Chapter 29(240-241) "He always carried a pocket-handkerchief of rich silk and of imposing proportions which was of great value to him in his profession. I have seen him so terrify a client or a witness by ceremoniously unfolding this pocket-handkerchief as if he were immediately going to blow his nose, and then pausing, as if he knew he should not have time to do it before such client or witness committed himself, that the self-committal has followed directly, quite as a matter of course. When I saw him in the room, he had this expressive pocket-handkerchief in both hands, and was looking at us. On meeting my eye, he said plainly, by a momentary silent pause in that attitude, "Indeed? Singular!" and then put the handkerchief to its right use with wonderful effect."
When I first read this, I thought Charles Dickens was being a bit spontaneous and excessive with his background information, and so I passed it off without much thinking. But in the next chapter (Chapter 30), he mentions Jaggers "making his pocket-handkerchief point" again, and so I went back and reread the passage above. I still don't understand the importance of the handkerchief in the story, so my question would be: How does Dickens use insignificant symbols such as handkerchiefs, to develope certain characters like Mr. Jaggers?
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Dickens also uses the convicts iron to develop Pip. When ever Pip hears about a convict of sees an iron he can't help but be reminded of his guilt.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness Anna that was EXACTELY what I was going to write about before I chose to write about Miss Havisham!! Haha twins ;D
ReplyDeleteAnd I was thinking that the handkerchiefs kind of represented emotion in this time period. Like, at the funeral, they all pulled out their hadnkerchiefs. And, when Mr. Jaggers was acting snobbish he pulled out his handkerchief multiple times. Yeah... At first I thought that everyone just had a cold - haha :)
Anyways, this comment is getting too long... sorry! Oh and way to post LATE! ...Shame...