The first sentence of Great Expectations is an act of self-erasure. Philip Pirrip's infant tongue can make nothing of his own name — so he becomes Pip. Dickens opens not with drama but with a boy who has already reduced himself to two letters before the novel begins. Everything that follows is the story of what he does with — and to — that small, insufficient self.
This introduction covers A Name That Barely Exists within Plot & Narrative Structure for GCSE English Literature. Revise Plot & Narrative Structure in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for GCSE English Literature with 10 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 1 of 15 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Practice questions for Plot & Narrative Structure
Pip explicitly labels the three parts of his life story using which unusual structural term?
Explain how Dickens uses first-person retrospective narration to create dramatic irony in Great Expectations.