i
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
Karisma Kurniawan Wijayanto
Student Number : 044214112
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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than a sheep
all your life
v Imagine all the people Living for to day Imagine there’s no country
It’s hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for And no religions too
Imagine all the people Living life in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world believed as one
Imagine no possession I wonder if you can
No need, no greed, no hungry A brotherhood of men
Imagine all the people Sharing all the world
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Allah SWT who gives me the chance to enjoy this beautiful world and for all of the uncountable blessing which are given to me. I also thank Him for the excellent guidance along my way in finishing this undergraduate thesis. Then, I would thank the greatest prophet Muhammad SAW for being my ‘great tauladhan’.
I would like also express my deepest appreciation toDewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M. Hum for the time to have some consultations. I also thank her for her kindness, understanding, and the patient guidance along the writing process of this thesis. Without her kindness, it is impossible for me to finish this thesis. I also would like to express my greatest thank to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum as the reader of my thesis and also to Adventina Putranti, S.S., M. Hum as the main examiner in my thesis defense.
Then, I would like to express my sincerest thank to my dearest family, especially for my Mom and Dad who always encourage me to be a better man, and also for the support to finish my study in Sanata Dharma University. I also would like to express my thank to my sisters who always cheer my life up every single day. I would like also to express my thanks to my special friend, Elis Wahyu Indarti for her unconditional love and support.
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Eric Clapton for their great sounds which accompanied me during the writing process of this thesis, Sanata Dharma Universityfor accepting me to be one of the students,Sanata Dharma University Libraryfor the books and the sources to finish this thesis, Panda for the blues materials, Mario, Iwan, Arie, my brother in LOLENLONES, and all my friends who I cannot mention one by one, I owe a particular debt of gratitude to them for giving me spirit to finish this thesis.
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A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 5
C. Objective of the Study ... 5
D. The Definition of Terms ... 6
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 7
A. Review of Related Studies ... 8
B. Review of Related Theories ... 10
1. Theory of Character ... 11
2. Theory of Characterization ... 12
3. Relation between Autobiography and Literature ... 14
C. Review on the Biographical Background ... 16
D. Theoretical Framework ... 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 21
A. Object of the Study ... 21
B. Approach of the Study ... 22
C. Method of the Study ... 23
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 25
A. Pip’s Characteristics ... 25
B. The Representation ofCharles Dickens’ Life... 43
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 60
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 63
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Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis analyzes the novel The Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens. Based on the novel, the writer of this thesis finds that Charles Dickens’ life experience becomes the inspiration in writing his works. From this topic, the writer formulates two problems and they become the objectives of the study. The first problem is to find out how Pip, as the main character is characterized in the novel. The second problem is to find out how the characteristics from the first problem represent Charles Dickens’ life.
This thesis is a library research. The primary data are taken from the novel The Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The others data are taken from some supporting books, such as theoretical books, dictionaries, and some sources which are cited from the internet. The writer of this thesis uses biographical approach as the approach of the study. This biographical approach enables to help the writer making an analysis which has a relation with the author’s biography.
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Yogyakarta: Program Study Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini menganalisis sebuah novel karya Charles Dickens yang berjudul The Great Expectations. Berdasarkan novel tersebut, penulis skripsi menemukan bahwa pengalaman hidup Charles Dickens menjadi sebuah inspirasi dalam penulisan karya-karyanya. Dari topik tersebut, penulis merumuskan dua permasalahan yang menjadi objek dari penelitian ini. Permasalahan pertama adalah menemukan bagaimana Pip sebagai karakter utama digambarkan di dalam novel. Permasalahan kedua, menemukan bagaimana penggambaran karakter dari masalah pertama dapat mewakili kehidupan Charles Dickens.
Skripsi ini merupakan penelitian pustaka. Data-data utamanya diambil dari novel The Great Expectations karya Charles Dickens itu sendiri. Data-data lainnya diambil dari buku-buku pendukung seperti buku-buku teori, kamus, dan beberapa bahan informasi dari internet. Penulis skripsi menggunakan pendekatan biografi sebagai pendekatan yang digunakan di dalam penelitian ini. Pendekatan biografi tersebut, memungkinkan untuk menolong penulis membuat analisis yang memiliki hubungan dengan riwayat hidup sang pengarang.
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Nama : KARISMA KURNIAWAN WIJAYANTO
Nomor Mahasiswa : 044214112
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
THE REPRESENTATION OF CHARLES DICKENS’ LIFE AS REFLECTED IN PIP INTHE GREAT EXPECTATIONS:
A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikiam saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberi royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian peryataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 31 Maret 2009 Yang menyatakan
xii daftar pustaka sebagai mana layaknya karya ilmiah.
Yogyakarta, 31 Maret 2009
1 A. Background of the Study
Literature is a common thing to discuss for us as a student of English Letters, but we do not really know what actually literature is. Some say that literature is a kind of creative work, it can be a fiction or non-fiction and it involves the creator’s mind to create it, but what about a comic such asSuperman then. It is a comic, but can it be considered as a literary work? (Eagleton, 1995: 2) Actually, literature itself has no exact definition about what exactly literature is, because literature is always in the form of written work but in the contrary, all kinds of written work can not be called as literature.
According to a book Encyclopedia of General Knowledge by S. Graham literature is the written and printed products of human thought, generally divided into fiction and non-fiction (Graham, 1958: 304). Then, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionaryliterature is writing that are valued as work of art,
especially fiction, drama, and poetry (Hornby, 1995: 687). Based on those two definitions of literature, we can draw the conclusion that literature is written or printed work and it has value of art.
Perhaps literature is definable not according to whether it is fictional or ‘imaginative’, but because it uses language in peculiar ways. On this theory, literature is a kind of writing which, in the words of the Russian critic Roman Jacobson, represents an ‘organized violence committed on ordinary speech’. Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech (Eagleton, 1995: 2).
We can see the peculiar way of literature in using language when we are reading poetry. In poetry, the poets often use the ‘extra ordinary language’ in order to maintain the rhyme and the beauty in writing his or her literary work. They usually use metaphor, personification, violence the structure, rhythm and resonance of words in excess an abstract meaning to make their words more ‘unfamiliar’(Eagleton, 1995: 2).
It is different when the authors are writing a novel. In writing a novel, the authors sometimes also use this kind of extra ordinary language, but sometimes they do not, because in writing a novel the authors sometimes use ordinary language to convey their idea through their work. In a novel, the authors usually want to reveal his or her own experience to the reader with daily language due to get the reader easier to understand what the whole novel is talking about. Sometimes, authors also add some factual or historical events in their work. This method is used in order to invite the reader to feel or to share the author’s experience or the historical event to the readers.
main cause of the existence of their works including all the characters inside it. There is also a close relationship between literary works and its authors because as stated before that sometimes in writing their works, the authors include also their experience of life in their work, but the work itself is not a copy of their real life.
The statement above occurs because the literary work is their media to release their emotion or just a place to share their experience in the past. They also include their biography into their work and represent it through the character of their work. It is because biography is an ancient literary genre. Biography is a part of historiography and it makes no methodological distinction in status, so everyone may have their own biography no matter they are a statesman, a general, an architect, a lawyer, and a man who plays no public role (Wellek and Warren, 1949: 75). For exampleCharlotte Bronte, the author ofJane Eyre, she reveals her past experience when she was a governess through the character of Jane Eyre. Another author who reveals the past experience is Charles Dickens. This great Victorian era author revealed his past experience when he was a worker through his famous work David CopperfieldandThe Great Expectationwhich considered as his semi autobiographical novels.
According to Rohrberger and Woods in their book Reading and Writing about Literature, there are indirect relationship and similarity between the work and the author. An author’s work including the character perhaps is “a kind of mask which is surely based on the author’s experience of life” (Rohrberger and
of the author can be a place to hide their weakness in the past through the character of their work. As stated in the bookTheory of Literature
The work may be a mask, a dramatized conventionalization, but it is frequently a conventionalization of his own experience, his own life (Wellek and Warren, 1949: 79)
It can be about unhappy childhood, about love, or may be about anything else that make a significant event recorded in author’s mind and they are described in their literary work direct or indirectly.
From those statements above, now we are paying attention to Charles Dickens’ work, The Great Expectations. In this novel, Charles Dickens reveals
almost all significant event of his life through the character ofPhillip Pirrip (Pip) the main character of this novel. Although the character is created as a fiction, Charles Dickens creates it as if he is a real character who resembles to his past experiences. He created the character imaginatively but, he used his actual life as the important material to build the plot in this novel, so the story really reflects his own experience. It can lead us to the significant part of the author’s experience of life and share it to the reader about what kind of life which the author had in the past. Like in this thesis which titled THE REPRESENTATION OF CHARLES DICKENS’ LIFE AS REFLECTED IN PIP IN THE GREAT EXPECTATIONS: A
BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY, the writer of this thesis wants to try to study the similarity between Charles Dickens’s life with the main character of his novel,
writerwants to study further about Charles Dickens’sbiography as one of greatest Victorian era writers, and wants to reveal how near the author’s experience effects
to his literary work.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to analyze the problem above, which is about how near the reflection between Charles Dickens’ life with the main character of his novel Pip, the writer of this thesis formulates it into two problem formulations
1. How is Pip characterized inThe Great Expectations?
2. Howdo Pip’s characteristics represent Charles Dickens’ life?
C. Objectives of the Study
D. The Definition of Term
To highlight and clarify the terms which are used in this thesis, the writer includes this part in order to avoid un-understandable term. The writer of this thesis uses some terms which are very important in this essay, and they are as follows
1. Autobiography
According toA Glossary of Literary Terms Forth Edition (Abrams, 1981: 15), autobiography is a biography written by the subject about himself, in which the emphasis is not on the author’s developing self but, on the people he has known and the events he has witnessed and from the private diary or journal, which is a day-to-day record of the events in a person’s life.
2. Character
According to A Handbook to Literature Fifth Edition (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81), a character is a brief descriptive sketch of a personage who typifies some definite quality. The person is described not as an individualized personality, but as an example of some vice or virtue or type, such as a busybody, a glutton, a fop, a bumpkin, a garrulous old man, a happy milkmaid, etc.
3. Characterization
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A. Review of Related Studies
In finishing this undergraduate thesis, the writer uses two related studies in order to make a comparative study with the previous students who have studied the same novel and they have almost similar opinion toward the novel itself. These related studies are also used to help the writer to strengthen his opinion in finishing this thesis. The writer uses two related studies written by Edmon Jabes and Wayne Huang. Both of them have their own opinion which is almost similar toward the novel which is titled The Great Expectationswritten by Charles Dickens. These two related studies are cited from the internet in website www.penguingroup.com and www. victorianweb.org. From these two websites state the same conclusion that they agreeThe Great Expectations is one of Dickens’ autobiographical novels besides his popular novel David Copperfield. In his essay, Jabes said that the creation of the character Phillip Pirrip or known as Pip in this novel is a kind of remembrance or
excavation of his childhood sad experience as a worker in Warren’s Blacking factory
in order to solve his family economical problem:
The writing of The Great Expectations, and by the extension of its protagonist, Pip, therefore, can be viewed as a kind of excavation for its author, a cathartic attempt to come to terms with the painful facts of his
childhood particularly the family’s chronic economic instability, culminating in his father’s imprisonment due to financial insolvency (http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/greate expectations.html).
action is represented in his novel although not as exactly as the real event, when Pip got his hand burned when he was trying to help Mrs. Havisham from fire.
Huang added that before Dickens began to write hisThe Great Expectations, he also read his previous autobiographical novel David Copperfieldbesides he burnt all his papers related to his life:
Shortly before he began to write The Great Expectations, Dickens wrote a fragment of an autobiography, which he kept to him self. A sort time later he shorted through, re-read, and burnt many personal letters, and also re-read David Copperfield, perhaps the most overtly autobiographical of all his novels. (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/ge/huang cd.html)
According to thequotation of Huang’s essay above,it is impossible to readThe Great Expectations without sensing Dickens’ presence in the book by portraying his younger life in the character of Pip.
Charles Dickens also describes the character of Pip as an“orphan”including his solitary life because of having no parents and no one of his family members care of him except his brother in law named Joe Gargerry. According to Jabes’ opinion,
this is also a kind of portrait of Dickens’ life when he was twelve years old, he was compelled to work in blacking factory due to solve his family financial problem, and lived separately from his parents. As written in his essay, Jabes also said that this kind of situation led little Dickens into sad childhood experience which influenced his psychological condition at that time.
…also paramount in his psychological make-up were Dickens consignment at
the age of twelve to work as a child worker at Warren’s Blacking factory and
his subsequent separation from his family as a result of it. This period in the
and was certainly the crucible in which his personality was formed. (http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/great expectation. html)
After that kind of condition, Dickens tried to build a better life from these ruins of childhood life which had haunted him all his life. He rose from a humble beginning into success and fame. He became one of the great novelists in the Victorian era.
Tthe two related studies above, the writer sees that Charles Dickens often involves his past experience in writing his works such as in The Great Expectations. He wrote about the orphanage, poverty, and another sad thing in this novel as the representation of his sad experiences in his past time. Instead those matters, actually Dickens reveals other significant events in this novel which are related to his past
experience. As the writer of this thesis has found in the novel, the “other significant
events” which are reflected in the novel, the first is his failed love experience with Maria Beadnell, and the second or more important isabout “the debt” whichhas a big
chunk in changing Dickens’life orientation.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character
When we read a novel, prose or other fictional work, the word ‘character’ usually refers to a person who acts in a particular place and time. M.H. Abrams’ book A Glossary of Literary Terms (1985: 23) defines that characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what
they say and what they do. The grounds in the characters’ temperament, desire, and
moral nature for they speech and action constitute their motivation. A character may remain essentially stable or unchanged in outlook and disposition from the beginning to the end of the work or may undergo a radical change, either through a gradual process or motivation and development or as the result of a crisis.
In the bookAn Introduction of Fictionby Stanton, also gives the definition of character. A character in the individual who appears in the story and it refers to the mixture of interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles that makes up each of these individuals. Furthermore, he also distinguishes character into two types which are main or major and minor character. Major character is the most important person in the story or the story tells about this character, but he can not stand on his own. He needs the other character to have conflicts or to make the story more convincing and lifelike. While, minor character is the character which is less important than the main character (Stanton, 1965: 17).
relatively simple and usually has only one trait. It is uncomplicated, but that is probably part of what the author is getting at. Usually flat character is static, at the end of the story the character is pretty much what the character was at the start. On the other hand, round character is the character which embodies several or even many traits that cohere to form a complex personality. A round character is likely to be dynamic, it is changing considerably as the story progresses (Abrams, 1985: 24).
2. Theory of Characterization
This is the way how the author conveys to the reader the characters and the personalities of the people he writes about. In other words, how he conveys to the reader what short of people they are, how he makes the reader get to know and understand them. This theory works like when we try to observe somebody in the real life. We will try to learn about his or her outward appearance, how they talk, what accent they use, the behavior, etc. all of those matters will give us the knowledge which will help us observing somebody’s characteristic. As written in the book Understanding Unseens by M.J. Murphy, there are nine ways in which the authors attempt to make their character understandable to the reader. They are:
a. Personal description
b. Character as seen by the other
Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe the character in the novel through the eyes and opinions of the other. The reader gets, as it were, a reflected image.
c. Speech
The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through what that person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever the character is in the conversation with another, whenever the character puts forward an opinion, the character is giving us some clue to its character.
d. Past life
By letting the reader learn something about the person’s past life the author can
give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can
be done by direct comment which is given by the author through the person’s
thoughts, through his conversation or through the medium of another person. e. Conversation of others
The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the conversation
of other people in the novel and the things they say about him. People do talk about other people and the things they say often give as a clue to the character of the person spoken about.
f. Reactions
The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us know how
g. Direct comment
The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly. h. Thoughts
The author can give us direct knowledge of what person is thinking about. In this respect he is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He can tell us what different people are thinking. The reader then is in privilege position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device plugged in to the inmost thoughts of a person in a novel.
i. Mannerisms
The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies which
may also tell us something about his character.
These are some ways which are used by the author to make the reader gets to know the personalities and the characterizations of the characters in his or her novel. The author does not exclusively use them one by one but, blend them into a good narrative, so the reader will tend to think that the characters in the novel as the real people (Murphy, 1972: 161-173).
3. Relation between Autobiography and Literature
using the author’s life experience. So, the analysis of this thesis will be based on the
idea that a person’s life influences his or her work, and then the writer tries to find the
similarity between the work and the author’s life. When considering some biographical aspects of the author, there will be a close relation between the work and
the author’s life that can not be separated. According to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, there is a close relationship between the work of art and the life of the author, but the work of art is not totally the copy of life. The work of art is only a place to hide his weakness, so in writing his work, the author depends on his mood (1949: 75-78).
The other writers that have the same opinion above are Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods. In their book Reading and Writing about Literature, they say that there is an indirect relationship between the work and that author. The work including
the character inside it perhaps is “a kind of mask which is surely based on the
author’s experience of life” (1971: 8). So, the use of the biography of the author is very helpful in this study. The writer of this thesis should attempt to learn as much as he can about the life of the author. There is a quotation that says:
They insist that a work of art is a reflection of a personality, that in the
esthetic experience the reader shares the author’s consciousness, and that at least part of the reader’s response is to the author’s personality. Consequently, they attempt to learn as mush as they can about the life and development of the author and to apply this knowledge in their attempt to understand his writing (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 8)
American Novel states that the result of the author’s work is influenced by the
author’s experience
Now, when it comes to talking about the experiences of writer, I think I should say some thing that perhaps most of you realize. The work of any writer, and for that matter of any artist in any of the seven art, should contain within it the story of this own style (Perkings, 1970: 293).
Now, we can see that the biography, including a series of events which have been witnessed, and any story in life can influence the literary work.
C. Review on theCharles Dickens’ Biographical Background
In order to finish this thesis, the writer of this thesis needs to know about
Charles Dickens’ biography to be the source in analyzing this thesis. Then, this
Charles Dickens’ biography will give the information to the writer about what kind of
experiences which Charles Dickens has during his life before or after getting his popularity as the great novelist in his era, and his autobiography as in below
His family was moderately well-off, and he received some education at the private
William Giles’ School, but all of these beautiful lives changed when his father was
imprisoned for debt at Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison because of spending too much money entertaining and retaining his social position.
When he was 12 years old, he was withdrawn from school because of his
father’s imprisonment then, he started to work for ten hours a day in a Warren’s boot -blacking factory which was located near the present Caring Cross railway station and lived separately with his family.After his father’s imprisonment, his mother opened a
small girl’s school in the north of London to make some money, but no students
would come (Chesterton, 1956: 30). So, this mother’s small girl’s school made the family condition became worst, she caused more debt, and then led her into the Marshalsea prison. Dickens spent his time pasting labels on the jars of thick polish and earned six shilling a week. He used this money to pay his lodging in Camden Town and to help to support his family which most of them were living incarcerated with his father in Marshsalsea (Hennessy, 1970: 26-27)
After a few months he was able to release his family from Marshalsea and he was possible to back to school at Wellington House Academy, London and at Mr.
at the age of 17. At the age of 18, he applied for a reader’s ticket at British Museum, where he could read eagerly the work of Shakespeare. In the 1830-32s, Dickens wrote for True Sun and 1832-34 for The Mirror of Parliament. In 1834 he became a journalist reporting some of parliamentary debates for Monthly Magazine and The Evening Chronicle and edited Bentle’s Miscellany. His journalism was published from 1833 in the form of sketches and in 1836, it was published in the book form namedSketches by Boz. In the same year, he led to write his first novelThe Pickwick Papers(Hennessy, 1970: 28-42).
On April 1836, he married Catherine Thompson Hogarth, the daughter of George Hogarth, the editor ofEvening Chroniclebut, divorced in 1858. After a brief honeymoon in Chalk, then they lived in Bloomsbury where they had produced ten children. Dickens’ success as a novelist was proven by continuing writing Oliver Twist in 1837, then Nicholas Nickleby in 1838-39. In 1840-41 he wrote The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge which were published as a series in monthly installment before being made into a book in 1841. This popular was not ended until that year, after his visiting to America with his lovely wife, he continued his success by writingA Christmas Carolin 1843. This novel was the first of his Christmas book which was reputedly written in a matter of weeks (Chesterton, 1956: 118-125).
when he was a child. In this large house he continued with Little Dorrit in 1857, a historical novel A Tale of Two Cities in 1849,The Great Expectations in 1861, Our Mutual Friend in 1865, and his last novel before he died The Mystery of Edwin Droodwhich was published in 1870, but Dickens did not manage to finish it because
his suffering of “stroke attack”. This very last novel actually was planned to produce it in 12 monthly parts but the fact that it was compelled only in 6 numbers. He died on 9 June 1870 at Gad’s Hill Place and was buried in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey (www.vivtorianweb.org/authors/dickens/dickensbio1.html).
D. Theoretical Framework
21 A. Object of the Study
The Great Expectations was firstly published periodically as sketches in December 1st, 1860 byLondon Daily Newsand it was published as a book in 1861 by Messrs. Smith and Elder. The writer of this thesis uses The Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens which was published in 1959 by Collins Clear-type. Ltd. London as the primary source. This novel contains 59 chapters in 412 pages. The Great Expectations is telling about a kid named Phillip Pirrip or called Pip in the novel that has a great expectation to be a real gentleman to elevate his family social background in order not to be underestimated by anyone at that time.
Pip is an orphan child who lives with his sister whose husband is a blacksmith named Joe Gargery. His sister is a rough woman who always does a rough action toward him and his brother in law, Joe. In his childhood, Pip is sent to work at Mrs.
B. Approach of the Study
Some approaches are extremely needed to analyze literary works because the approach is used to view the works which is going to analyze. Since the writer of this thesis has chosen the topic of this thesis is related to the biography of the author, so the biographical approach is appropriate to use in analyzing the problems. According
to Wilfred L. Guerin’s A Handbook of Critical Approaches to literature, a
biographical approach sees the literary work chiefly, if not exclusively, as a reflection
of its author’s life an times or the lifeand times of the characters in the work (1999: 22). So based on this biographical approach, the writer will try to find what kind of experience that causing the writer wrote The Great Expectations as a biographical novel and it really reflects his life experience.
To explain something in the work which has a close relation with the author’s
biography or to know what is the author’s reason in creating that kind of character which is considered as the representation of his life, the writer of this thesis uses two autobiographical books which are written by Una-Pope Hennessy and G.K. Chesterton besideThe great Expectationswritten by Charles Dickens to be the source of this analysis. Then, the writer has to read those books and make a comparison
between the life of the character and Charles Dickens’ life. According to Mary
or understand the development and the life of the author, in this case is Charles
Dickens’s life in order to apply this biographical approach in the analysis better.
C. Method of the Study
The research method that the writer uses in this paper is a library research. All the main and supporting data to finish this paper are collected from books and other supporting sources such as the sources from internet, which have valuable information to finish analyzing the problem formulations in this thesis. The most important source used in this study is the novel The Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens, and some secondary sources such as An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theoryby Peter Barry;Understanding Unseenwritten by M.J. Murphy; Theory of Literature written by Rene Wellek and Austin Warren; Reading and Writing about Literature written by Marry Rohrberger and Samuel H Woods; and some sources cited from internet such as the abstract titled The Book of Questions written by Edmon Jabes; Problem of Autobiography and Fictional Autobiography in The Great Expectations written by Wayne Huang; and the last data is Charles Dickens Autobiographywhich was quoted from many related books and sources from internet.
of the paper. The second step was reading and understanding the autobiography of Charles Dickens which was cited from many sources above. After the writer information and understood the autobiography of the author, then the writer tried to find the closest relation between Charles Dickens and the main character of his novel (Pip) by searching some similarities about the author and the character was going to be analyzed as many as the writer could. The more similarities were found, the closest relation they had. The last step was drawing a conclusion. The conclusion
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In this chapter, the writer will discuss the analysis of this undergraduate thesis, the analysis will be divided into two parts of discussions. The first, the writer will start the discussion on how Charles Dickens characterized Pip as the main character in the novel. Second, the writer will discuss some representations of Charles
Dickens’ life which stated in the novel.In this second part, the writer will try to find some representations or similarities between the main character’s life and the
author’s. These two parts of discussion are made in order to answer the two problems which have been formulated on the previous chapter.
A. Pip’s Characteristics
At the first, Pip is described as an orphan child whose age is seven years old. His parents had died and also his five little brothers.
As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones.The shape of the letters on my father’s,gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, “Also Georgiana Wife of the Above, I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly. To five little stones lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine—who gave up trying to get a living exceedingly universal struggle (Dickens, 1953: 15).
By looking at the above quotation, we know that Pip never has the chance to meet his parents. He does not have either their picture so, he can only guess or imagine what his parents look like by looking at the letter on their grave. By looking at the quotation above, we know that Pip is also a creative child because he is able to make a description of his parents only by looking at the letter on their grave.
Pip is afraid of his sister because of his sister’srude behavior. Here, Pip lives with his rough sister and Joe Gargery, his sister’s husband who is a blacksmith. She always treats him bad and often hits Pip and her husband.
My sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established a great reputation with herself and the neighbours because
she had brought me up “by hand.” Having at that time to find out for
myself what the expression meant, and knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me, I supposed that Joe Gargery and I were brought up by hand (p.19).
Pip is often humiliated and blamed even by his relatives because of any miserable things in the house. For example, when Pip family holds a Christmas dinner at their house, they also invite other relatives such as uncle Pumbechook, Mr. Wopstle, Mr. and Mrs. Hubble. Before the dinner is started, Mr. Wopste starts to give a sermon and it ends with a proper aspiration that we should be grateful and uncle Pumblechook said to Pip:
“Especially,” said Mr. Pumblechook, “be grateful, boy, to them which
brought you up by hand” (p.34)
This speech makes other people start to think that Pip is a child whom never be grateful to his sister who has taken care of him since he was a baby. The one who starts to think that way is Mrs and Mr. Hubble as shown in the quotation below:
Mrs. Hubble shook her head, and contemplating me with a mournful
presentiment that I should come to no good, asked, “Why is it the young are never grateful?” This moral mystery seemed too much for the company until Mr. Hubble tersely solved it by saying “True!” and looked at me in a particularly unpleasant and personal manner (p.34).
Here, Pip is not only blamed as shown previously but also humiliated by Mr. Wopsle. It is shown when uncle Pumblechook mentions pork as the reflection of the subject which is ungrateful, and then Mr. Wopsle says:
“Swine,” pursued Mr. Wopsle, his deepest voice, and pointing his fork at
my blushes, as if he were mentioningmy Christian name; “Swine were the companions of he prodigal. The gluttony of Swine is put before us, as an example to the young.” (I thought this pretty well in him who had been praising up the pork for being so plump andjuicy.) “What is detestable in
a pig, is more detestable in a boy.” “Or girl,” suggested Mr. Hubble
“Of course, or girl, Mr. Hubble, “assented Mr. Wopsle, rather irritably,
By looking at the above quotation, we can see that Mr. Wopsle is humiliating Pip by
pointing his fork and mentioning Pip’s Christian name as “Swine”. All people in the house, they are considering Pip as a child whom never feels grateful because he only spends some shillings everyday and always gives some troubles to his sister.
The next, Pip is described as a child who has no friend except Joe Gargery,
his sister’s husband. As described in the book, when Joe is still working at his forge, Pip always goes to the churchyard where his parents and his little brothers are buried to spend his time and when Joe has finished working, Pip plays with Joe (p.19). This condition makes their relation closer than anyone else.
I do not recall that I felt any tenderness of conscience in reference of Mrs. Joe, when the fear of being found out was lifted off me. But I love Joe— perhaps for no better reason in those early days than because the dear fellow let me love him—and, as to him, my inner self was not so easily composed. It was much upon my mind (particularly when I first saw him looking about for his file), that I ought to tell Joe the whole truth. Yet I did not, and for the reason that I mistrusted that if I did, he would think me
worse than I was. The fear of losing Joe’s confidence, and of thenceforth
sitting in the chimney-corner at night, staring drearily at my for ever lost companion and friend, tied up my tongue (p.46).
By looking at the above quotation, we can see that Pip loves Joe so much. He is afraid of losing his companion with Joe, so he will tell everything to Joe including
about the incident when Pip steals Joe’s file from his forge to help the convict
breaking the handcuffs.
because he is afraid of the convict who will kill him if he does not bring the file to the convict and some meals to eat. From this incident, Pip is haunted by his guilty feeling all day long (p.23-26). His fear of doing something bad comes from his belief that if someone has done something bad, he or she will get a bad consequent such as being picked up by police as shown below.
I fully expected to find a Constable in the kitchen, waiting to take me up. But not only was there no Constable there, but no discovery had yet been made of the robbery (p.30).
The above quotation shows that Pip expects there is a police officer in the kitchen who will pick him up to release him from his guilty feeling of this robbery.
Pip has a strong desire to be an educated person. We know that Pip comes from poor family and he does not have money to have a better education, so he learns from anything around him. He learns how to read by practicing to read his parents’ tombstones.
At the time when I stood in the churchyard, reading the family tombstone, I had just enough learning to be able to spell them out. My construction
even of their simple meaning was not very correct, for I read “wife of the above” as a complimentary reference to my father’s exaltation to a better
world….(p.48).
The above quotation shows that Pip always tries to develop his reading skill from something simple around him such as reading the tombstone of his family.
When I was old enough, I was to be apprenticed to Joe, and until I could
assume that dignity I was not to be what Mrs. Joe called “Pompeyed,” or
(as I render it) pampered. Therefore, I was not only odd-boy about the forge, but if any neighbour happened to want an extra boy to frighten birds, or pick up stones, or do any such job, I was favoured with the employment. In order, however, that our superior position might not be compromised thereby, a money-box was kept on the kitchen mantel-shelf, into which it was publicly made known that all my earning were dropped (p.48).
The quotation above shows that Pip’s desire to have a better knowledge is very strong. He will do anything in order to get money and collect them to pay the fee. He
gains his knowledge in Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt school. In this school Pip learns writing and reading properly with his teacher, Biddy and when the school time is over, he learns and practices writing, reading, and spelling with Joe at home (p.49-50).
The next evidence that Pip has a strong desire in improving his knowledge is proven when Pip tells Biddy that he wants to be the real gentleman. Pip does not want to have a monotonous life and he has tired to lead his life as a worker and as a common villager, he wants to have a better education. Here, Pip shows that he has tired with his life as a common villager and as common worker, so he wants to be a better person as shown in quotation below.
“Biddy,” I exclaimed impatiently, “I am not at all happy as I am. I am
disgusted with my calling and with my life. I have never taken to either,
since I was bound. Don’t be absurd” (p.118).
“Well then, understand once for all that I never shall or can be
comfortable—or anything but miserable—there, Biddy!—unless I can
The two quotations above show that Pip is tired with his monotonous life in the village. He wants something new in order to improve his life although no one agrees with him. He ignores all what people say including Biddy. He is still in his own words although other people do not agree with him.
The last evidence, after being in London, Pip’s desire to reach his expectation
becomes stronger. He starts to learn anything from Mr. Mathew Pocket and treat him as his teacher and his master as well, as shown in quotation bellow.
He advised my attending certain places in London, for the acquisition of such mere rudiments as I wanted, and my investing him with the function of explainer and director of all my studies. He hoped that with intelligent assistance I should meet with little to discourage me, and should soon be able to dispense with any aid but this. Through his way of saying this, and much for similar purpose, he placed himself on confidential terms with me in an admirable manner; and I may state at once that he was always so zealous and honorable in fulfilling his compact with me, that he made me zealous and honorable in fulfilling mine with him. If he had shown indifference as a master, I have no doubt I should have returned the compliment as a pupil; he gave no such excuse, and each of us did the other justice (p.175).
The quotation above shows that Pip is zealous in learning every little thing such as taking a walk exploring London, and Mr. Pocket as the explainer for him to gain the knowledge. Pip also very respects Mr. Mathew Pocket not only as his teacher, but also as his friend.
house. At Satis House, Estella and Mrs. Havisham always despise Pip by saying something which is very insulting Pip’s feeling. When Pip and Estella are playing cards and Estella says.
“He calls the knaves, Jacks this boy!” said Estella with disdain, before our game was out. “And what coarse hands he has. And what thick boots!”
I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.
She won the game, and I dealt. I misdealt, as was only natural, when I knew she was lying in wait for me to do wrong; and she denounced me for a stupid, clumsy labouring-boy (p.62).
The above quotation,Pip is very insulted by Estella’s words. She always despises Pip and tries to make Pip shame of himself because of having coarse hands and thick boots. Here, Pip tries to be strong and be patient by ignoring all of insulting speeches from Mrs. Havisham and from Estella.
The other evidence that Pip has a strong heart is shown in the quotation below, when he has finished playing card, and then having his meal in a courtyard
She came back, with some bread and meat and a little mug of beer. She put the mug down on the stones of the yard, and gave me the bread and the meat without looking at me, as insolently as if I were a dog in disgrace. I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, sorry—I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart—God knows what its name was—that tears started to my eyes (p.64).
also has to receive this kind of humiliating action from both Estella and Mrs. Havisham as long as he is working at Satis House.
Pip is a polite boy. Pip is always polite with everyone he speaks to even with someone who is very insulting. For example, when Pip is on the way to downtown with uncle Pumblechook, Pip tries to greet Pumblechook’s wretched companion in a parlour behind the shop to have breakfast as illustrated in the quotation below.
On my politely bidding him Good-morning, he said pompously, “Seven
times nine boy!” And how should I be able to answer, dodged in that way,
in strange place, on an empty stomach! (p.57)
Here, the man whom Pip greets does not answer Pip’s greeting by saying “Good
-morning” as Pip has said to him, but he says in pompous manner “Seven times nine
boy!”. This kind of answer does not match to answer Pip’s greeting and the way he
answers in pompous manner also is not proper to answer somebody’s greeting even
for a child like Pip.
The next example, when Pip for the first time comes to Mrs. Havisham’s house, he tries to behave when he is inside the house and when he has a conversation with the dweller of the mansion. Here, the quotation shows that even Pip is not in the house yet and still on the way there, he has prepared how to behave when he is already inside the house.
For such reason, I was very glad when ten o’clock came and we started for
miss Havisham’s; though I was not at all at my ease regarding the manner
in which I should acquit myself under that lady’s roof (p.57}.
The above quotation shows that Pip always tries to be polite to everyone, although
he meets with a house keeper of the house and tries to be polite to her. He always answers all the questions from her and chats with her in shyness and polite manner, though she is not (p.58-59).
Pip also talks politely to Mrs. Havisham and Estella, although they never do it as the writer explains on the previous pages about how Mrs. Havisham and Estella treat Pip. The next evidence that Pip is polite is when he meets with a man still at the same house, Pip calls him “sir” and always answers his question politely but, the man says.
“Well! Behave yourself. I have a pretty large experience of boys, and
you’re a bad set of fellows. Now mind!” said he, biting the side of his great forefinger as he frowned at me, “you behave yourself!” (p.81)
The last evidence is when Pip will depart to London, he come to Mrs. Havisham to say goodbye to anyone in the Satis House including to Ms. Sarah Pocket but, she conducts Pip down as if he is a ghost who must be sent out. Then, when Pip says goodbye to her, she only stares at him and says nothing as if she ignores all what he has said to her, including his farewell (p.143). From those quotations about Pip’s polite manner show that he always tries to be polite to anyone else, but the “anyone” are always in the contrary and even hurt his feeling.
Pip is a good boy. It is proven by Mrs. Havisham’s remark when she has a conversation with Joe at Satis House. This conversation is held because Pip’s decision to retire himself from his weekly-working at Satis House and he wants to be
“The boy has been a good boy here, and that is his reward. Of course, as an honest man, you will expect no other and no more” (p.97).
Based on the quotation above proves that Pip is a good boy by concerning Mrs.
Havisham’ remark about him. Although in that house Pip is always treated badly but, he does not take any revenge and even being polite to anyone else including all the servants of the house and he always does his job well. From the quotation, we can
also see Mrs. Havisham’s care towards Pip, when she tells Joe not to expect some money from Pip and let the money which Pip has earned from the house to be his property to reach his dream.
The next, sometimes Pip feels ashamed and uncomfortable with everything belongs to him including his new job with Joe as a blacksmith and his little house. This feeling because of the condition of his house is totally different with Satis House which is very large and luxurious.
Home had never been very pleasant to me, because of my sister’s temper.
But Joe had sanctified it, and I had believed in it. I had believed in the best parlour as a most elegant saloon; I had believed in the front door, as a mysterious portal of the Temple of State whose solemn opening was attended with a sacrifice of roast fowls; I had believed in the kitchen as a chaste though not magnificent apartment; I had believe in the forge as the glowing road to manhood and independence. Within a single year, all this was changed. Now, it was all coarse and common, and I would not have had miss Havisham and Estella see it on any account (p.100).
supper with the meal he has had when he is still working in Mrs. Havisham’s. He feels ashamed of his own house and the supper menus in his house.
After that, when we went in to supper the place and the meal would have a more homely look than ever, and I would feel more ashamed of home than ever, in my own ungracious breast (p.102).
Pip is a humble and a low profile person. It is proven when Pip has been
promoted by his benefactor, Pip is still working in Joe’s forge as usual, though he has
come into ‘a handsome property’. He also does not want to look so glamour with his well-new-clothes which he will order in preparation on his departure to London.
“I have been thinking, Joe, that when I go down town on Monday, and order my new clothes, I shall tell the tailor that I’ll come and put them on there, or I’ll have them sent to Mr. Pumblechook’s. It would be very
disagreeable to be stared at by all the people here”
“Mr. and Mrs. Hubble might like to see you in your new gen-teel figure
too Pip,” said Joe, industriously cutting his bread, with his cheese in it, in
the palm of his left hand, and glancing at my untasted supper as if he
thought of the time when we used to compare slices. “So might Wopsle. And the Jolly Bargemen might take it as a compliment.”
“That’s just what I don’t want, Joe. They would make such a business of it —such coarse and common business—that I couldn’t bear myself” (p.132).
The conversation above shows that Pip is a humble and low profile person. He does not want other persons make some compliments toward his new clothes. He also does not want to be ‘prettier’than the others with his new clothes. He wants to be himself, to be usual Pip with his common clothes, not the well one.
Drummle indirectlycomparing Pip’s boots with his by looking at his own boots, and
then looking at Pip’s again and again (p.305). It shows that indirectly Mr. Drummle wants to compare Pip’s boots with his boots and he wants to say that a gentleman should get dress as a gentleman, with well suit and well boots, not like a common people.
Pip is a common villager who never sees a big city such as London before. It can be proven when Pip for the first time comes to London, he feels so uneasy. This feeling comes because of some reasons. The first, Pip is scared of the immensity of London. It can be seen from his expression when he was in the coach as below.
We Britons had that time particularly settled that it was treasonable to doubt our having and our being the best of everything: otherwise, while I was scared by the immensity of London, I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, and dirty (p.147). Second reason is the condition of London itself. It can be seen when he is taking a look around while waiting for Mr. Jaggers, to know about what London looks like. After a certain times of walking, Pip finally knows what London looks like after he is in the court and sees the gallows where some bad persons are to be hanged. Then, Pip comes to the conclusion about London as quoted below.
….heightening the interest of that dreadful portal by giving me to understand that “four on ‘em” would come out at that door the day after to-morrow at eight in the morning, to be killed in a row. This was horrible,
and gave me a sickening idea of London….(p.148).
He lives in a small inn which is very miserable and totally different with what in his mind before he comes to London.
So imperfect was this realization of the first of my great expectations, that
I looked in dismay at Mr. Wemmick. “Ah!” said he, mistaking me; “the retirement you of the country, So it does me” (p.155).
After this escape, I was content to take a foggy view of the Inn through the
window’s encrusting dirt, and to stand dolefully looking out, saying to
myself that London was decidedly overrated (p.155).
By looking at the quotations above, it is clearly seen that Pip is a common villager who sees a big city as a better place to gain a better life where people can easily make their fortune and where the prosperity lies on than still living in the village.
The next chapter describes Pip as a person who is easy in making friend. He can be close easily with somebody he just meets. It can be seen when Pip meets the
Pockets who is the owner of Barnard’s Inn at the first time. The closeness between Pip and the Pockets is seen when Pip helps Mr. Pocket Junior or Herbert Pocket to hold his paper-bag while he is struggling to open a stuck door (p.156). After that, they become closer moreover, after knowing that Herbert Pocket is the pale young gentleman whom Pip has ever met and fought with when he works in Satis House.
The pale young gentleman and I stood contemplating one another in
Barnard’s Inn, until we both burst out laughing. “The idea of its being you!” said he. “The idea of its being you!” said I. and then we contemplated one another afresh, and laughed again. “Well!” saidthe pale young gentleman, reaching out his hand good-humouredly, “it’s all over
now, I hope, and it will be magnanimous in you if you’ll forgive me for having knocked you about so.”
The above quotation shows the closeness between Pip and Mr. Pocket Junior or Herbert Pocket though they have ever fought in the first time they meet. After that,
Herbert Pocket becomes Pip’s closest friend in Londonand they will help each other in chasing their dreams, not only Herbert Pocket, but also his father, Mr. Mathew Pocket, then Mr. Wemmick, and Mr. Jaggers who also become Pip’s best friend in London.
Pip is also characterized as a wasteful and splendid person. After being in
London, Pip’s characteristic is changing from a very plain to a glamorous person. It happens because he wants to boast his great prospect as a gentleman and a scholar as well by buying some expensive properties and to patronize Herbert Pocket (p.188). Pip is also often wasting his money to go to cinema, go to the theaters, go to have some drinks with his friends in certain clubs in London, and have some expensive dinners. This condition is caused by his discretion and being too free to spend his money which will soon lead him into a great debt which is increasing day by day.
“How did you bear your disappointment?” I asked.
“Pooh!” said he, ”I didn’t care much for it. She’s a tartar.” “Miss Havisham?” I suggested.
“I don’t say no to that, but I meant Estella. That girl’s hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree, and has been brought up by
Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex.” “What relation is she to Miss Havisham?”
“None, “ said he. “ Only adopted.”
“Why should she wreak revenge on all the male sex? What revenge?” “Lord Mr. Pip!” said he. “Don’t you know?”
“No,” said I.
“Dear me! It’s quite a story, and shall be saved till dinner time. And
now let me take the liberty of asking you a question. How did you come
there that day?” (p.158).
By looking at the quotation above, we can see that Pip is very curious about
Mrs. Havisham’s reason to take a revenge on all man, and how Estella is adopted by Mrs. Havisham. This inquiry is postponed by the dinner, and after the dinner has finished, Pip again tries to get more information by asking Herbert to continue his story about Mrs. Havisham.
We had made some progress in the dinner, when I reminded Herbert of his promise to tell me about Mrs. Havisham (p.160).
By looking at the quotation above, it is clear that Pip is a curious person who wants to know further about something which is arousing his interest, although the story is postponed by the dinner.
house. Because of his curiousness, Pip does not feel any hurt when Herbert is replacing the bandage but in reverse, Pip is always asking Herbert and listening to every words Herbert says (p.347-349).
The next, Pip is a forgiver. It is proven when Mrs. Havisham has got very bad injury after the flame incident in her house, she regrets all the things she has done in
the past time and asks Pip’s forgiveness. Before he goes home, he takes care of her and forgives all the bad things she has done in the past, as shown in the quotation below.
At about six o’clock of the morning, therefore, I leaned over her hand
touched her lips with mine, just as they said, not stopping for being
touched , “Take the pencil and write under my name, ‘I forgive her’”
(p.345).
Actually, Pip has forgiven her for long time ago since he is still working to her and he never takes any revenge toward her although, she has ever tried to humiliate, despise, hurt, and do any miserable things to him. In the reverse, Pip always takes care of her, always comes to her house to inform his birthday, and takes the time to visit her in order to see her and her condition. He also forgives Estella who has done the same things as Mrs. Havisham.
Pip is a faithful person. It can be proven by seeing the way he loves Estella. He still loves Estella although, she has married with Mr. Drummle besides her wicked thing which she has ever done to him, but he is still loyal to his love. He also decides to be a bachelor however his best friend Herbert Pocket has married with Clara. Pip also cannot get Estella away from his mind. It is shown when Biddy asks him a question whether he has forgotten Estella or not as shown below.
“Dear Pip,” said Biddy, “yoou are sure you don’t fret for her?” “Oh no—I think not, Biddy.”
“Tell me, as an old friend. Have you quite forgotten her?”
“My dear Biddy, I have forgotten nothing in my life that ever had a foremost place there, and little that ever had any place there (p.410). From the quotation, it is clear that Pip cannot forget Estella because she has dwelled
in a special place inside Pip’s heart.
The next evidence which proves Pip’s faithfulness to Estella is when he comes to the ruined Satis House to call back his old memory about that place, and finds Estella there. She is not as pretty as she was but, Pip still admires her charm.
The freshness of her beauty was indeed gone, but its indescribable majesty and indescribable charms remained (p.411).
By looking at the quotation in the previous page, it is seen that Pip is still admiring Estella although, she is not like the previous one who is prettier than others. After a long of conversation, finally Pip tell to Estella that he still have her in his heart.
“You have always held your place in my heart,” I answered. And we
were silent again, until se spoke.
“Glad to part again, Estella? To me, parting is a painful thing. To me,
the remembrance of our last parting has been ever mournful and painful” (p.412).
The above quotation shows how faithful Pip is to love Estella although, he cannot posses her as his beloved. That quotation also shows that Estella gives to Pip another pain by taking another parting which is considered as painful and mournful thing in
Pip’sview.
B. The Representation ofCharles Dickens’Life
In this second discussion, the writer of this thesis wants to discuss the representation of Charles Dickens’ life experience which is stated in his work. The writer of this thesis finds that there is a close relation between the author and his work as stated in this thesis, that the author’s life experience influences the story of his work. Here, the writer tries to reveal the similarities between Charles Dickens’s life
and Pip’s life in order to answer the second and the last problem in this thesis. The more similarities are found, the nearer reflection they can be. This discussion will be based on the autobiography of Charles Dickens which is quoted from two books which have the same title, CHARLES DICKENS. The first book is written by Dame Una Pope-Hennessy, and the second book is written by G.K Chesterton. Beside those two books, the writer also uses the previous discussion as the source in this discussion.
was a child laborer. In this novel, Charles Dickens describes an agony and a humiliation as the same as his feeling when he was a laborer at Blacking factory. The writer has found some similarities between Pip and Charles Dickens from the novel and based on those similarities, the writer is able to make an analysis as follows.
In The Great Expectations, Pip is characterized as an orphan child. He lives with his rude sister and stands to bear all kind of miserable things in his life. The writer will start the analysis from the reason why Pip is characterized as an orphan child and he why he leads a difficult life to get a better life. Actually, the word
“orphan” is a representation of Charles Dickens’ loneliness when he had to live
separated from his parents when he was a child laborer and his parents were imprisoned. He also did not have any companion to share or to play with. This condition is the same as Pip. As stated in the previous discussion that Pip is described as a seven years old child whose both of his parents and his five brothers have died. Moreover, he lives with his sister who is a bad temper woman, so he does not get love as he wants from his sister. Actually Pip is a lonely child. He does not have any friends except Joe and Biddy. Pip will do anything to maintain his companionship with them, especially with Joe as quoted below.
I love Joe—perhaps for no better reason in those early days than because the dear fellow let me love him—and, as to him, my inner self was not so easily composed. It was much upon my mind (particularly when I first saw him looking about for his file), that I ought to tell Joe the whole truth. Yet did not, and for the reason that I mistrusted that if I did, he would
think me worse than I was. The fear of losing Joe’s confidence, and of
The statement above is quoted when Pip has a conflict in his mind, he does not know
whether he should tell Joe the truth that he had stolen Joe’s file or not. This mind -conflict is caused by his self guilty and the effect of losing his companionship with Joe. In addition, in the novel, Dickens created Joe Gargery as a companion of Pip, who would spend his time to play with Pip. Joe also became a teacher who gave all he knew to Pip.
This condition is very different when we compare with the condition which Charles Dickens had. Dickens did not have any friend to play with after the fall of his family, if he had any friend, perhaps he would like Pip, he would do anything to keep his friend and he also did not want to lose his friend. In addition, when he became a laborer, he lived alone in a lodging-house in Camden Town. Besides trying to help his family out from the prison, he also started a difficult life to help himself by working to get out from this difficult condition because he did not have anybody to help him (Chesterton, 1956: 35). He also did not have any teacher who taught him
any knowledge. He studied and practiced himself. In this case, Dickens’ need to have
a friend to get his loneliness away is not fulfilled. So, he used his work to be a device to hide his illness or even his weakness of being lonely. According to the book Theory of Literature
Based on the above quotation, he used his work to be a mask to hide his real
weakness by creating a ‘fictional-character’ which he dreamt about to cheer up his solitary life. Besides leading a solitary life, Dickens also lived in inappropriate condition with inappropriate food. This kind of condition is totally in the contrary with his previous life. In the early time of young Dickens was a glorious time because his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay-Office. He lived in the middle-class society
and had all the family’s prosperity.
He was born and grew up in a paradise of small prosperity. He fell into the family, so to speak, during once of its comfortable period, and he never in those early days thought of himself as anything but as a comfortable middle-class child, the son of a comfortable middle-class man (Chesterton, 1956: 26).
Living in that social class, enables Charles Dickens to have a beautiful dream, having a good education in a commercial school, and having a good place such as Gads-Hill (Chesterton, 1956: 29). When he lived with a good prosperity as stated in the above quotation, he was able to have anything he dreamt for, such as a beautiful dream having a good education, and Gads-Hill. Unfortunately, after the fall of his family, all of his prosperities were gone and his great father was imprisoned in Marshalsea prison because having a big debt. This situation totally changed his view about his life. It also made his dream of his family good prosperity was gone.
From the quotation above, we can see the transition which Charles Dickens had to face, from a middle-class to working-class. It happened to him in his twelve years old. He lived separately from his family, his father and his mother were in Marshalsea prison. His mother was also imprisoned because of her effort to help the
economical condition of the family by opening a small girl’s school in the north of
London was not successful because nobody would go to her school (Chesterton,
1956: 30). This condition made the family’s debt became higher and un-payable then, it also made his mother lived in the same prison with his father. Moreover, he was
also withdrawn from the school and insisted to work to pay the family’s dept. This
condition gave a shock in young Dickens’s mind to bear a life transition from middl e-class to working-e-class which indeed influenced his psychological condition.
Besides describing Pip as an orphan, Dickens also describes Pip as a child who is often being humiliated by anyone, even by his relatives including his own sister. Moreover, when Pip is working at Mrs. Havisham’s house, he is also humiliated and underestimated by Estella. Here, Pip was insisted to be strong to bear these kinds of treatment from Mrs. Havisham and Estella. He was also treated in inappropriate way as stated in quotation bellow.
