Charles Dickens Dialectical Journal

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1. "Conscience is a dreadful thing when it accuses a man or boy... If ever anybody's hair stood on end with terror, mine must have done so then. But, perhaps, nobody's ever did?"(Dickens, 11) Charles Dickens increasingly captures the terror felt by a kid who has to do something of meaning or of great responsibility. I know how it feels when you are going to sneak around at night and do something, and so I was afflicted by how Dickens transformed the feeling into text in the book. Pip conveys these feelings in his head, to portray the literary device of mood. What to you is most compelling about this? Why? 2. "Pitying his desolation, and watching him as he gradually settled down upon the pie, I made bold to say, 'I am glad you enjoy it.'"…show more content…
Because of the man's state, Pip feels apologetic for him, but I believe that the man had what was coming for him, because he is an escaped convict. He obviously did something malicious to get himself thrown in jail, and I don't think I would feel pity for him. But, Pip’s compassion and respect for others foreshadows the rest of the book showing he is kind to everyone. What does Dickens suggest about Pips character? 3. “I was soon at the battery, after that, and there was the right man-hugging himself and limping to and fro, as if he had never all night left off hugging and limping-waiting for me. He was awfully cold, to be sure. I half expected to see him drop down before my face and die of deadly cold.” (Dickens, 25) Pip later describes the man as eating like a dog; cautious and chancy. He is right. Often what we forget is that the wolf and caveman were equals for much of history. Just as a dog that is injured and starved will revert to self-serving instincts, a man can just as simply revert to violence when he is hungry or homeless. The dog was always a bit wild, but the man has bought into civilization and given a chance. Dickens used of the metaphor of a “man is like a dog”. Further describe Dickens’…show more content…
Perhaps he was out for revenge on Pip because he had been caught, though I doubt that he was displeased after capturing the other convict. I wonder if the attacker will try to finish the job. Perhaps the attack will cause Pip's sister to give Pip the money. Dickens makes the reader think by using foreshadowing, mood, and tone here. 10. "We Britons had at 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, narrow, and dirty." (Dickens, 170) I think this is a good description of the feelings during Victorian Age. Many of the cities in England were crowded and dirty, but people didn't admit these things because they had so much pride in their country. Also, perhaps it is a parallel to Pip and how he was dirty and poor, but he should have had pride in his job and lifestyle. Maybe if he had seen this before he left Joe and Biddy, Pip wouldn't have wanted so badly to be a gentleman. 11. “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.'" (Dickens,
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