"'Lookee here!' said my convict to the seargant. 'Singlehanded I got clear of the prison-ship; I made a dash and I done it. I could ha' got clear of these death-cold flats likewise-- look at my leg: you won't find much iron on it-- if I hadn't made discovery that he was here. Let him go free? Let him profit by the means as I found out? Let him make a tool of me afresh abd again? Once more? No, no, no. If I had died at the bottom there"-- and he made an emphatic swing at the ditch with his manacled hands-- "I'd have held him with that grip, that you should have been safe to find him in my hold.'" (ch5; pg35)
my question about this paragraph is why would a convict go to such lengths to make sure that a fellow convict was captured? It seems more beneficial for the two of them to work together. Plus, the first convict must have known that he would get caught, so why would he make such a stupid decision? Does he just figure that he will be able to escape again?
Please help!
-Sarah
Hey Sarah :),
ReplyDeleteThe best explanation I can give you is that in some way Pip's convict was used by the other convict. "Let him profit by the means as I found out? Let him make a tool of me afresh abd again?" The words I pick out are PROFIT, FOUND OUT, AGAIN. There must be something deeper that Dickens is not telling us. His writing, as we discussed in class is that it is very somber, but with light humor. It is also very mysterious; he only gives you pieces of information to keep you reading. The mystery that what happened between the convicts is Un-none, but you know that it affected them both so much that they would drag each other back to the authorities. They risked their freedom to degrade one another...In their conversation it was almost like they were trying to get the last word in. Like you said I think both figure that they will be able to escape again. I hope this helps!
Rachel