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Fiction

Notes Analysis

Dickens uses this chapter to once again present mysteries that the narrator Pip hints will be
solved in upcoming issues. Of all the young men invited to Jagger’s house, Jaggers is especially
pleased and interested in the unfriendly Drummle. It is a strange choice for Jaggers and we
are led to believe that Drummle will become a more important character later in the novel. As
well, Wemmick’s singling the servant woman out as one to be watched and Jagger’s own
proud demonstration of her scarred wrists, indicate that she too will reoccur.

This chapter presents yet another meal, this one serving as an airing of dirty laundry, much
to the enjoyment of the host Jaggers. The evening ends in an argument between the boarders
and we learn nothing personal about Jaggers himself. Used as a comparison to Pip’s meal with
Wemmick, it appears that Jaggers is what he seems to be: a nearly mechanical rationalist, with
a cold scientific fascination for the psychology of people, but with a complete lack of emotional
involvement with them. In fact, we are given the feeling that a good insulting argument is
more entertaining to Jaggers than a peaceful communion of friends.

Part II: Chapter 8
Biddy write to Pip to tell him Joe is coming into London and would like to visit him. Pip does
not look “with pleasure” on this.
Joe shows up for breakfast and tells Pip that Miss. Havisham wants him to know Estella is
back at the Satis House. The conversation is apologetic and stilted, Joe addresses Pip as “sir,”
and Joe stays only for a few minutes. He tells Pip that he is out of his element, and that if Pip
would like to see the real Joe and sit down and talk like old times, he should visit the forge.

Analysis
Once again, we are presented with the meal theme, this meal an uncomfortable clash between
Pip’s new “gentlemanly” life and his “common” life at the forge. Joe even uses the word
“wittles,” which was last used by the convict that Pip met in the marshes, symbolizing all of
Pip’s past that he is trying to separate from.
Joe, like Dickens, knows the importance of place and invites Pip back to the forge where the
two of them could be natural around one another.

Part II: Chapter 9

Pip journeys back to this hometown to see Estella. He shares the carriage with two convicts
who sit behind him. Pip recognizes one of them as the one-eyed man Pip met in the tavern
years before who stirred his drink with the file and gave Pip a one pound note. The convict
does not recognize him, but Pip overhears him tell the other convict about the note that a
stranger had given him to bring to Pip.

Analysis

We are given a number of answers to earlier mysteries in this chapter. The convict riding with
Pip in this chapter was given the pound note, and, presumably, the file by the convict who
Pip had helped in the opening few chapters. Other than being a fellow convict, it appears that
the one-eyes man has no real relationship with that first convict.

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