The opening of the chapter reads: "I was three-and-twenty years of age. Not another word had I heard to enlighten me on the subject of my expectations, and my twenty-third birthday was a week gone." This reminds the reader of the mystery surrounding the source of Pip's wealth, therefore `feeding' the reader's curiosity, and also possibly providing a clue that something relating to the mystery may soon be revealed. "not another word had I heard...on the subject of my expectations" "arose out of the restless and incomplete tenure... -I had a taste for reading" the three paragraphs emphasise the fact that Pip isolated and alone. "I was alone, and had a dull sense of being alone". Dickens choose to go into such detail to get the point across to the reader that he was going through the same routine, this then makes the reader think that there...