By: Charles dickens
Genre: Fiction
Publication Date: 1861
Publisher’s Description
Regarded as one of Charles Dickens’s masterpieces, this is the story of the orphan Pip and his growth to adulthood. Supported by a mysterious anonymous benefactor, Pip travels to London to be educated as a gentleman and make himself worthy of the hand of the beautiful Estella, the ward of the reclusive Miss Havisham. But Pip finds out that his future prospects are very different from his ‘great expectations’.
Our Take
This book was rife with heroic and unheroic characters. some were downright horrible, some surprisingly humbled themselves and learned from their mistakes, while others remained honorable and true throughout. Watching The complexity of the characters in this story unfold was impactful.
although Pip is thought of as an unheroic hero, he felt true remorse, made wrongs right, and set out to live in the wisdom he gained and the grace he received from his true friends and family. This story left us inspired to love like Joe and Biddy, to learn from our mistakes like Pip, to not become hard hearted like Estella, to not be vengeful like Miss Havisham, to be a true friend like Herbert Pocket, and perhaps to have humble expectations.
food to share
Due to changes in our schedules, we decided to meet for a walk at a nearby park to get some much needed exercise before heading on to dinner and book discussion. This caused a welcomed interruption to our usual habit of meeting at one of our homes. We met at the restaurant where our book club began 5 years ago, La Madeline. it felt like we had come full circle!
We enjoyed all the French foods and drinks along with our discussions. In one chapter of the book, Pip is making haste to get his mysterious benefactor to safety, but not before scarfing down a breakfast of eggs and bacon, So we had to order a plate of the same… if only Pip’s outcome had been as good as that dish was…
Sunset Walk Before Book Club
Atmosphere
We played cards at the restaurant, just as Pip and Estella did during their first encounter at Satis house. This scene intensely foreshadows the progression of Pip and Estella’s relationship. Estella is convinced by Miss Havisham to play cards with Pip by suggesting that Estella “can break his heart.” Estella asks Pip which card games he knows how to play, to which he replies, “Nothing but beggar my neighbor, miss.”
“I played the game to the end with Estella, and she beggared me. She threw the cards down on the table when she had won them all, as if she despised them for having been won of me.”
Poor pip! If only he could have seen it then and listened to reason. However, playing this game was one of the highlights of the evening. You can learn how to play Beggar My Neighbor Here.
You can play with regular playing cards, but these Charles Dickens Playing cards are so fun! You can purchase them at Barnes and Noble.
discussion Questions
We printed out Oprah’s reading questions to discuss. While we got carried away with the walk, the game and the food, we did discuss a few of them here:
- If Pip had not received his “great expectations” and never left Joe’s forge, how do you think his life would have been different? Are the lessons he learns during his physical and emotional journey necessary for him to arrive at the wisdom he displays as the middle-aged narrator of this tale? In what ways?
- Given Dickens’ portrayal of Estella, what do you think attracts Pip to her in the first place, and what, when he learns of her cold-blooded manipulation of men, keeps Pip devoted to her until the end, loving her, as he says, “against reason, against promise, against peace”? We discussed how psychology suggests that sometimes people choose their parents for a partner. Pip didn’t know his parents, but he knew his abusive sister, who raised him, and discussed the similarities in the treatment of Pip by Mrs. Joe and Estella’s.
- In Chapter 49, Miss Havisham confesses to Pip that in adopting Estella, she “meant to save her (Estella) from misery like my own.” Do you believe this, given Dickens’ harsh characterization of Miss Havisham throughout the novel? We all had a different take on wether Miss Havisham truly meant to do good, and wether or not she truly felt remorse for it.
- Also In Chapter 49, when Miss Havisham is set on fire, do you believe that, given her state of mind, Dickens intends us to read this as an accident or as a kind of penance/attempted suicide on her part for her cruelty to Pip and Estella? We discussed how frightening a scene this was. And one of the mom’s even had a suggestion of dressing as Miss Havisham for Halloween… I mean, what could be more scary than an Old Woman in a Decaying Wedding dress as she seeks revenge upon all men … joking aside, We also discussed the possibility of the dress being burned away as a symbol that Miss Havisham had awoken from bitterness and turned a new leaf.
- This book didn’t have a typical fairy tale ending. In fact, there are two different versions of the end. The one published was not the original, and after a suggestion Dickens received to change the original ending, he did. Which one do you like best and why?
quotes
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”
“There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.”