Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
Chapter 1
1. Who is the narrator? (provide his complete name)
2. Who are Mrs. Joe and Joe?
3. What is the setting of the chapter? Why is the narrator here?
4. What is the tone of the first chapter? Support answer with textual evidence.
5. Who does the narrator meet? Describe this stranger.
6. What does the stranger want from the narrator? Why?
7. How does the following quote adjust/change the reader’s view of the stranger:
“At the same time, he hugged his shuddering body in both his arms—clasping…as if to
hold himself together…”?
8. What theme does this chapter contain?
9. Write a summary of the events in this chapter.
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CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
Chapter 2
10. Describe Pip’s sister.
11. What is the tickler?
12. Explain how Pip and Joe were "brought up by hand."
13. Describe Joe.
14. What did Pip do which caused him to have a guilty conscience? What does this tell the
reader about Pip’s character?
15. *Identify two literary devices used by the author is each chapter. They cannot be the
same devices and you must explain the device’s effect.
Chapter 1
Device 1 _____________________
Text & Explanation
Chapter 2
Device 1 _____________________
Text & Explanation
Device 2_______________________
Chapters 3 – 7
Text & Explanation
Device 2_______________________
Text & Explanation
Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
Chapters 3 – 4
1. Describe the diction used in paragraph two. Why is it used?
2. As Pip tries to find his way to the Battery in the thick fog, who does he find sitting and
“nodding forward, heavy with sleep”?
3. Once Pip arrives at the Battery, who does he meet? What does Pip give to him (quote the
text)?
4. By the time Pip’s stranger has consumed the food and drink, how has Pip’s view of him
changed? Provide supporting textual evidence.
5. What is Mrs. Joe doing when chapter 4 begins?
6. What is Joe’s gesture to Pip and what does the presence of such communication indicate
about their relationship?
7. What was the family’s menu for the holiday meal? What problems might Pip incur?
8. Why does Joe give Pip more gravy during dinner?
9. Describe Pumblechook. What do we learn about him from his words?
10. How is Pip viewed by each of the following: Mrs. Joe, Pumblechook, Mrs. Humble, and
Joe?
11. What does Pip do at the end of Chapter 4? Why?
Chapters 5-7 (weekend reading)
Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
1. Who joins/interrupts the dinner party? Why?
2. Who leaves the dinner party to search for the escaped criminals?
3. When Pip’s convict says, “ ‘Lookee here!...Single-handed I got clear of the prisonship…I could ha’ got clear…if I hadn’t made the discovery that he was here…Let him
make a tool of me afresh and again?’” What information do we learn? What can we infer?
3. Identify Mr. Wopsle and Mr. Pumblechook.
4. About what were the two convicts arguing when they were captured?
5. Joe says, "We don't know what you have done, but we wouldn't have you starved to death
for it, poor miserable fellow-creature." What do we learn about Joe's character from this
quote?
6. How was Pip “exonerated” from his theft? What emotions so Pip experience and how are
they related other characters?
7. (True/False with explanation)
Pip was well educated? _____________ Provide textual evidence to support your
answer.
Pip’s education was superior Joe’s? _____________ Provide textual evidence to support
your answer.
Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
8. Translate Pip’s letter to Joe: (keep each word and line the line in the order provided in the
book
9. What do we learn about Joe’s childhood? How might this experience impact Joe’s
choices regarding others (Mrs. Joe, Pip, the convict, etc.)?
10. What news did Mrs. Joe bring at the end of Chapter 7? Explain each character’s reaction.
*Primary Theme & Supports: (chapters 5-7)
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CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
CHAPTER 8
1. What does Pumblechook do with/for Pip before his visit to Satis House? Why?



How would you label the characters by class? Why?
Joe & Mrs. Joe-
Mr. Wopsle-
Miss Havisham-
Mr. Pumblechook-
2. Describe Satis House. Though it is a mansion, what other type of building
does it seem to resemble?
3. What does Pip conclude about why Miss Havisham and the room look as they do?
4. How do Pip and Estella interact? What do their interactions reveal about
each of them?
5. How does Pip get rid of his “injured feelings”?
6. After visiting Satis House, why does Pip feel ashamed?
Royal Class –
This include
people from royal
family and the
spiritual lords of
that time.
Middle Upper
Class – This class
include great
officers of the
England, the
baronets along
with temporal
lords.
Lower Upper
Class – This class
include country
wealthy gentleman
and large scale
business men who
had made their
way with the
immense wealth
they possessed.
Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
CHAPTERS 9 -10
7. Why won’t Pip tll the truth about what happened
at Satis House?
8. What details of the "story" did you find funny?
9. Why do Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook believe his tale?
10. How does Joe react when Pip tells him the truth? What does this
reveal about Joe? How have Pip's expectations changed? What does he
expect now?
11. Reread the end of Chapter 9. What changes do you expect the visit to make?
12. Reread the first two pages of Chapter 10. Why is Pip dissatisfied with Mrs.
Wopsle's school? Identify at least five reasons.
13. How do readers know that the bank notes came from the convict?
Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
CHAPTER 11
1. Who does Pip meet during his next visit to Satis House? (Identify and describe the
characters.) What actions are connected to class/social separation and/or expectation?
2. How does Estella treat Pip when he arrives?
3. What strange centerpiece does Pip see on the table? How does Miss Havisham
explain it?
4. Has Estella’s attitude toward him changed when he leaves? Why or why not? How do you
know?
5. Who does Pip meet as he leaves the mansion? What happens with this boy? Why
do you think the boy is at Satis House?
CHAPTERS 12 ·13
1. What does Pip expect to be the outcome of his altercation in chapter 11?
2. Why does Miss Havisham ask to see Joe? Does Miss Havisham believe Pip to
be in agreement with her decision regarding his future? How do you know
this?
3. Why does Pip feel uncomfortable visiting Saris House with Joe?
4. Who does Pip begin to confide in instead of Joe? Why does he do this? What does this show
about Pip’s character?
Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
5. Who takes most of the credit for Miss Havisham's gift?
6. What does Pip mean when he says, "I should never like Joe's trade. I had liked it
once, but once was not now"? What do these words tell the reader about our protagonist?
CHAPTERS 14-15
1. Why doesn't Pip run away if he is so ashamed of his home and the forge?
2. Why does Pip go back to Saris House despite Joe's advice that he
shouldn't? What does this action tell the reader about Pip?
3. How does Sarah Pocket treat Pip? Why?
4. What out of character event happens between Orlick and Joe? Why does Dickens provide this
change in Joe’s character?
5. Why did the author make Joe such a "big" man? What might his size
symbolize?
6. Where is Estella? Was this a common practice during this time in history?
For whom?
7. Who is George Barnwell? Why does Pip identify with him?
Name _________________________________ Date___________________ Class__________
CLOSE READING GUIDE QUESTIONS - Great Expectations
CHAPTERS 16-17
1. Explain what makes Biddy a “blessing” to the Gargery household. What does this tell you
about Biddy?
2. How does the author characterize the police? Why?
3. In Pip's mind, how are Biddy and Estella different? Who does he value more? What
does this tell you about Pip?
4. Why does Pip tell Biddy about his attraction to Estella?
5. Summarize the reasons why Pip does not like Orlick. Does his anger seem
justified? In what ways does Pip seem immature?
CHAPTER 18
1. Summarize the news that Jaggers brings.
2. What conditions are set by the benefactor? Why does Pip believe
Miss Havisham sent Jaggers?