Chapters 52-end

What lessons has Pip learned through his journey to become a gentleman?  How does he now define the qualities of a gentleman?

What are your reactions to the two endings?

Chapters 48-51

How is the theme of illusion reinforced in these chapters?  In other words, nothing is what it orginally seemed for Pip.  How so?

Chapters 40-47

Choose a character (perhaps Magwitch, Havisham, Pip).  What is your reaction to the information revealed in these chapters?

Chapters 28-39

Why do you think Pip is increasingly unhappy?  What might be some of Dickens's lessons?

Chapters 20-27

What is your impression of London and its colorful characters?  How does it compare to Pip's life on the marshes?


How is Pip changing as he becomes a gentleman?

Chapters 15-20

• How is Pip affected by his "great expectations"?    

• What is Dickens revealing about the social class system of Victorian England through Pip's interactions?

Chapters 8-14

Under the promise of "great expectations," Pip meets Miss Havisham.  Pip tells the reader, "That was a memorable day for me, for it made great changes in me."

His meeting with Miss Havisham and Estella is like a portal between two worlds for Pip.   What changes does Pip undergo?  Consider his feelings and reactions, his various relationships, etc. 

Chapters 1-7

• What kind of narrator is Pip?  Why do you think Dickens chooses Pip,a child, as narrator?

• What questions or reactions do you have to the first seven chapters?