Analysis on the Place Movement in Great Expectations

Place， as an essential element in narrative， is not only used to express settings and surroundings， reveal the personalities of characters， but also correspond with the characters mental growth， and even may reflect some conflicts in the social background. Take Great Expectations as an example， the protagonist Pip took many twists and turns， during which the series of place movement accomplished his mental growth and personality development. Besides， the physical movement has accounted for the change of society， which revealed the large gap between villages and cities in the Industrial Revolution period.

Dickens is a writer with a strong sense of place， and is good at space choosing and character shaping. Different from other novels， in Great Expectations， he used three stages to construct the plot， which respectively matched with Joe s house， London， and the village Pip went back. Each place has a significant meaning to Pip， and the last move perfectly makes his travel as a circle， since the character went back home， where the story began. By following this circled trail， Dickens revealed the impact of society to individual， which is related to consumerism and hedonism. Moreover， he successfully completed the growth of Pips mental quality， making readers pay more attention to the depth and breadth of the story and its meaning. Following will be detailed analysis on place movement from two perspectives.

First， at the perspective of individual， on the one hand， the place movement shows the complex and changeable reality， on the other hand， it not only enriches the Pips life experiences， but also achieves the mission of character developing， which plays an irreplaceable role in the process of protagonists being naive to being mature.

To be more specific， the places in the novel all have great influence to characters and the development of their inner activities， which can be regarded as an important element that adds dramatic effects to the protagonists life. The first place in the novel was Joe Gargerys house， where Pip grew up. It was a wood house in the village， and people around this place were at the bottom of the society， but they had valuable quality and sincere feelings as ordinary people. Here Joe s sincere friendship let this place be subconsciously safe， while Joe taught Pip to be kind and warm-hearted， which gave a reasonable explanation to his later behaviour of rescuing a fugitive. To some extend， his good deeds foreshadowed his fortune in the future. Generally speaking， the beginning place is relatively positive and important to Pip， and it produces a lasting influence to him， making him live with an innocent and simple heart in the beginning， and be able to regret from the bottom of heart at the end.

The next important place is Satis House， where the whole space was dark and creepy with only several candles. The still clock was a symbol of death and bad things， and this place was filled with desolation， terror， and the spirit of evil since Miss Havisham managed to make Pip fall in love with Estella， to achieve her revenge plan. In this place， Pip was inputted the idea of becoming upper class， while the initial concept of “great expectations” came into his mind. Pip began to abandon his original family， considered them as silliness and poorness， even avoided to be in company with Joe and drifted apart to his old friends. In his mental space the only thing he valued was to be as noble as Estella. The sprout of evil kept growing under the ground. This place changed his mental condition， which resulted to the happening of the tragedy.

The third place， London， appeared when Pip had a chance to come into the upper class society， and learned to act as a gentleman. The life in London was all about hedonism and enjoyment， which seemed to give Pip a second life with a good fortune. The big house where Pip lived functioned as a symbol of indulgence， for this place shaped him as someone totally different， which leaded to the result that Pip was ashamed of Joe when Joe visited him at Barnard s Inn. The society has blinded his eyes， making him know nothing about love and peace. In such an environment， Dickens has successfully created a character who was suffering from being truly good or being hypocrisy， as the salve of pleasure. Not until the coming of Magwitch did his gentlemans dream break. The whole thing let Pip experienced a complex transformation， and fortunately kindness and sincerity finally overcame the hypocrisy and cunning. Pip completed the transition from naive to mature in this place.

At last， he returned to the village， where the story began. Pip went back to the village with a heart of goodness and realization， and everything seemed to be as good as beginning although there were some uncertain factors and the situation was not completely positive. Some surrounding settings can be explained as the inner thoughts of protagonists， for example， the mists and moonlight in the ending chapters showed both the joy of reunion and uncertainty of future. It is said that place changes in the novel are always related to the characters and the theme in Dickens s novel， in this case， the last move established the goodness of Pip and showed his self-improvement， which vividly demonstrate one of the themes—people should be honest and pure with an original heart. The comic and ironic ending of the story also vividly demonstrates Dickens unique literary style—making the place movement as a circle.

As analyzed before， the place movement is correspond to mental growth. Place is not only a static container or platform of social relations， but also full of meaning in character portrayal. Besides， the symbolic settings in the place， such as the clock in Miss Havisham s home， the big house in London， and the mist in the village， are all powerful in prompting narrative process and reflecting the change of characters inner world. Moreover， the movement of social place can reveal the complexity of the real world in which the protagonist managed to find out his identity and successfully grow up and be mature.

Second， at the perspective of society， place movement can reflect some conflicts of the social background.

According to Peng Yali， place is an important part of Dickens s novels which stands for his consideration of social reality， for on the one hand， it represents the progresses of modern technology； on the other hand， it leads readers to think about some serious problems in the industrial period.

Specifically speaking， the movement of Pip reflects the Industrial Revolution and the process of urbanization in Britain. It resulted in some conflicts in society. The original and unified space was cut off by the sharp edges of the industry， bringing various social issues. In the novel， the description of London is the spatial interpretation of modernity in the nineteenth century. Dickens， the great realist， sniffed the great impact of the Industrial Revolution by describing London as a paradise of money， sex， and dishonesty. On the contrary， the countryside is a habitat of simple working class， without too much disturbing of revolution. The place movement makes a comparison and shows the real situation of the British social changes.

Pip， as a protagonist in the story， took the responsibility of experiencing the difference that caused by industrialization. He was born on the edge of the village， but after meeting Estella， he seemed having a new understanding about what the “good” life was， and he volunteered to escape his village to be a gentleman in London. However， the only thing he experienced is evil and ugly in the city of London， which is ironic to the expectations of him before. This comparison is actually realized by place movement.

Besides， some conflicts are shaped in some specific places. In London， Mr. Pockets home was a microcosm of reality， which covered all fantasy and hypocrisy in the upper class world with a glance. It is worth noting that the the law firm of Jaggers was also a microcosm of the dark side of the British society. The British social justice was exposed with hypocrisy， while the lower peoples lives was shown as a miserable thing.

In addition， the conflicts of novel not only exist in each space separately， but also overlap between the movement of places.

For example， Joe s forge and the Satis House may make a conflict， as the former represents warmth and happiness， the latter represents cold， dark and dreary. The two opposite environment affects the growth of Pip in different way. This kind of binary opposition helps the characterization of the figures， and also suggests the inner thoughts of the writer from a invisible aspect， because in the end of the novel， Satis House was ruined， while Pip chose to go back to the Joe s place and relive his life， which explained the intention of writer to teach people be kind and sincere.

As discussed above， Great Expectations portrays a satirical picture of the life of the common people in the 19th century by a special way of narrative—place movement. From the perspective of individual， it is shown that every time Pip entered a new place， his inner world was challenged and tended to construct a new system which influenced by the new environment. Place movement enriches the his life experiences and achieves the completion of character development. At the perspective of society， place movement can reflect the conflicts of the society. Dickens， as one of the most influential English writers of the 19th century， plays a crucial role in literary modernism. His description of London city life contributes greatly to the revealing of societys hypocrisy and evilness.

In a word， place movement has played an important role in the development of the plot， characterization， as well as the reflection of social problem. Characters and social settings are more lively thanks to the dynamic movement of place in the novel.

【作者簡介】贾真慧，北京师范大学外国语言文学学院学士在读。