Essay - Transitions in Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations' Chapter 49 in Charles...

Transitions in Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations"

Chapter 49 in Charles ***** "Great *****" is about transitions. Pip begins to meet h***** "great" expectation; and literally, Miss Havisham's past is burnt away. The passage in question is about Pip having left M*****s Havisham in great spirits. She has agreed to give him nine hundred pounds for his business venture with Herbert. He walks around the grounds of Miss ********** manor like he did when he was first invited as a play companion to Estella. Inexplicably, he has a premonition that something might be wrong. He returns to see Miss Havisham. Suddenly, he finds Ms. Havisham on fire—probably, from the lit candles on ***** dining table. ***** smothers the flames with his topcoat, saving her. Fear, and possibly the pain of the burns, causes her to faint.

***** keeps her covered until help arrives. ***** doctor tends to ***** *****. In the heat of ***** moment and the adrenaline rush at seeing Miss Havisham alight, Pip does not realize that his hands have suffered burns *****o.

There is a parallel between the passage and Dickens' description of the ***** time that Pip v*****its ***** manor. The first time: while Estella leaves him with meat, bread, beer and the freedom to roam ***** grounds. He ***** among the ***** casks; he takes in t***** whole beer-making process. After walking among the ashes of ***** kitchen fires, he sees a frightening vision—Miss ***** de*****d, hanging from t***** rafters. She is conspicuous in her yellowing, faded wedding gown, her aged countenance, and ***** shoeless foot with the bedraggled s*****cking. ***** second time: interestingly, we are never sure what causes Pip to return ***** ***** manor. One might suppose that in this his ***** walk through the brewery, he recalls ***** Miss Havisham dead the first time; this arouses concern.

This frozen-in-time image is what Pip encounters every time he sees Miss Havisham.

*****. As mentioned above, t***** passage is marked wi*****h significant transitions. The first time ***** Pip ***** at ***** Havisham's is solely for her amusement. M*****s Havisham having adopted Estella does ***** want her own sorrows visited on her ward. In an effort to find a companion for Estella, she orders Pip to ***** a game of cards with Estella. She is not concerned about Pip's feelings at all, though some maternal instinct does seep *****—she asks Estella ***** feed Pip and let him walk around the grounds ***** the *****. In Chapter *****, Miss Havisham apologizes to *****—profusely. She offers to finance Pip's business venture. It is a transition ***** apathy for Pip's condition, to genuine caring.

The second significant transition is in ***** Havisham's life (that we see in the passage) is the fire. Miss Havisham ***** ***** a tremendous tr*****uma while she, as a young, nubile woman, was getting dressed ***** a *****. Throughout ***** narrative, Miss Havisham, perhaps in the hope of hold*****g on to that joyous anticipation, physic*****y freezes the moment throughout her *****. The first time Pip