How Does Charles Dickens Use Imagery In Great Expectations

In the heat of the day, a young man glances around at a run down, unoccupied building. He walks through the dismal lot and waits on the stairs for the owners to return. In Charles Dicken’s novel Great Expectations, the main character, Pip, comes by a large fortune and is sent to live in London to gain an adequate education. His legal guardian, Mr. Jaggers, is very successful lawyer, but Pip stays with his educators the, Pocket family. Pip also spends some time in the company of Mr. Jaggers’ clerk, Mr. Wemmick. In Great Expectations, Dickens uses intense imagery to portray Bernard’s Inn, Wemmick’s castle, and the residence of Mr. Jaggers. Bernard’s Inn is an exceptional example of the way Dickens uses imagery. This is the dwelling of the Pocket family. At first, Pip is disappointed because the buildings were in “every stage of dilapidated blind and curtain, crippled flower-pot, cracked glass, dusty decay, and miserable makeshift” (Dickens 182). This imagery helps us to understand that this family is impoverished. The description of Pip’s surroundings emphasizes the wealth he acquired from the past windfall. Contrasting the decaying building with the cheerful attitudes

Wemmick and Pip became friends when Pip first arrived at Mr. Jaggers’ office. After a few weeks living with the Pockets, Wemmick invited Pip over to his house for dinner. When they reached their destination, Pip observed that his house was a wooden cottage with “the top of it … cut out and painted like a battery mounted with guns” (Dickens 218). The imagery of the mock fortress helps to develop the story by revealing that Wemmick is more than just a lawyer’s clerk. Finding out that his dwelling is designed like a fortress is shocking to many readers. It is an uncommon architectural style and exposes the fact that Wemmick is ambitious and hard working. An elaborate home built by the owner implies a willingness to work, but so can an empty