. During the conversation Algernon and Jack were having about marriage and bunburying, Algernon says “…three is company and two is none.” If you can’t be loyal and truthful to your marriage and are just going to go off and have an affair, then don’t go through all of the trouble of getting married. If there are two people in a relationship and one doesn’t love the other, than they should just tell them that up front rather than going behind their back and being dishonest. On the other hand, John plays the role of Ernest because he thinks that he’ll be thought of lesser as a person if Gwendolen knew his true self. This is first shown when Jack says “…you don’t really mean to say that you couldn’t love me if my name wasn’t Ernest?” If you want a relationship to last, then you think that getting down the basics such as knowing the real first name of your partner would be one of the first things to do. Jack is using dishonesty to impress the girl he wants to be with, but eventually realizes that he was never being untruthful in any way. In addition, the ladies in this play seemed to be attracted to the name of Ernest no matter whom the person may be. Gwendolen first shows her attraction during a conversation with Jack when she says “The only really safe name is Ernest.” Love isn’t based on name or even social standings but of pure attractions between one another. Wilde shows that the women are being dishonest without even realizing it because on the inside, they’re attracted to the person and not their name. The women are doing this to fulfill themselves and their personal pleasures. All in all, Wilde showed us that not all lying is bad if you’re lying to be truthful.

        Yet again, we haven't shared our paragraphs yet so all of this is new to you. For all of my concrete details, I have quotes. I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not or if it blends nicely or not, so let me know. I tried making all of my commentary so it wasn't summarizing my concrete details because I know that it's not good to have that. I've proof read it already to make sure I didn't have any "I" statements but it'd be nice if you could double check that for me. Also, for my last two "topics" or whatever, I don't know if they sound to much a like or if I should just leave them like that.