Lone Star College-Kingwood Library
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Charles Dickens 1812-1870
Great Expectations, first published serially in 1960-1861, takes place in nineteenth century England. The story is about the life of the orphaned Philip Pirrip, who calls himself Pip. The events of Pip's life unfold as Pip learns the true value of the people he has encountered throughout his life.
Charles Dickens was born in
1812 to John and Elizabeth Barrow Dickens in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. He
was the second of eight
children. His father moved the family frequently between
London and Chatham and was often in debt. John Dickens was imprisoned at
Marshalsea Debtor's Prison for several months in 1824, and twelve-year-old
Charles was forced to drop out of school and go to work in a shoe-dye, or
blacking, factory labeling bottles. This experience of living alone in London in
poverty, though only a few months in length, provided material for many of his
writings and profoundly affected his outlook on life. After his father's release
from prison, Charles returned to school until he was fifteen years old. His
formal education ended at this time, but he continued to expand his knowledge by
spending a great deal of time reading in the library of the British Museum in
London. He began his career as a
writer and journalist in 1833 by writing articles on London life for magazines
under the pseudonym Boz. In 1836, the year of his marriage to Catherine Hogarth,
these articles were collected in a book entitled Sketches by Boz. With
this publication came the first taste of fame, and he embarked on a successful
writing career that covered nearly thirty years. Charles Dickens was fortunate
to achieve renown and critical praise during his lifetime as well as afterwards
for his literary works. He is widely considered one of the greatest novelists in
the English language, and Great Expectations is regarded as one of his
finest novels.
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
Alienation and Loneliness | Guilt and Innocence | Search for Self | Place of women in Victorian England | Victim and Victimization
BOOKS
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
- REF PN 41.D5, vols. 21 and 55 - Dictionary of Literary Biography - The DLB is a multi-volume work which provides detailed biographical sketches of the authors' literary writings as well as general critical commentary.
- PR4581 .A25 - Introduction to Dickens - Read pages 157 - 163 before you start.
ANALYSIS OF THE NOVEL
To find books on Great Expectations, consult the LIBRARY CATALOG. Type in Great Expectations or "Charles Dickens" as the subject keyword. You may wish to browse in the stacks in the general call number for Dickens (PR 4588).
- REF PN 761.N5, vol. 26 - Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism - NCLC contains excerpts from critical essays in books and journals. Use these volumes to 1) select a topic or theme 2) find the full article or essay in the library, and 3) locate other articles and books from the "Further Reading" section.
- REF PN 3385 .N68, Vol. 4 - Novels for Students - Characteriztion, themes, summary and excerpts from literary criticism. This is an excellent starting place.
- REF PN 3451.C7 Vol. 2 - Critical Survey of Long Fiction - A survey of Dickens' writing style and characterization.
- REF PR 4579.D49 - Dickens Studies Annual: Essays on Victorian Fiction - A set of bound volumes of essays on Charles Dickens and other Victorian writers. To find specific essays use MLA as an index. Excellent source for scholarly journal articles.
EVENTS AT THE TIME THE NOVEL WAS WRITTEN
In 1861 Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth. Her territories stretched around the world, and her navy ruled the seas. Raw materials furnished by the colonies fueled the factories of the Industrial Revolution. The thriving economy gave rise to a wealthy middle class that rivaled the old aristocracy in money and power. However, the Industrial Revolution also spawned great poverty, The working conditions in the factories were deplorable. Child labor was rampant. The slums of London bred crime and disease. Only men of property had the vote so the poor were excluded from the political system. Women had few rights and about their only option in life was marriage. It was in this under side of society and the injustices of life in Victorian Britain that Charles Dickens found the material for his novels.
BOOKS TO EXPLAIN THE TIMES
- REF DA5500.E53 - The Encyclopedia of the Victorian World - A guide to the people, places, events, and every day life of the Victorian era.
- DA533.A55 - Victorian People and Ideas - A book written to make Victorian literature more intelligible and pertinent to a reader.
- DA533.P74 - Victoria's Heyday A beautifully illustrated book on Victorian England.
- HQ615.F58 - Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England - Room by room, including the sickroom, Victorian everyday life is described in detail.
- REF PN50.L574 Supp. 1, pt. 1 - Literature and its Times - Ties Great Expectations to its setting in early 19th century England.
- PR872.M2 - Victorian Life and Victorian Fiction - Highly recommended for background information. Includes specific references to Great Expectations.
- PR878.D65K36 - Victorian Families in Fact and Fiction - Use for descriptions of family life during the time Dickens was writing.
FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES
Librarian talk . . . About Finding Journal and Newspaper Articles!
HINT:For a full list of article databases, go to http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/db-subj.html
and use your library card for login.
If you are a Lone Star College System student, you may use these databases from home. A current library card is required for login. Get Card
- Literature Resource Center
- Use this database to find essays in books and articles in journals. Search MLA for the most thorough indexing of journals and books, but they may not be full text. If you really need the articles and you have allowed enough time, try Interlibrary Loan for appropriate articles that are not available in full text.
- JSTOR Arts & Sciences
- Complete back issues of scholarly journals in literature, economics, history, social sciences, science and mathematics. The most current issue available is determined by publisher agreements and varies.
- Project MUSE
- This full text database contains only scholarly journal articles. Subjects include the arts, humanities and social sciences.
- ProQuest Research Library
- This huge database is not exclusively a literary database, but a number of literary journals are indexed and some are available full text. Evaluate what you find to be certain the journal is scholarly. Ask your instructor or the librarians if you're not sure.
- Academic Search Complete
- Again, a general database, but you will find many full text articles, including some on Pip, Miss Havisham, and Estella. Try the new visual search feature in this database.
INTERNET SITES
The internet can be a wonderful source of original documents. Browse the sites we have suggested below. Remember, you DO want to find reputable sites. Evaluate for:
- Accuracy - The information should be researched and show proof of that research.
- Source - Look at the domain: .edu .gov .org .net are valid research sources. Your company's website is also a valuable resource.
- Authority - What are the author's credentials? (Don't quote from another college freshman's paper.)
- Coverage - Does the page have the information you need for your research?
- Objectivity - If a work is biased, use it - just make sure your professor knows YOU know. Offer both sides of issues, where applicable.
UNACCEPTABLE SOURCE SAMPLE http://www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh/bx/bx04b.html - This appears to be part of a book (the subject is not this novel but it is a good example) however there is nothing we can see that tells you title, author, dates, publisher or any of the other needed information.
- David Perdue's Charles Dickens Pages
- An award winning site "dedicated to bringing the genius of Dickens to a new generation of readers."
- The Dickens Project University of California
- A scholarly consortium devoted to the promotion of the study of Dickens and his works.
- Charles Dickens
- The Internet Public Library links to online literary criticism of Dickens' works.
- Films Made from Great Expectations
- Information on ten films made from this novel, beginning in 1917. There was also a Masterpiece Theater production on PBS in 1999.
- Great Expectations
- A complete copy of the book online.
- Dickens London
- Maps, major events, foods, transportation - a lot of information about the London of Charles Dickens.
GETTING HELP FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Citing Sources Using the Library MLA Style Guide | Lone Star College-Kingwood Library guide. Examples of both paper and electronic citations.
Avoiding Plagiarism | Excellent information and guide on how to avoid plagiarism from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.
Univeristy of Texas Copyright Crash Course | This helpful guide on copyright is suggested by Lone Star College-Kingwood Teaching and Learning Center.
Learning Center | Check our hours for in-house tutoring.
Lone Star College-Kingwood | Lone Star College-Kingwood Library | Write us | By Bettye Sutton, 1999. Rev 06/07 B Bradley & LLankau
