We will begin reading Great Expectations this week! May I offer a few suggestions to make your experience more enjoyable?
Consider listening to the novel. Dickens did, after all, read aloud as he was writing his novels. Read out loud with friends or buy/rent an audio version of the novel; audio versions are also available online for free. If you decide to download the novel on iTunes, be sure to choose an unabridged (complete) reading.
Don’t begin your reading at a time when you’re ready to go to bed. That’s just plain silly.
Get lost in the book. Imagine the scenes and the characters. In the words of Norrie Epstein, in her book The Friendly Dickens, “Read like a child, i.e., allow yourself to slip into Dickens’s world completely. Let go of the desire to ‘find out what happens.’ The plots are the least interesting parts of Dickens—the real pleasure is in the reading itself” (5).
Drink hot tea while you’re reading; it’s fun to feel British.
Use Sparknotes.com as a “help.” Yes, English teachers do know that students (of course, not honors students) use Spark Notes in place of reading. You will not do this. You will simply use Spark Notes as a reading aid.
15 comments:
Hey!
I get to be the first to post!!!
Well, I want to say that I did enjoy the first two chapters of "Great Expectations". I thought it was going to be a really boring story that we couldn't really understand, but now I have more faith. I think when Ms. McGowan reads out loud in class she should use an English accent to get us more in the mood. When we were reading in class I was thinking of how when Pip got home, they had bread for dinner. Bread is sort of religious, and Pip was about to go to the Church to give him the stolen food. Was this a foreshadowing of danger or misfortune? I probably making false connections, but it was just something to think about and find out about....
Ha. I think I'll pass on the British accent. Way to be first, Erik.
It's never a bad idea to make predictions.
In my opinion you have to be very open to any author's point of view, this is espescially true for Dickens. You have to keep in mind of the time the author is writing is in. so in conclusion finish the book, take into consideration and be open minded until the book is over, then judge all you want.
I just finished reading chapters 11 and 12 and i think it was very mean of Miss Havisham to not give Pip any of the fortune that he wanted and neaded to become a gentelman. I do predict in the future that Pip will become a gentleman and Estella will go into some crisis and fall to the lower class and Pip will just rub it into her face.
Hello!
Guess which Jenna this is! No, just kidding, it’s Jenna Kadlec.
After reading the first eleven chapters of Charles Dickens’ book Great Expectations, I feel that it will be a rather depressing book. For some reason, none of the settings seem happy or shed any light at all. They all seem to be dark and depressing or gloomy. I also see a great conflict with Pip’s love for Estella. Pip, even with her class, seems to be of a lower standing in my opinion. Pip has more heart and more understanding. I predict that pip will become a wonderful gentleman and will outgrow Estella and teach her to be a better person. I also think that Miss Havisham will try and kill Pip.
I must say, this is not my favorite Charles dickens book. I liked the book Shogun much more. It had a better plot and the culture was just so alluring! It’s too bad that I don’t remember it well. I should probably reread it!
After reading the first 13 chaters, Great Expectations has been really confusing. After Pip helped the covict, he started going to school and to Miss Havishams house. Pip tells a lot of lies during the story, many of them are about Miss Havichams house. One of those lies is about Estella. I think that when Pip lies he is saying what he wishes would happen. I hope the rest of the book is not as confusing.
Hello fellow English people,
After reading through the earliest stage of the book, and the earliest reference to the changes in pip's life. If you payed any attention to the back cover of the book, it is easily seen that Pip is undergoing a change, and will most likely rise in social class very soon...
I foresee a shift in focus from Pip's life at home with Mrs. Joe and Joe, to a more independent documentation of Pip and his life. With all of the predictions though as to how the nature of the story may come out to be, it is difficult to assume what the plot of the story may revolve around.
etc.
hola,
I am really excited about Great Expectations! I am excited to see, after reading about Mr. Jaggers servant with the odd wrists, how she got them to be the way they are.
I also want to see the convict come back. He seems to be a good guy at heart, but has been seen as a bad, savage "beast" of sorts. I think he only made up the story of the young man at the start of the novel in hopes it would scare pip into getting him food. I dont think he would have actually hurt Pip.
Hey
I am excited about Great Expectations! I was surprised to see the drastic change in appearence of Pip on the video. I expected him to be about 20-21 but the two actors looked really different from each other.
I am curious to see how the convict comes back into the story and who Pip's benefactor is. I do not think it is Miss Havisham.
I also wonder how Mrs. Joe died. I believe it had something to do with when she was attacked.
Hello! It's Anja Ibsen.
Well Erik I am number 9!
Great Expectations caught my attention in the begginning but as the novel progresses I am becoming less interested. Dickens is a great writer but nothing exciting happens in the story line.
Miss Havisham is so depressing and is stuck over the man that left her, I can see Pip becoming like Miss Havisham over Estella. Pip is irritating to me because he is so in love with Estella, when she made it perfectly clear that she can never love him.
I'm glad that some of you are enjoying Great Expectations. I know that not everyone loves this novel, and that's okay. If nothing else, you can add reading the novel to your list of academic accomplishments.
We are definitely stuck in the dullest (euphemism for that awful word "boring") portion of the novel. Hang in there. It gets exciting, again.
Feel free to comment on the more recent posts! ;)
Hello again,
I found free audio for the book, which is offered by librivox.org
they have quite a few ebooks (all of which are legal to listen to)and they can all be accessed via the internet.
http://librivox.org/great-expectations-by-charles-dickens/
the only downside to this is that the reader is somewhat monotonous.
enjoy
Great! Thanks for sharing, Wali!
Hey!
1st AND 14th!!!
One helpful source I have found is that the entire book is online at the Livermore Public Library website. Its under their e-resources as an ebook. There you can type in words from a phrase that you remembered, and wanted to use as a quote, and they'll show every place in the book that has those words. You can also go to places like planetebook.com to get full books in pdf format, which will do the same thing.
I wasn't at all surprised to find that the convict was the benefactor. From the beginning we knew they had to come back into the book at some point. Dickens spent WAY too much time on the convicts if they didn't come back in. We also always knew it wasn't going to be Miss Havisham.
I predict more is going to happen with Joe. Right now, he is basically all by himself without Mrs. Joe.
I also hope the book has a really exciting ending. I thought finding out about the benefactor wasn't that surprising. I do enjoy the book though. Its seems more mature than most of the books we read. The only parts I don't like about it are when the characters start talking for long periods of time. That's when it starts to get a little hard to focus.
Hey English friends! Alright, we were assigned chapter 47-50 this weekend and if you haven't read them yet - then do NOT read this. But if you have then I was very surprised to find out that Provis is Estella's dad! That was so unexpected. As soon as they started to mention the timing though I was able to predict it - but still, to have it confirmed was a huge surprise. I am really into the book now, took a little while, but I definately like it now. I can not wait to get to the end. So far we've read through so many unexpected events. I see Pip slowly coming to his senses, hopefully soon, but I'm still not sure how Estella's going to fit into things. What an interesting story. Enjoy your reading!
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