Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Pip's character in the novel?
Write about:
how Dickens presents Pip in this extract
how Dickens presents Pip as he grows up during the novel as a whole
The extract
For an hour or more, I remained too stunned to think; and it was not until I began to think, that I began fully to know how wrecked I was, and how the ship in which I had sailed was gone to pieces.
Miss Havisham's intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only suffered in Satis House as a convenience, a sting for the greedy relations, a model with a mechanical heart to practise on when no other practice was at hand; those were the first smarts I had. But, sharpest and deepest pain of all -- it was for the convict, guilty of I knew not what crimes, and liable to be taken out of those rooms where I sat thinking, and hanged at the Old Bailey door, that I had deserted Joe.
I would not have gone back to Joe now, I would not have gone back to Biddy now, for any consideration: simply, I suppose, because my sense of my own worthless conduct to them was greater than every consideration. No wisdom on earth could have given me the comfort that I should have derived from their simplicity and fidelity; but I could never, never, never, undo what I had done.
From chapter 39
Before you go on to the next page, make some notes about what you might write.
Hints
Think about the key words in the question ('present', 'character').
Think about this extract – what is happening at this point? How does it affect Pip? Highlight some key points.
Think about Pip's development across the entire novel.