The title of the text we are reading today is:

“Great Expectations”
What does this suggest to you? Why?
What kind of story do you think it will be?
Here is the first paragraph:
MY FATHER'S FAMILY name being Pirrip, and my
Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of
both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.
So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.

Does this fit in with your initial ideas? What do you

think the story will be about now? What kind of a text
do you think it is now?
Now answer the comprehension questions:
1. What is the narrator's name?
2. Where does the story begin?
3. What do we learn about the marsh country where the narrator lives?
4. Who is the narrator raised/brought up by?
5. Who visits the main character in the chapter? How is that character described?
6. What does this tell us about him?
7. What can you notice about the way the second character speaks? What does this suggest
about him?
8. What does the second character do to the narrator?
9. What does he ask the narrator to get him?
10. Do you think the narrator will get it for him? Why? Why not?
1. What is the narrator's name?

“MY FATHER'S FAMILY name being Pirrip, and

my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue
could make of both names nothing longer or
more explicit than Pip.
2. Where does the story begin?

The story begins at the churchyard where the

graves of the narrator’s mother, father and
brothers are.

Description of the graveyard:

“At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak
place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard”
3. What do we learn about the marsh country
where the narrator lives?
“Ours was the marsh country, down by the
river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles
of the sea.”
4. Who is the narrator raised/brought up by?

“Ha!” he muttered then, considering. “Who

d'ye live with—supposin' you're kindly let to
live, which I han't made up my mind about?”
“My sister, sir—Mrs. Joe Gargery—wife of Joe
Gargery, the blacksmith, sir.”
5. Who visits the main character in the chapter?
How is that character described?
“A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man
with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his
head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud,
and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by
briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose
teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.”
• Dressed in grey
• Has metal on his leg
• Broken shoes
• Soaked
• Hurt by his environment
• Chattering teeth
6. What does this tell us about him?
“A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with
no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A
man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by
stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who
limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered
in his head as he seized me by the chin.”

He has escaped from jail because he still has the iron attached. He has
swum to escape. He is cold and hurt and has been travelling for a long
time.
7. What can you notice about the way the
second character speaks? What does this
suggest about him?
“What fat cheeks you ha' got.”
I believe they were fat, though I was at that time undersized, for
my years, and not strong.
“Darn Me if I couldn't eat 'em,” said the man, with a threatening
shake of his head, “and if I han't half a mind to't!”

He doesn’t speak grammatically correctly/uses slang/doesn’t use

standard English. He might be lower class/uneducated.
8. What does the second character do to him?
“The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and
emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.
When the church came to itself—for he was so sudden and strong that he
made it go head over heels before me, and I saw the steeple under my feet
—when the church came to itself, I say, I was seated on a high tombstone,
trembling, while he ate the bread ravenously.”

The second character threatens him, turns him upside-down, scares him,
steals his bread, and forces him to bring him items from his house.
9. What does he ask the narrator to get him?

“You get me a file.” He tilted me again. “And

you get me wittles.” He tilted me again. “You
bring 'em both to me.”

Food and a file

10. Do you think the narrator will get it for him?
Why? Why not?
Answer one blue question, one pink question and one orange question. Think
about the red question but do not answer it yet.

How does Dickens create fear and sympathy in the opening of Great Expectations?

Retrieve: What does the convict say he will do if Pip doesn’t follow his instructions?

Vocabulary: How is the convict described? Which words make you feel sorry for
him?

Summarise: How are the two characters similar/different?

Authorial intent: Why does Dickens use two very different characters?

Infer: How old is Pip? What gives you this idea?

Connect: How are both of the characters feeling? Which character do you feel sorry
for?
Answers

Retrieve: What does the convict say he will do if Pip doesn’t follow his instructions?
Cut his throat, heart and liver.
Vocabulary: How is the convict described? Which words make you feel sorry for him?
“broken shoes”, “old rag”, “soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and
cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars”, “limped”, “teeth chattered”,
“ravenously”
Summarise: How are the two characters similar/different?
Small boy and a scary man. They are both alone. They could both be scared.
Authorial intent: Why does Dickens use two very different characters?
The man is even scarier to a vulnerable child. The boy has no chance against him.
It shows how even the man who is the scary one in this story can be scared himself.
Infer: How old is Pip? What gives you this idea?
Around 7. The man picks him up easily and turns him upside down. He is very scared and
listens to the man. He relies on his sister to explain things to him.
Connect: How are both of the characters feeling? Which character do you feel sorry for?
Pip is scared. The man is hungry and may be scared too. He’s also in pain.
How does Dickens create fear and sympathy in
the opening of Great Expectations?
How is fear created? How is sympathy created?
How does Dickens create fear and sympathy in
the opening of Great Expectations?
How is fear created? How is sympathy created?
• Pip’s life is threatened • Pip’s life is threatened
• Physical violence • Pip is scared of him and is just a child
• A terrifying character • Pip is an orphan
• Stranger danger • Even though the man is horrible, Pip is
• The helplessness of a child against a still very polite to him. (Makes us like
large, scary adult him)
• The man is in pain/has been through a lot
of physical torment
• The man is very hungry
How does Dickens create fear and sympathy in
the opening of Great Expectations?
Write a paragraph answering the question.
What: What is the answer to the question?
How: How do you know? Add quotes from the extract.
Why: Why does this quote show this? Why has the writer used this language?
Teacher model
Dickens creates fear and sympathy through the emotions of the characters and their
dialogue.
When Pip is asking the convict “O! Don't cut my throat, sir,” we see that he is clearly scared
because of this violent threat that would end his life.
Pip asking the man this suggests he believes the man’s threat is real and he has a legitimate
reason to be afraid.
Secondly, because he “pleaded in terror, “Pray don't do it, sir””, we see Pip is begging the
man for his life. It’s really sad to see such an innocent, young boy so worried and in such a
dangerous position.
Recap
Summarise what happens in the opening of Great
Expectations.
Recap
Summarise what happens in the opening of Great
Expectations.
• Pip is an orphan
• Pip is at his family’s graves
• He is threatened by an escaped convict
• The man is hurt
• The man threatens to cut Pip’s throat, heart and liver
• He demands that Pip brings him food and a file
• He turns Pip upside-down and shakes him about
You are going to write the story as if you were Pip telling a close
friend what happened to him. You are also going to continue the
story.

Plan
Paragraph 1: Why he decided to visit his parent’s graveyard.
Eg. He was feeling sad and had no one to play with so went to the
churchyard.
Paragraph 2: What he felt when he first saw the man. (Try to include
relevant details from the story).
Eg. He saw the shadow first and then the man appeared suddenly…
Paragraph 3: What the man did to him and told him to do.
Paragraph 4: What Pip did next.
You are going to write the story as if you were Pip telling a close
friend what happened to him. You are also going to continue the
story.

Plan
Paragraph 1: Why he decided to visit his parent’s graveyard.
Eg. He was feeling sad and had no one to play with so went to the
churchyard.
Paragraph 2: What he felt when he first saw the man. (Try to include
relevant details from the story).
Eg. He saw the shadow first and then the man appeared suddenly…
Paragraph 3: What the man did to him and told him to do.
Paragraph 4: What Pip did next.
You are going to write the story as if you were Pip telling a close friend what
happened to him. Because you’re telling a close friend you should talk
openly and informally.

Stuck? Try this opening to help you:

Having no one to play with, I found myself heading towards the churchyard. Step by step,
my legs squelched in the muddy grassland as if on their own mission. I wished now I
hadn’t listened to them…

Suggestions for success:

•Consistent use of 1st person (I, we)
•Dynamic verbs (pounced, crept, rattled, wept)
•Powerful adjectives (trembling, terrified, shattering)
•Figurative language (eg simile – I felt like there was an earthquake; metaphor – his voice made my ears
bleed; personification – every night my fear comes hunting)
•Show not tell (the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end NOT I was scared)
•A range of punctuation: . , () ? ! - ; :
•A range of sentence starters