English Essay - Mr Pip
English Essay – Mister Pip
Analyse how contrast between characters helped the author communicate an important message or idea.
Mister Pip written by Lloyd Jones is a novel recounted by the protagonist Matilda. Set in 1990’s Bougainville, we see Matilda begin to question her Mother’s traditional idea’s about life as a civil war rages between the rebels and the Redskins in her homeland. Mr. Watts or “Pop eye” is given the role teaching the village children, being the only educated, and consequentially, white man left on the island. He begins reading Great Expectations to the children and Matilda finds herself becoming entranced in white civilisation. She gets immersed in the story of the white boy “Pip” living in London in the 1800’s, very much aware his story is in great contrast to her own. Matilda’s Mother has never been out of Bougainville, she knows little to nothing about the outside world and believes in traditional ideas, holding her ancestry and God dear to her. Through the course of the story we see contrast grow between Matilda and her Mother as their values and interests begin to change and set them apart from each other. We see these differences overcome however when the time comes to stand up for the other, the bond of unconditional love conquering all, the author communicating to us how powerful it can be.
In the beginning of the novel we get the impression Matilda has never challenged her Mother’s values – her roots, her culture and the Bible. Matilda knows no other world apart from her own, never having been fully exposed to other cultures and ideas – “What I am about to tell results, I think, from our ignorance of the outside world”. Matilda becomes familiar with white civilisation when Mr. Watts begins reading the children Great Expectations, learning about the way of life in a culture that greatly differs from her own - “Mr. Watts had given us kids another piece of the world”. She becomes intrigued by Mr. Watts and immersed in the book,
Analyse how contrast between characters helped the author communicate an important message or idea.
Mister Pip written by Lloyd Jones is a novel recounted by the protagonist Matilda. Set in 1990’s Bougainville, we see Matilda begin to question her Mother’s traditional idea’s about life as a civil war rages between the rebels and the Redskins in her homeland. Mr. Watts or “Pop eye” is given the role teaching the village children, being the only educated, and consequentially, white man left on the island. He begins reading Great Expectations to the children and Matilda finds herself becoming entranced in white civilisation. She gets immersed in the story of the white boy “Pip” living in London in the 1800’s, very much aware his story is in great contrast to her own. Matilda’s Mother has never been out of Bougainville, she knows little to nothing about the outside world and believes in traditional ideas, holding her ancestry and God dear to her. Through the course of the story we see contrast grow between Matilda and her Mother as their values and interests begin to change and set them apart from each other. We see these differences overcome however when the time comes to stand up for the other, the bond of unconditional love conquering all, the author communicating to us how powerful it can be.
In the beginning of the novel we get the impression Matilda has never challenged her Mother’s values – her roots, her culture and the Bible. Matilda knows no other world apart from her own, never having been fully exposed to other cultures and ideas – “What I am about to tell results, I think, from our ignorance of the outside world”. Matilda becomes familiar with white civilisation when Mr. Watts begins reading the children Great Expectations, learning about the way of life in a culture that greatly differs from her own - “Mr. Watts had given us kids another piece of the world”. She becomes intrigued by Mr. Watts and immersed in the book,