English 122

Great Expectations Reading Questions Chapters 30 - 39

Stage 2 (Part 2)

1. Who is fired from his/her job at the start of chapter 30?

2. What does Pip confess to Herbert back in London, that Herbert says he has always known about Pip?

3. What advise does Herbert reluctantly offer Pip regarding Pip's confession?

4. Where does Herbert's secret sweetheart's father live?

5. Chapter 31 opens with the words, "On our arrival in Denmark…". To where have Pip and Herbert gone?

6. What friend of their's had they gone to see "in Denmark"?

7. From whom does Pip get a letter at the start of chapter 32?

8. What does the letter ask him to do for the writer?

9. Pip meets Wemmick, who takes him where?

10. Pip describes Wemmick as walking "much as a gardener might walk among his plants". Briefly explain the gardening metaphor used here.

11. They meet a character who Wemmick calls Colonel. What is to be Colonel's fate on the following Monday?

12. What other name does Wemmick give the pair of pigeons he will receive as a gift from the Colonel?

13. To what town is Estella going, in order to live with a lady who will introduce her to London society?

14. By what name does Estella refer to her Step-mother, Miss Havisham?

15. About whom does Estella express an unusual amount of venom and hatred in this chapter?

16. Who is Estella talking about in this quotation: 'You did not gradually open your round childish eyes wider and wider to the discovery of that imposter of a woman who calculates her stores of peace of mind for when she wakes up in the night"?(Pip says he had this in common with this person in the first paragraph of chapter 34)

17. Pip makes a comment at the end of chapter 33 on the irony of Matthew Pocket's career as a lecturer. On what topic does Matthew give his lectures?

18. In the first paragraph of chapter 34, Pip says he was losing sleep because his conscience was bothering him over his treatment of what two people?

19. He also says that it probably would have been better if he had never seen a certain someone's face. Whose face is he talking about?

20. What unwholesome activity does Pip say he was mostly responsible for in Herbert (and himself)?

21. What news does Pip receive at the end of this chapter, and from whom does he receive it?

22. In chapter 35, Joe says to Pip: "Which I mean to say, sir, as I would in preference have carried her to the church myself, along with three or four friendly ones wot come to it with willing harts and arms, but it were considered wot the neighbours would look down on such and would be of opinions as it were wanting in respect." Under what circumstances does he say this to Pip?

23. What is it he wishes he could have done?

24. Why does he feel compelled to do what he did instead?

25. How is this speech consistent with what we know about Joe in this novel?

26. Where does Pip spend the night the day of Mrs. Joe's funeral?

27. When Pip asks Biddy what she will do now that Mrs. Joe is gone, what is it she tells him she intends to do?

28. What birthday does Pip celebrate in chapter 36?

29. How much money does Pip receive on his birthday?

30. What is to be his annual allowance?

31. When Pip asks Wemmick about using his money to help a friend, Wemmick says to go to one of six bridges near London, and do what?

32. What does Pip discuss with Wemmick while at Walworth concerning Herbert?

33. In chapter 38, Estella warns Pip about something which she had warned him about earlier in the novel. What does she warn him against?

34. Estella and Miss Havisham have a terrible argument while together with Pip. What is Miss Havisham's side of this argument?

35. What is Estella's side in this argument?

36. Pip spends the night at Satis House. What bizarre sight does he see in the middle of the night?

37. To whom does Bentley Drummle make a toast one night at a "Finches" meeting?

38. Pip's response to Drummle's toast results in Drummle producing a hand-written note the next day. Who is the note from, and what does it say?

39. What kind of weather was London experiencing the night that opens chapter 39?

40. Who was with Pip the this night when he receives his unexpected visitor?

41. Who is his visitor?

42. Name one of two things that causes Pip's visitor to shed tears.

43. What does Pip's visitor do for a living?

44. What shocking news does this visitor give Pip?

45. What does Pip's visitor tell Pip will happen to him if he is found in England?

46. In what room does Pip's visitor spend the night?

Identify or explain the following.

a. Clara

b. "Don't know yah, don't know yah, 'pon my soul, don't know yah!"

c. Mr. Waldengarver

d. Finches of the Grove

e. "Let us look in to our affairs"

f. "Walworth sentiments"

g. The Aged's physical handicap

h. Miss Skiffins

i. Clarriker's House

j. Mrs. Brandley

k. Richmond