Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
How does Dickens create a sense of sympathy for Pip in Chapter 9 ofGreat Expectations
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The opening description of the scene is all built around making Satishouse seem alien to Pip. It is immediately brought to the reader’sattention that the house is very old and that everything appearsdilapidated. The brewery is quickly noticed by Pip to be unused and hetells the reader ‘No brewing was going on in it, and none seemed tohave gone on for a long time.’ This involves the reader in the storyand makes it easier for them to see events from his perspective, thereader shares in Pip’s feeling of foreboding.
All the windows are barred or blocked, this gives the house theatmosphere of a prison, and this makes the surroundings far moremenacing and intimidating for Pip. The situation that Pip is instantlythrown into creates a strong and quick sympathy for Pip from thereader. Dicken’s builds on this as the scene progresses. Readers arelikely to have experiences of their own, where they have been broughtinto a new and unfamiliar situation where they have feltuncomfortable. Dicken’s plays on these feelings effectively and writesabout everything Pip’s young eyes notice about his seemingly foreignsetting. ‘It was paved and clean, but grass was growing in everycrevice.’ By creating a detailed image of Satis house in the readersmind the reader is able to place him or herself in Pip’s position andthey feel the fear that Pip feels.
Estella’s first appearance is her opening the gate to pip. Pipimmediately tells the reader that he finds Estella ‘very pretty andvery proud.’ This again pla…
…settingPip. Pip cries when he goes out into the yard, when given the image ofa crying child through Dickens descriptive writing the reader cannothelp but feel disgust toward the two ladies and sympathy toward Pip.
Even toward the end of the chapter Dickens does not stop describingPip’s surroundings, instead he constantly reminds the reader of theextent to which Pip is bewildered by his current predicament. Dickenspowerful descriptions of emotion and very detailed imagery are themain ingredients in this chapter that bring out experiences in thereaders past and their basic instinct to protect the defenceless. Thesympathy created in this scene is important for later in the novel. Itshows the large contrast between the young and vulnerable Pip and theolder Pip who is embarrassed of Joe and abandons his family.
