Great
Expectations
Chapters One and Two
Summary
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The novel opens up with a boy named Pip in a
churchyard. He relates that he has never seen his
parents and was brought up by his sister, Mrs. Joe
Gargery – the wife of a blacksmith.
He lives in a marsh and doesn’t appear to be very
bright as evidenced by the fact that he derived his
mother’s name to be “Also Georgiana” from her
tombstone. In the churchyard Pip ran into a convict
who shook Pip upside down, ate the bread that fell
from his pocket, and threatened him with his life if he
did not return the next day with a file from his brother
in law Joe, a blacksmith, and some food.
Upon being released by the convict Pip ran home to
his psychotic sister and protective Joe. Once home,
Pip’s sister reminds him how she “brought him up by
hand” and comments that “I’d never do it again” (8).
Joe and Pip have a amiable relationship illustrated by
their friendly bread eating competition – a competition
that Pip, to Joe’s dismay, doesn’t participate in that
night as he wishes to save his slice of bread for the
convict. Pip needs to pretend that he ate his bread
quickly though and as a result, Mrs. Joe makes him
drink tar water.
To further propel the reader’s opinion of Mrs. Joe into
contempt she is physical with both Joe and Pip. Her
harsh nature is compounded by her rude response in
the quote on page 13.
 Churchyard
 Orphan
 Education
 Joe
 Mrs.
Joe
 “People are put in the
Hulks because they
murder…and they
always begin by
asking questions.” (13)
Important Quotes
 Quote
1 Page 7 Pip “Has she been gon
long, Joe? I always treated him as a larger
species of a child, and as no more than my
equal.” (7)
 Quote 2 Page 11 Pip “It was Christmas Eve
and Pip didn’t sleep at all as he waited for
morning “to rob Mrs. Joe—I never thought I
was going to rob Joe, for I never thought of
any of the housekeeping property as his.”
(11).
Choose two quotes that you deem vital to the development of the plot,
characters, or theme.
Character Analysis Example: Pip
 Find,
and discuss in detail, the evolution of a
character we have already encountered or the
introduction of a new character. You must have
direct quotes from the text to support your
analysis.
 Relationships~~Poor
relationship with sister, Mrs.
Joe “my all-powerful sister, who repulsed me at
every turn”(14).
 Cautious/scared~~”I should like to know—if you
wouldn't much mind—where the firing comes
from?”(13)
Joe Gargary
 Description~~”Joe
was a fair man, with curls
of flaxen hair.” (6)
 “He was a mild, good-natured, sweettempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow—
a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in
weakness.” (6)
 Protective~~”passed
me on into the chimney
and quietly fenced me up there with his
great leg.” (7)
Pip = Young Harry Potter
 Both
are orphaned at a young age. Both are
innocent but feel lost or not accepted in the world
they live in.
 Pip’s sister Mrs. Joe makes Pip feel like a burden,
but he has the great love of Joe to protect him.
 Harry’s Aunt and Uncle mistreat Harry but he has
the great love of Dumbledore to protect him.
 Breakfast
Scenes compared
Use visuals that connect with the
chapters you present.
Breakfast Comparison
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My sister had a trenchant way of
cutting our bread-and-butter for us,
that never varied. First, with her left
hand she jammed the loaf hard and fast
against her bib - where it sometimes
got a pin into it, and sometimes a
needle, which we afterwards got into
our mouths. Then she took some butter
(not too much) on a knife and spread it
on the loaf, in an apothecary kind of
way, as if she were making a plaister using both sides of the knife with a
slapping dexterity, and trimming and
moulding the butter off round the
crust. Then, she gave the knife a final
smart wipe on the edge of the plaister,
and then sawed a very thick round off
the loaf: which she finally, before
separating from the loaf, hewed into
two halves, of which Joe got one, and I
the other.
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"Pass the frying pan."
"You've forgotten the
magic word," said Harry
irritably. The effect of
this simple sentence on
the rest of the family
was incredible: Dudley
gasped and fell off his
chair with a crash that
shook the whole
kitchen; Mrs. Dursley
gave a small scream
and clapped her hands
to her mouth; Mr.
Dursley jumped to his
feet, veins throbbing in
his temples.
Use visuals that
connect with the
chapters you
present.