Different Types Of Power In Lloyd Jones's Novel 'Mister Pip'
Fariba Payvandi
Ms. Eleftheriou
ENG 3U0
January 16, 2012
Different Types of Power Power, everyone craves, but is it not easy to hold on to once it is obtained. In this essay, different forms of power will be addressed through Lloyd Jones’s novel “Mister Pip”. Mister Pip is about a young girl named Matilda and how a book, called “Great Expectation”, helped her, and changed her life forever. This novel, “Mister Pip,” shows different kinds of power and what words can do that actions sometimes fail at, and that words can bring someone power and freedom, and also gives the responsibility of safe keeping to those that are using it. In the novel “Mister Pip”, Lloyd Jones has many different examples of power also ways of showing how power is abused …show more content…
for ones benefit, and different ways that power can be used. Through setting one of which is the islands isolation for the outside world. The plot of Mister Pip has many ways of showing strength in a person, and in a person’s choices. Last and finally with characters it shows what powers characters have over one another, and how that power is used to control and is abused.
With regarding to setting there are three ways that power is abused and used. To begin there is different forms of isolation on the island; they are first being surrounded by trees and a body of water,
“At two-thirty in the afternoon the parrots sat in the shade of the trees surrounding” (Jones 2)
“We were surrounded by sea,” (Jones 2)
And this allowed people to be less capable of escaping which made it easier to use force as power because there was no escaping. However there was also that fact that there is an amount of males lacking in the village, and because they are a sign of ‘protection’, this made the females feel more prone to getting hurt even though getting by is not hard for them. “He asked why there were no young men in the village. There Were girls, so why not young men?” (Jones 96)
This quote makes the females seem weak and able to control easier. Yet there are many threats around where the villagers live, and the villagers can never predict if something might happen, “In the clearing the sun beat down on our dead animals. Chooks and roosters sprawled on their swollen sides. Their heads lay elsewhere in the dust, and it was hard to know which head went where.” (Jones 39 and 40)
The power here is used by causing the people to be frightened so nothing was done to stop them and abused because all the animals were killed in a cruel and unnecessary way. As a result the setting in the story shows different forms of power and allows power to be easily abused and used. As for, plot there is also three points that show different forms of power and how power is used and abused. First at the beginning of the story line one form of power is the power of outer appearance, and how that is used to make people feel different such as being white skinned. “For the younger kids the sight consisted only of a white man towing a black woman . . . us older kids sensed a bigger story.” (Jones 2)
The power of physical difference was abused here by having use Mr. Watts colour to talk about, make gossip and as a result out casting, the effect of this abuse is that the wife was also an outsider and not accepted. Nevertheless another form of power in the second quarter of the story timeline was groups this was also used and then abused in an unkindly manner. Such as bullying and in this case it is the taking of Mr. Watts’s home appliances and burning them to make suffering equal. “I had never seen an event like this before; . . . There were clothes. Photographs. Chairs. Ornaments made of wood. Carvings. A small table. And books. I had never seen so many books – I thought Mr. Watts might have given them to us kids to read. Everything went up in flames.” (Jones 116)
On the other hand another form of power is the power of force, this is also a strong power it can be used by having a weapon pointed to a person. Abused by telling that person to do something or else harm will be coming upon them, but the weapon does not always have to be pointed to the specific person but to a person they deeply care for. “He approached the rambo. He stood over him and, in a voice loud enough for the rest of us to hear, he said, ‘Point out here the one who is Pip!’ The rambo lifted his bloodied face. He raised a weary arm and pointed towards the school house.” (Jones 202)
In this quote a rambo after being severely beaten gave the person who was asking him a question an answer. In the entire plot, which is so known as the story line, there are many different forms of power and the many different ways that those powers are used and abused. Finally the last way that power is used and abused in different forms is through the characters in the novel “Mister Pip”. In one terms which is Dolores, Matilda’s mother, there is a certain power that family has over one another, especially with a child and parent. “But now I saw her problem, because it was my problem.
If she had run back to our house to produce the book she would have had to explain how it got there in the first place. For the same reason, I could not give the book back to Mr. Watts, I would have to say where I found it. To do so would be to betray my mum.” (Jones 109)
The form of power here is parental; it is used as a trust issue and abused by keeping a secret so big that it could have saved so many people in so many ways. Also Mr. Watts form of power was, the power of words, which is a very significant one in this particular book. Mr. Watts reads the book “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens and without any hesitations all of the students in the class became interested with the words and the context. “As we progresses through the book something happened to me. At some point I felt myself enter the story. I hadn’t been assigned a part – nothing like that; I wasn’t identifiably on the paper, but I was there, I was definitely there,” (Jones 46 and 47)
In this quote Matilda is talking about how deep the connection to the book actually is. Lastly the form of power that was used by Matilda is the power to accept and escape from
reality. “People ask me ‘Why Dickens?,’ which I always take to be a gentle rebuke. I pointed to the one book that supplied me with another world at a time when it was desperately needed. It gave me a friend in Pip. It thought me you can slip under the skin of another just as easily as your own, even when that skin is white and belongs to a boy alive in Dickens’ England. Now, if that isn’t an act of magic I don’t know what is.” (Jones 231)
In the quote it is talking about being who ever, is needed to be. Finally to that the characters Matilda, Mr. Watts, and Dolores is the novel “Mister Pip” showed different forms of power and the uses and abuses of them would be an understatement. To summarize the different forms of power and how they were used and abused in the novel “Mister Pip”, by Lloyd Jones is through characters which showed power of words, the setting which was isolated and easy to manipulate and control, and the plot of story line used many different forms of power such as a group influence and threats made against a person. Lloyd Jones’s different versions of power are true, and realistic because words have power, actions have power, family has power and isolation has power. Lloyd Jones’s world view is presented as every one might have a bad side but in the end good always prevails no matter what hard ships it goes through. Such as when Dolores stands up for the one person that she despised during the whole story Mr. Watts after he was killed in such a brutal manner. So to conclude there are various forms of power and each one has many ways of being used and abused, but there is always going to be light at the end of the tunnel so reaching it is all that matters in the end.
Ms. Eleftheriou
ENG 3U0
January 16, 2012
Different Types of Power Power, everyone craves, but is it not easy to hold on to once it is obtained. In this essay, different forms of power will be addressed through Lloyd Jones’s novel “Mister Pip”. Mister Pip is about a young girl named Matilda and how a book, called “Great Expectation”, helped her, and changed her life forever. This novel, “Mister Pip,” shows different kinds of power and what words can do that actions sometimes fail at, and that words can bring someone power and freedom, and also gives the responsibility of safe keeping to those that are using it. In the novel “Mister Pip”, Lloyd Jones has many different examples of power also ways of showing how power is abused …show more content…
for ones benefit, and different ways that power can be used. Through setting one of which is the islands isolation for the outside world. The plot of Mister Pip has many ways of showing strength in a person, and in a person’s choices. Last and finally with characters it shows what powers characters have over one another, and how that power is used to control and is abused.
With regarding to setting there are three ways that power is abused and used. To begin there is different forms of isolation on the island; they are first being surrounded by trees and a body of water,
“At two-thirty in the afternoon the parrots sat in the shade of the trees surrounding” (Jones 2)
“We were surrounded by sea,” (Jones 2)
And this allowed people to be less capable of escaping which made it easier to use force as power because there was no escaping. However there was also that fact that there is an amount of males lacking in the village, and because they are a sign of ‘protection’, this made the females feel more prone to getting hurt even though getting by is not hard for them. “He asked why there were no young men in the village. There Were girls, so why not young men?” (Jones 96)
This quote makes the females seem weak and able to control easier. Yet there are many threats around where the villagers live, and the villagers can never predict if something might happen, “In the clearing the sun beat down on our dead animals. Chooks and roosters sprawled on their swollen sides. Their heads lay elsewhere in the dust, and it was hard to know which head went where.” (Jones 39 and 40)
The power here is used by causing the people to be frightened so nothing was done to stop them and abused because all the animals were killed in a cruel and unnecessary way. As a result the setting in the story shows different forms of power and allows power to be easily abused and used. As for, plot there is also three points that show different forms of power and how power is used and abused. First at the beginning of the story line one form of power is the power of outer appearance, and how that is used to make people feel different such as being white skinned. “For the younger kids the sight consisted only of a white man towing a black woman . . . us older kids sensed a bigger story.” (Jones 2)
The power of physical difference was abused here by having use Mr. Watts colour to talk about, make gossip and as a result out casting, the effect of this abuse is that the wife was also an outsider and not accepted. Nevertheless another form of power in the second quarter of the story timeline was groups this was also used and then abused in an unkindly manner. Such as bullying and in this case it is the taking of Mr. Watts’s home appliances and burning them to make suffering equal. “I had never seen an event like this before; . . . There were clothes. Photographs. Chairs. Ornaments made of wood. Carvings. A small table. And books. I had never seen so many books – I thought Mr. Watts might have given them to us kids to read. Everything went up in flames.” (Jones 116)
On the other hand another form of power is the power of force, this is also a strong power it can be used by having a weapon pointed to a person. Abused by telling that person to do something or else harm will be coming upon them, but the weapon does not always have to be pointed to the specific person but to a person they deeply care for. “He approached the rambo. He stood over him and, in a voice loud enough for the rest of us to hear, he said, ‘Point out here the one who is Pip!’ The rambo lifted his bloodied face. He raised a weary arm and pointed towards the school house.” (Jones 202)
In this quote a rambo after being severely beaten gave the person who was asking him a question an answer. In the entire plot, which is so known as the story line, there are many different forms of power and the many different ways that those powers are used and abused. Finally the last way that power is used and abused in different forms is through the characters in the novel “Mister Pip”. In one terms which is Dolores, Matilda’s mother, there is a certain power that family has over one another, especially with a child and parent. “But now I saw her problem, because it was my problem.
If she had run back to our house to produce the book she would have had to explain how it got there in the first place. For the same reason, I could not give the book back to Mr. Watts, I would have to say where I found it. To do so would be to betray my mum.” (Jones 109)
The form of power here is parental; it is used as a trust issue and abused by keeping a secret so big that it could have saved so many people in so many ways. Also Mr. Watts form of power was, the power of words, which is a very significant one in this particular book. Mr. Watts reads the book “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens and without any hesitations all of the students in the class became interested with the words and the context. “As we progresses through the book something happened to me. At some point I felt myself enter the story. I hadn’t been assigned a part – nothing like that; I wasn’t identifiably on the paper, but I was there, I was definitely there,” (Jones 46 and 47)
In this quote Matilda is talking about how deep the connection to the book actually is. Lastly the form of power that was used by Matilda is the power to accept and escape from
reality. “People ask me ‘Why Dickens?,’ which I always take to be a gentle rebuke. I pointed to the one book that supplied me with another world at a time when it was desperately needed. It gave me a friend in Pip. It thought me you can slip under the skin of another just as easily as your own, even when that skin is white and belongs to a boy alive in Dickens’ England. Now, if that isn’t an act of magic I don’t know what is.” (Jones 231)
In the quote it is talking about being who ever, is needed to be. Finally to that the characters Matilda, Mr. Watts, and Dolores is the novel “Mister Pip” showed different forms of power and the uses and abuses of them would be an understatement. To summarize the different forms of power and how they were used and abused in the novel “Mister Pip”, by Lloyd Jones is through characters which showed power of words, the setting which was isolated and easy to manipulate and control, and the plot of story line used many different forms of power such as a group influence and threats made against a person. Lloyd Jones’s different versions of power are true, and realistic because words have power, actions have power, family has power and isolation has power. Lloyd Jones’s world view is presented as every one might have a bad side but in the end good always prevails no matter what hard ships it goes through. Such as when Dolores stands up for the one person that she despised during the whole story Mr. Watts after he was killed in such a brutal manner. So to conclude there are various forms of power and each one has many ways of being used and abused, but there is always going to be light at the end of the tunnel so reaching it is all that matters in the end.