Symbolism In Chapter 8 Of Great Expectations
In chapter 8 of Great Expectations Charles Dickens uses several symbols to represent psychological paralysis, class division, and the decay of of the past. The stopped clocks: All the clocks in Miss Havisham's room are stopped exactly at twenty minutes to nine. They symbolize Miss Havisham's total psychological freeze in time. The moment her fiance abandoned her at the altar, her life stopped moving forward, trapping her in a state of perpetual grief and bitterness. Satis House and the abandoned brewery: Satis House is a decaying locked up mansion filled with wedding relics, shadows and iron barred windows paired with an empty quiet brewery outside. Satis means "enough" and it is deeply ironic. It represents the rotting upper class emotional stagnation and a dead environment. The abandoned brewery links the industrial or mercantile glory of the past to the present emptiness and decay. Beggar My Neighbour: When Pip plays cards with Estella she ro...