2012 is a gripping year for me. For the many predictions nearing apocalypse which I am hopeful of a formation into reality, and in combating that, 2012 being the year of the black water dragon, which contains earth, water and wood makes it a year of mystery and apprehension at the same time.
Being a believer of the natural destruction of the present world in cause of the arrogant and selfish nature of humans, i also like to float in my own elements and enjoy the freedom and success of the fire horse, who is about the luckiest person this year.
A new year always marks a new beginning, new targets, new hopes, and new dreams for most people. While everyone was busy making resolutions, I just wanted to do one thing. Write.
For the twelve months of obscurity, I wanted certainty and assurance in regularizing my views into my blog. My aim is twelve reviews for the twelve months at least. Being in the present situation, with ma ill, hospital appointments, work pending, travel plans, big company targets, family responsibilities, team building, friends gatherings, putul’s guitar, kumon and taekwando classes and my other hundred and one things to do, it would be an almost impossible task to achieve. But then, often a determined mind makes us do the unfeasible. And should the 21st of December prove the Mayans right, I would be satisfied knowing I did my best.
January 2012 finally sees me completing Spiegelman’s ` MausI’. I wanted to write about it but I thought I should complete the second part to give the review full justice. I also did a quick read on Archer’s, `Shall we tell the President?’ and Grisham’s, `An innocent man’. An attempt was made on Dame Antonia Susan Duffy Byatt’s, `Possession – a romance’ but it reminded me of 3 decades ago when I first picked up The mayor of Casterbridge. I couldn’t digest Hardy’s first page, let alone the rest. It was the same with A S Byatt. So I abandoned it for this time and decided for simpler versions of the classics, Great Expectations and The Count of Monte Cristo.
A bildungsroman, Charles Dicken’s `Great Expectations’ needs reviewing. Having read it at a time when i had not even started constructing sentences of my own, it definitely has a deep connection to my soul, the second time around. Brilliantly written and literally challenging, Dicken’s book is about a young orphaned boy called Phillip (Pip). He lives with his sister and brother in law, a blacksmith called Joe. Dickens creates a humble and honest character in Joe, a person you would like to like but who will not be a prize amongst the powerful and the wealthy.
A dramatic story webbed with remarkable characters who can change the direction of your thoughts as easily as you can create them. We assume too much and things turn unexpectedly.
Pip meets Magwitch, an encounter with a supposedly deadly convict who escapes and is in hiding. Reluctantly and in fear, he helps Magwitch. Years later, the same convict is the benefactor who makes him an educated `gentleman’. Dickens does not portray Pip as a hero. Despite the weakness shown in his character during the time he was being educated (when he feels ashamed of the company of Joe), we are still made to like him for what he is, perhaps we see the underlying goodness in him.
Miss Havisham is a wealthy old spinster who is still wearing her wedding gown and living in a gloomy dirty house out of a broken heart for being left at the altar on her wedding day. She has adopted Estella, a beautiful young lady who is taught to avenge her by breaking the hearts of young men who fall for her. Eccentric and bitter, she continues to enjoy watching people wait on her to obtain her wealth.
Pip is invited by Havisham to entertain her and while he is there, he falls in love with Estella. She rebukes him, insults and humiliates him, but he continues to love her. In order to win her heart, he accepts the mysterious offer from a stranger (Magwitch) to become a `gentleman’.
Dickens' development of timeless themes of love,fear, loneliness, revenge, the social system, humiliation and honour is all incorporated in the great expectations.
When Pip’s sister is injured and needs taking care of, Biddy, a sweet, sensible, honest young woman walks in to take care of her. We see a possibility of Pip and Biddy getting together as we prefer the wise and humble Biddy over the arrogant Estella. However, when Mrs Joe dies, and Pip comes back to ask for Biddy’s hand in marriage, he is told that she will marry Joe instead.
Pip’s constant desire of a more comfortable lifestyle and infatuation with beauty has only portrayed him as a superficial character. Yet, he does the right thing in the end as he grows in compassion and gratitude.
Good versus evil, wealth and corruption, responsibilities, guilt and redemption, love and rejection, snobbery, manipulation, secrecy, gratitude, ambition, obsession, class structure and social rules, religious attitudes, legal system, prisons and reforms, deceit and honesty, …Dickens had it all in this book.
Dickens brings out a low self esteemed Pip, who at first does not stand up for himself, and then later is introduced to a fantasy world at Havisham’s where he is mesmerized with Estella’s beauty. The high life becomes his quest and he disregards honest friendship and down to earth simplicity.
At the end, he loses love in Biddy and also in Estella. He also loses fortunes and the wealthy impressions he wanted. However, I think at the end, with his development of wisdom, he does accomplish great expectations.
Today is the last day of January, and I have accomplished writing this review. There is still need of reviewing The Count of Monte Cristo, which is a book that kept me turning pages till I reached the end. For now, let Archer and Grisham rest too. February will see me travelling to Cochin, and I am to complete MausII too.
The dragon year has started with a blast, and I received the best news ever, Cyriaco has bought me a kindle!!!
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