Great Expectations Essays/Presentations
ECP Senior Connections
If you need to do a particular type of essay to meet your graduation requirements (or need one for honors),
choose one of the ones that will meet the requirement that you are missing.
If you have met all of your requirements, choose any of the topics below and make a presentation to the
class on that question. You will be required to have the same kind of evidence as a paper and will need to
include a visual aid in your presentation.
Need to do a Literary Analysis paper? Choose one of these.
Who/what is the real villain of GE? How does this fit with Dickens’ parable?
How does the use of sub-genre X (choose one) contribute to Dickens’ message? Pick at least four incidents
in which that sub-genre is used and explain how those incidents help communicate one of Dickens’ main
messages.
What is Dickens’ message? What sub-genre contributes most to that message?
What does Dickens say about poverty?
What does Dickens say about wealth?
What does Dickens say about gender?
Why does GE get less funny as it progresses?
Why are there no conventional and functional parents in this book? Why does Dickens do this?
Other ideas:
Need to do a Compare/Contrast or Cause/Effect essay? Choose one of these
What is Dickens’ conception of a good marriage? Compare the good marriages and at least one of the bad
ones to define a good marriage according to Dickens.
What does Dickens’ believe men and women should be like? Compare and contrast the good and
bad/sympathetic and unsympathetic male and female characters to show what Dickens believed about men
and women.
What does Dickens believe causes human degradation?
What are the effects of servitude in Great Expectations? How does it affect the servants and those who
have servants?
How does the historical setting affect Dickens’ message? Could this story be set in the present and have
the same message?
What do the minor characters contribute to the story? Identify at least five and explain their effect on the
story.
What literary device impacts the story the most? Identify one and explain the impact it had on your
experience with this novel.
At the time that Dickens wrote this book, debate was raging over whether “nature” or “nurture” (heredity or
environment) was primarily responsible for a person’s character. Compare and contrast the effects of
heredity and environment on at least four characters in the novel. Your thesis should be the resulting
understanding that can be gained from comparing and contrasting them.
Compare the film version of Great Expectations (1946 version) to the novel. Your comparison should focus
on one aspect: characterization, plot, relationships, etc. Your thesis should summarize the similarities and
differences and either provide the reason for them or state the effect of those differences and similarities.
What causes characters in Great Expectations to change? Use these examples to explain Dickens’ view of
human nature.
Compare and contrast the two endings of Great Expectations. Explain how each one fits or doesn’t fit with
the story arc and the development of the characters.
Other ideas:
Need to do a Persuasive essay? Choose one of these
Is Great Expectations a masterpiece? Why or why not? Define “masterpiece” by creating your criteria for a
great piece of literature. Show how GE meets, or fails to meet, those criteria.
Other ideas:
Are you done with papers altogether and don’t like the ideas above? Choose one of these
Rewrite the ending of Great Expectations so that it is more satisfying than the ones that Dickens wrote but
still fits with the characters and the message.
Create a mural that communicates the messages of Great Expectations and includes the major characters
and some important symbols and/or settings.
Papers must meet the requirements for the level 5 rubric that applies to that mode of writing. Presentations
must meet the requirements for the Ideas and Content, Organization, and Style portions of the applicable
rubric. The people who choose to do the creative responses will develop rubrics with Mrs. Monaghan before
they begin.