Thursday, January 22, 2015

Which statement is true of both Magwitch and Joe?

It is difficult to answer your question without the statements to compare Abel Magwitch and Joe Gargery in Charles' Dickens novel Great Expectations. The novel, a work which is critical of Great Britain in the late 19th century, tells about the journey of a young orphan named Pip. Joe and Magwitch have several similarities. Both of them are from lower social classes. Because of their lower social class, Pip is often embarrassed by their actions.
At different points in the work, both Joe and Magwitch serve as surrogate parents for Pip. In chapter 7, Joe adopts Pip:

"And bring the poor little child. God bless the poor little child," I said to your sister, "there's room for him at the forge!"

Later, in chapter 40, we see Magwitch stepping into a parent role for Pip.
The two also have similar eating habits, as neither follows standard table manners. In chapter 27, Pip is embarrassed by Joe's inability to properly eat with a fork, and later, in chapter 40, Pip is disgusted by how Magwitch devours his food:

He ate in a ravenous way that was very disagreeable, and all his actions were uncouth, noisy, and greedy.

Finally, Pip is often embarrassed by how Joe and Magwitch dress. Pip is perplexed by Joe's "mysterious" style. In chapter 40, Pip describes Magwitch's style of dress:

The more I dressed him and the better I dressed him, the more he looked like the slouching fugitive on the marshes.

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