Dickens's Great Expectations

Get everything you can out of your time reading the classics with the Christian Guides to the Classics Series!

Leland Ryken provides a clear pathway to understanding the "Great Works" through this engaging series of short guidebooks. Beginning with "why the classics matter" and "the nature and function of literature," readers will find a helpful path to reading and analyzing influential works in the Western canon.

Each book:

Includes an introduction to the author and work

Explains the cultural context

Incorporates published criticism

Defines key literary terms

Contains discussion questions at the end of each unit of the text

Lists resources for further study

Evaluates the classic text from a Christian worldview.

In this volume, Ryken guides readers through Dickens’s quintessential coming-of-age novel, Great Expectations. Exploring perennial themes such as love, justice, and heroism, this book stands as the preeminent example of Dickens’s unrivaled ability to conjure realistic characters and palpable settings.

1. Opening Credits
2. The Nature and Function of Literature
3. Why the Classics Matter
4. How to Read a Story
5. Great Expectations: The Book at a Glance
6. The Author and His Faith
7. Storytelling Technique in Dickens
8. Chapter 1: Terror in the Churchyard
9. Chapter 2: Terror at Home
10. Chapter 3: In the Churchyard Again
11. Chapter 4: A Memorable Christmas Dinner
12. Chapter 5: Chase and Capture on the Marsh
13. Chapter 6: Return to Normalcy
14. Chapter 7: Pip’s Childhood Education
15. Chapter 8: Pip’s Initiation into Life at Miss Havisham’s House
16. Chapter 9: Debriefing Back Home
17. Chapter 10: The Mysterious Stranger
18. Chapter 11: Enter the Pocket Family
19. Chapter 12: Life at a Standstill
20. Chapter 13: Pip’s Being Apprenticed to Joe
21. Chapter 14: Ashamed of Home
22. Chapter 15: Violence at Home
23. Chapter 16: Crime Scene
24. Chapter 17: Pip at the Crossroads: A Sunday Afternoon Walk with Biddy
25. Chapter 18: Pip’s “White Knight” Arrives
26. Chapter 19: Pip Says Good-Bye to the Village
27. Chapter 20: Arrival in London
28. Chapter 21: From Law Office to Pip’s Apartment
29. Chapter 22: Meet Herbert Pocket
30. Chapter 23: Dinner at the Pocket House
31. Chapter 24: Getting to Know Mr. Jaggers
32. Chapter 25: Getting to Know Wemmick
33. Chapter 26: Dinner at Mr. Jaggers’s House
34. Chapter 27: Joe Visits Pip in London
35. Chapter 28: Journey to the Village
36. Chapter 29: A Strange Meeting at Miss Havisham’s House
37. Chapter 30: Return to London
38. Chapter 31: Mr. Wopsle’s Acting Career
39. Chapter 32: Visit to Newgate Prison
40. Chapter 33: Meeting Estella in London
41. Chapter 34: Pip as Spendthrift
42. Chapter 35: The Funeral in the Village
43. Chapter 36: Pip Turns Twenty-One
44. Chapter 37: A Second Visit to Wemmick’s House
45. Chapter 38: Bad News Regarding Estella
46. Chapter 39: Pip’s Benefactor Revealed
47. Chapter 40: The Morning After
48. Chapter 41: The Beginnings of a Plan for Escape
49. Chapter 42: The Life Story of a Reformed Convict
50. Chapter 43: Pip Returns to “Hometown”
51. Chapter 44: Pip Confronts Miss Havisham and Estella
52. Chapter 45: Magwitch Changes Location
53. Chapter 46: Further Plans for the Convict’s Escape
54. Chapter 47: Still More Terror
55. Chapter 48: Pip Learns Who Estella’s Mother Is
56. Chapter 49: Another Visit to Miss Havisham
57. Chapters 50 and 51: Pip Learns Who Estella’s Father Is
58. Chapters 52 and 53: Pip’s Narrow Escape on the Marshes
59. Chapter 54: Magwitch Is Captured
60. Chapter 55: Developments in Herbert’s and Wemmick’s Lives
61. Chapter 56: The Sentencing of Magwitch
62. Chapter 57: Pip’s Death and Rebirth
63. Chapter 58: Pip’s Return to the Village
64. Chapter 59: Pip Attains His Romantic Quest
65. The Moral Vision of Great Expectations
66. The Religious Vision of Great Expectations
67. Closing Credits