Charles Dickens was born in 1812. He worked in a factory for 12 years then went back to school. He lives alone as he was ashamed and frightened. In1830 he fell in love with the banker’s daughter Maria Beadwell; they had a short relationship as their parents did not approve the match. Then in 1836 he married Catherine Hogarth.
The opening chapter shows many ways of drawing the reader in. The main character is young orphan Phillip Pirrip, or ‘Pip’ as his ‘infant tongue’ could not pronounce his full name. Pip dreams of becoming a gentleman and this novel shows him growing up from childhood to adulthood. The chapter introduces Pip being the one telling the story, by doing this Pip makes the reader feel sorry for him when he relates to him ever seeing his parents, and when he visits his mother and father’s graves, alongsize were five lozenges belonging to his five other brothers. Pip, being young, read his mothers name as being ‘Also Georgianna’ as that is what is printed on his fathers grave, therefore he thinks this is his mothers real name. Charles Dickens calls this ‘black humour’. Later on in the chapter, the book introduces another character, Magwitch, an escaped prison convict, who arrives in the chapter by terrorising Pip in the graveyard.
‘Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat’. Charles Dickens makes the reader feel anxious for Pip by beginning with a sad scene about him being an orphan to being threatened by an escaped prison convict