How Does Dickens’ Language Keep the Reader’s Interest?

In ‘Great Expectations’ the reader’s interest is drawn in immediately, Dickens manages to catch the reader’s interest because he plays with the reader’s emotions instantly. We are automatically made to feel sorry for Pip because we learn, on the first page, that his family is dead and when “A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg” shouts at Pip we, the readers become helpless and can only watch. During the meeting of Pip and an escaped convict whom later we learn to be Magwitch, emotional drama is added throughout with sentences like “O! Don’t cut my throat, sir, I pleaded in terror” Dickens makes us feel very scared for Pip. In his writing Dickens uses poetic devices, especially triplets. An example of his use of triplets in the first chapter is during the scene where Pip meets Magwitch. “Tell us your name! said the man” “Once more, said the man” “ Show us where you live, said the man” Said the man is repeated three times and it disconnects Magwitch from the reader and allows the reader to not feel emotionally attached to him, it also means that Magwitch doesn’t have much emotion himself and it’s not until later that Dickens starts to add emotion into what Magwitch says. Charles Dickens includes many hidden meanings and subtleties in his writing, which adds extra depth and keeps the reading of his books interesting however many times you read them. Some of these meanings can be found in the names he gives the characters in his story, for example, Pip; a pip is a little seed that eventually grows into something much larger and grander as it’s life goes on and that is exactly what happens to Pip during ‘Great Expectations’. Dickens often uses long complex sentences that are broken up with commas to describe people and surroundings, these vivid descriptions add emotion and can create atmosphere exceedingly well. He uses so many adjectives in his writing and together with verbs it really captures the readers imagination, words like ‘smothered’ ‘lamed’ ‘limped’ ‘shivered’ ‘glared’ and ‘growled’. All theses appear in one paragraph together. Dickens does this so his readers can get a clear and exact image of what he’s describing, doing this then means the readers feel more involved with the story. “And that the flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes.” The readers feel as if they are there, in the scene that Dickens is describing. Finally, Dickens’ use of grammar and punctuation inform the reader of how to read the text most effectively to create surprise, tension or whatever the right atmosphere and mood he wants to portray in that particular scene. Everything he does is crucial to keep the reader’s interest and he does it successfully