Page 158 - DENG404_FICTION

Fiction

Notes The next day, Herbert brings Pip to meet his father, and his seven siblings, in the outlying area
of Hammersmith.

Analysis

The theme of the meal as a reflection of human companionship again returns in this chapter.
The meal prepared by Herbert is simple and the table setting is balanced on a number of
pieces of furniture, clearly showing it as a non-traditional set-up. And yet, Pip enjoys himself
immensely, and feels that Herbert, despite the fact that he may have lost favor in Miss Havisham’s
eyes (and thus Pip has taken his inheritance), is honest and has no capability for bitterness at
all.
Pip and the reader are again reminded none to subtly that the “lap of luxury” is, in fact, not
material or social gain, but the simple joy of eating with sincere friends. In fact, we are given
Matthew Pocket’s definition of a gentleman, repeated by his son:”... no man who was not a
true gentleman at heart, ever was... a true gentleman in manner.” Young Pip, however, is not
ready to learn this lesson.

Part II: Chapter 4

The Pocket household turns out to be a comical jumble of children, nurses, and boarders, all
held together loosely under Matthew Pocket’s weary gaze. Mrs. Pocket had been raised with
high expectations herself and brought up to be “highly ornamental, but perfectly helpless and
useless.” She seems to have little idea of child rearing, leaving the young ones in the hands
of two nurses. Pip observes the chaos over a meal.

Analysis
Dickens, pointedly, is making two criticisms here aimed at English society. The first is a
humorous critique of England’s obsession with titles in their class system. Mrs. Pocket is, in
fact, so caught up in titles that she spends her whole day reading a book about them. She is
disappointed by her own lot in life, though she seems not to have to do any household duties
and has a good man for a husband. She is caught up in the class system in complete oblivion
to what is going on around her. She is actually raised, Pip finds out, to be utterly useless and
to be taken care of.
The second criticism is Dicken’s continuing them of child abuse, and the many ways in which
children are oppressed and marginalized. In the Pocket family the children are not necessarily
physically abused (though their lives appear in danger sometimes from lack of supervision)
or under fed or made to work, but there seems to be psychological abuse by there mere
numbers. The parents, Matthew and Mrs. Pocket, have little to no time for a decent rearing of
the children.

Part II: Chapter 5

Pip finds Matthew Pocket to be, like his son, serious, honest, and good. Because Matthew
Pocket was earnest in teaching Pip, Pip feels earnest in learning and progresses well. At the
same time, he is drawn by the city life within London and asks Jaggers if he can live permanently
at the Bernard Inn with Herbert, instead of boarding in Hammersmith. Jaggers agree.

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