Great Expectations · Chapters

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Chapter companions for Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

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Chapter 1
I
Pip introduces himself and his family background, describing his early impressions of the marsh country and churchyard. While visiting his parents' graves, he is accosted by an escaped convict who threatens him and demands that he bring a file and food the next morning.
Chapter 2
Chapter II
Pip struggles with guilt and fear after his encounter with the convict, hiding his stolen bread and butter down his leg while enduring his sister's harsh treatment. During Christmas Eve dinner, Joe notices Pip's odd behavior, leading to a dose of tar water. Pip learns about convicts and the hulks from Joe and Mrs. Joe, deepening his terror of being discovered.
Chapter 3
Chapter III
On a damp, misty morning, Pip returns to the marshes to bring food and a file to the convict he met in the churchyard. Along the way, he mistakes a second escaped convict for the first, but eventually finds the right man, who eats ravenously and anxiously. Pip learns that the second convict is the 'young man' the first convict spoke of, and the first convict becomes fiercely determined to hunt him down.
Chapter 4
IV
Pip endures a tense Christmas dinner with his family and guests, haunted by guilt over stealing from Mrs. Joe. The meal is filled with moralizing speeches and veiled accusations, culminating in Pip's secret act of putting tar in Mr. Pumblechook's brandy as revenge for the constant criticism.
Chapter 5
The Soldiers at the Forge
A file of soldiers arrives at the Gargery home, led by a sergeant who requests Joe's help to repair a lock on a handcuff. The soldiers are pursuing two escaped convicts on the marshes. Pip is in agony, fearing his theft of food and file for Magwitch will be discovered. Joe works in the forge while the soldiers wait. Later, the party goes out to capture the convicts. Magwitch is recaptured and, to Pip's horror, confesses to stealing food from the blacksmith's, clearing Pip of suspicion. Magwitch is taken aboard the prison ship.

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I

Chapter II

Chapter III

IV

The Soldiers at the Forge