Here is my Essay

Krystal F.
English 123
Essay

The Great Expectations of Matilda

Mister Pip is an amazing tale of a young lady Matilda. She lives on this island with her Mom, Her dad lives in Australia trying to make money to send to them, and meanwhile on this island in the Solomon Islands is at war. There are the Redskins and the Rebels. There are no white people left but Mr. Watts or “Pop eye”. He lives with his wife Grace who is black. Mr. Watts starts to teach because all the teachers are gone. When he is at the school house he introduces them to Mr. Dickens (Charles dickens to most) and Great Expectations. In this book they learn of Pip and his amazing story of becoming a gentleman. It is a story of fiction and that does not sit well with her mom who reads the Bible and thinks Mr. Dickens is the white devil. There is a lot of drama and sadness in this book. There is Gain and loss and what is good gain and what is good loss, living a life less ordinary as to leave a legacy, and being what people make us to be when we are gone.
"There are something’s you never expect to loose, things you think will forever be a part of you, even if it's only a toe nail." then him and Matilda go on about "losing" a big toe nail and she says nothing is lost because another one will grow back. He then says "Except that particular toenail. You could say that same about a house or ones country. No two are the same" (Jones, 2006, pg. 69). Mr. Watts wanted Matilda to know the value or meaning of losing someone or something and it not being able to replace the meaning of the original. When the Redskins came to find out who Pip was, Matilda had put Pips name in big letters with rocks on the beach. When no one could prove who Pip was, the book was missing from the school house when Mr. Dickens (Mr. Watts) told Matilda to get it. It was not there. The Redskins in a fit of anger gathered the villages’ belongings out of their houses and lit them on fire. Matilda lost her shoes that her dad gave her. Replacing them would not have brought the meaning of the first pair. They were small and hurt her feet but they still meant something coming from her dad. It was a material possession When the Redskins had left Matilda saw her fathers mat in the rafters of her house and there rolled up inside was the book. Great Expectations with Pip inside the binding. Matilda’s mom had stolen it because she considered fiction to be the white devils work. The Redskins come back to see if any one has found this Pip character, and that is just what he was a fictional character, and no one responded. Even though two people knew they could stop this madness and didn’t. So here are the Redskins wanting to know who Pip is and Matilda can’t speak up because she is afraid of her mom and does not want to get her mom in trouble. Her mom does not speak up because she does not want anyone to know the trouble she has caused. So they go into everyone’s houses, this one guy even pisses in someone’s house and sets them ablaze. They have now lost their houses. There is nothing like losing a house, or a pair of shoes that mean something or a life. Pip lost his life in that fire too.
"Curiosity killed the car" was Mr. Watts explanation, "If everything we did made sense the world would be a different place. Life would be less interesting" (Jones, 200, pg. 92). A life less ordinary is one worth living. Mr. Watts made life more interesting by going around in a red clown nose and a wagon with his wife in the back. He made his wife’s life a little less ordinary. It left a little mystery to Mr. and Mrs. Watts. How Matilda made Pip her friend, this imaginary character from a fictional book made it so Matilda’s life wasn’t so plan on this little island. Reading Great expectations made it so the children could escape into a world where there is not war. It made them want to come to class, and it made their lives a little more bearable and interesting. They made Mr. Watts into a legacy in their minds. They recounted the story when "Great Expectations" was lost in the house fires. It made them think. Made them use their imaginations. Life was a little more exciting. It is what you do with this life that is going to matter in the end. How you live it and how people remember you for doing it. When you leave this world how are they going to remember you?
“To sort of fall out of who you are into another, as well as to journey back to some essential sense of self. We only see what we see. I didn't know the Mr. Watts that June Watts knew. I only know that man who took us kids by the hand and taught us how to regime the world and our lives. Your ship could come in at anytime, and that ship could take many forms. Your Mr. Jaggers might even turn out to be a log” (Jones, 2006, pg. 244-245).
Grace never "snapping" out of Queen Sheba caused her to fall out of being a dental student to Queen Sheba. Her ship was Queen Sheba and the comfort that being her brought. Mr. Watts losing himself in his stories that he told about his life, along with Matilda and the rest of the village. Mr. Watts was Mr. Dickens to the Redskins because that is all he could think of at the time. He was also Pip to the Rebels. His ship was getting lost in the fiction. Matilda’s ship is when she was holding onto the log that she called Mr. Jaggers. The log saved her life just as Mr. Jaggers did in Pips life.
“Mr. Watts was more elusive as ever. He was whatever he needed to be, what we asked him to be. Perhaps there are lives like that- they pour into whenever space we have already made for them to fill. We needed a teacher, Mr. Watts became a teacher. We needed a magician to conjure up other words, and Mr. W had become that magician. We needed a savior, Mr. Watts filled that roll. When the redskins required a life, Mr. Watts had given himself” (Jones, 2006, pg. 245).
Mr. Watts pretending to be Pip when the Rebels were around. Telling the Rebels stories of when he lived in London and Grace his wife and of the Mayfly. All of this was to distract the Rebels from raping and murdering while occupying their village. Mr. Dickens was needed when the Redskins were around and he took the roll to protect everyone else from them. Matilda’s Mom had been her savior. She would sleep in front of the door when the Rebels were in town. Matilda’s Mom also saved her from a horrible rapping and beating from the Redskins. Her Mom sacrificed her life but left a legacy of being a wonderful Mom. She has been poured into that position. Matilda being whatever someone needed her to be. She had to be a strong little girl when it came to her mother. Someone who reads the Bible and listens to whatever she says and does not believe in the fiction Mr. Watts was reading to them. Mr. Watts being a teacher when the kids needed one and reading to them about Pip. Being the life that was required when the Redskinds went looking for one. . Mr. Watts needed Matilda to be a leader. She was the messenger, the interpreter, and the mediator for all situations. In the end Matilda was what she wanted to be. Free.
Although Matilda has been through a lot in losing her shoes, her Mom, MR. Watts it seems that she understand gains and loss. She has understood the legacy that her Mother and Mr. Watts had left behind, and what people make us out to be As in Grace, her mom and Mr. Dickens, Her and her Mom. There is so much heartache and Matilda overcomes it. She had great expectations of herself and it worked.

Work Cited: Lloyd Jones, Dial The Press, Published 2006. Pg 256.

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