Question 214
HardOriginal questionMy father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain that this place overgrown with was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low line beyond was the river; and that the distant savage from which the wind was rushing was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.
Why does Pip describe himself as "the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry"?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The long sentence names each thing he learnt that afternoon: the churchyard, the graves, the marshes, the river, the sea, and last of all himself.
Calling himself "the small bundle of shivers" makes him one more thing in that bleak scene, seen from a distance by the grown-up narrator.
Worth noting
The tone is not mocking or ashamed. It is tender and sad, remembering how small and afraid he was.
- Concept
- Interpreting how a narrator describes himself
- Typical timeTypical
- 60 s
- Your timeYours
- —
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