Quiz: Great Expectations, Chapters 1-4

Name __________________________

1. Whom does Pip meet on the marshes in Chapter 1, and what instructions does he
receive?
Pip meets an escaped convict on the marshes who commands Pip to meet him the next
morning at the old gun battery with a file and wittles (food).
2. What is Pip threatened with if he does not do as instructed?
The convict tells Pip that there is another man with him who will find Pip and tear him open.
3. Briefly describe Mrs. Joe and her attitude toward Pip.
Mrs. Joe is a strict, domineering, and bad-tempered woman. She maintains an immaculate
house and wears a bib filled with threatening pins and needles. She whips Pip with a cane
she calls Tickler and forces him to drink foul-tasting tar-water. She quickly becomes
enraged when Pip admits he was at the churchyard and tries to make him feel guilty for being
an orphan and a burden to her. Pip thinks his sister sees him as a young offender who must
be continually punished. Ironically, Pip will actually commit a crime against his sister, but
she will not be aware of it.
4. What is Joes occupation, and how does he treat Pip?
Joe is the village blacksmith. He is good-natured and easy going, the opposite of his wife.
Joe is sympathetic to Pip and tries to protect him from his wife, but he is afraid to confront
her directly. Since Joe is also victimized by his wife, he and Pip often act like comrades
against the enemy.
5. Describe the crime that Pip commits in this section of the book.
Pip obeys the convict and steals food, brandy, a pork pie, and a file. After emptying the
brandy, Pip refills the bottle with tar-water.
6. What is the convicts reaction when Pip tells him he saw the other man?
The convict is surprised and distressed. Pip tells him of the guns of the previous night that
indicated another escaped prisoner, which the convict recalls hearing while he was sick with
chills and fever. The convict seems to know the identity of the other man when Pip describes
the bruise on the mans face. The convict asks Pip to lead him to the man, so he can pull
him down like a bloodhound.
7. Who arrives at the house at the end of Chapter 4, and what is Pips reaction?
As Pip tries to run out of the house before the theft of the pork pie can be discovered, he runs
headlong into soldiers holding out a pair of handcuffs. He is overcome with fear and guilt
and assumes that the authorities have discovered his crime and come to arrest him.
Although Pip feels is overcome with guilt over the theft he commits for the convict, the
crime of Pips childhood will ironically be seen later as one of his few good deeds.
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