Chapters 50 to 59 — OCR GCSE English Literature J352
OCR GCSE English Literature · J352
Chapters 50 to 59
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
Estella's father revealed, Orlick's trap at the sluice-house, the failed escape on the river, Magwitch's trial and death, Pip's illness and Joe's care,
Joe and Biddy's marriage, Pip's years abroad, and the last meeting with Estella.
Key quotations: 'the man we have in hiding down the river, is Estella's Father', 'It was you as did for your shrew sister', 'afore I kill you like any other beast', 'my repugnance to him had all melted away', 'My Lord, I have received my sentence of Death from the Almighty, but I bow to yours', 'O Lord, be merciful to him a sinner!', 'O Joe, you break my heart! Look angry at me, Joe. Strike me, Joe. Tell me of my ingratitude', 'you have the best husband in the whole world', 'Many a year went round before I was a partner in the House', 'I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape', 'I saw no shadow of another parting from her'.
Structure: the third stage's resolution, as Pip loses his fortune and is nursed by the man he neglected.
Context: the two endings, and the last sentence Dickens changed after the first edition.
OCR's question on this novel is one essay, from a choice of two, for 40 marks: an extract-based question on the printed extract and the novel elsewhere, or a discursive question on a view of the novel, using at least two moments. Response (AO1) and language, form and structure (AO2) carry the most weight and equal weight, context (AO3) counts when it is relevant to the question, and 4 marks are for vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation (AO4). An extract-based answer that never leaves the extract, or a discursive answer built on one moment, cannot go above Level 3. Each worked paragraph and exam tip is labelled with the question it is for.
