Great Expectations Discussion

[Alyssa]

What did you think of the book? Did you find it an enjoyable read, or did you maybe dislike the descriptive writing style?

I myself really liked it, the writing style included. I think my favorite thing was the characters. They were all just so weird and quirky, and they all had their own very unique personalities.

[VWrulesChick]

I am just about 1/2 way through the book. Pip seems like an interesting character and how he thinks. Don't seem to align with his nasty sister much, but her husband Joe is somewhat spineless (non-confrontational).

Miss Haverish is just stuck in her past and cannot get over herself. Not sure if I like her or not.

Just getting to know some other characters in London and don't have feel yet for them. Will let you know as I continue the story.

[VWrulesChick]

OK, I am finished this book and thought I would pose some questions for the group to discuss:

When replying, please indicate which question you are responding to... thanks

NUMBER 1
In this novel, Great Expectations, things are often not what they seem. Discuss how the theme of "expectations" is illustrated by and through the various major characters in this book. How are Pip's expectations different and similar from those of his surrogate father, Joe (the blacksmith), Miss Havisham (the eccentric recluse), Estella (the daughter of a convict and murderess) and Pip's benefactor, (the convict) Magwitch?


NUMBER 2
Why do you think Miss Havisham manipulates and misleads Pip into thinking she is his secret benefactor? What, if anything, does she derive from this action?


NUMBER 3
In the Chapter 49 when Miss Havisham is set afire, do you believe that, given her state of mind, Dickens intends us to read this as an accident or a kind of penance/attempted suicide on her part for her cruelty to Pip and Estella?


NUMBER 4
In Chapter 59, when Pip places Joe and Biddy's son (also named Pip) on the same tombstone that opens the novel, what do you think Dickens intends to tell us with this image? Given the novel's theme of how the sins of others are visited upon us, do you view this image as a foreboding one in any way?

NUMBER 5
Anything else you would like to share with the group, ideas, quotes, characters, writing style?

[Dan]

Number 2:

Miss H. doesn't actively mislead him into believing that. She merely plays along with his desires to be with Estella. She scolds him in the end that he had "made his own snares." True it wasn't very kind of her to let him believe that, but then "who am I to be kind to anyone!"