Mist

" Then I put the fastenings on the door... and ran for the misty marshes" (Dickens, 14).

Not only is the mist in the marshes helping to develop the setting of Dickens novel, the Thames Marshes, but it is also adding to the tone of mystery and fear. Pip is scared of the man he met at the cemetery and is worried about his upcoming fate. With the world also being covered in mist, he can't see what is up ahead of him.

The Hulks

"' I should like to know- if you wouldn't much mind- where the firing comes from... from the Hulks" (Dickens, 12).

Before America won her independence from Britain, Britain sent prisoners to the colonies. Once America no longer welcomed British ships, there was no where to send the prisoners. Old merchant and war vessels were transformed into giant floating prisons called Hulks. Dickens is using actually references to help support his setting.

Links:

http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.56/Prison-hulks-on-the-River-Thames.html

Mrs. Joe

"knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me" (Dickens, 6).

At the time that this book was written, as well as now, women were usually the victims of beatings, not the givers. Mrs. Joe is also Pips unnatural mother. Dickens has her beating the men in her family to help support the fact that she plays an unnatural role in Pips life.

Georgiana

"' Also Georgiana Wife of the Above," I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly" (Dickens, 1).

Pip has imagined that his mother was a weak creature who was very unimportant. Dickens is showing that women in a Victorian society, especially those of a lower class, are subordinate to men. This helps the reader settle in the setting and understand how the characters expect each other to behave.