Great Expectations Chapter 23: More About the Pocket Family...

Pip gets a better feel for the dynamics of the Pocket household: Mrs. Pocket is obsessed to the point of uselessness with a vague story that she's descended from royalty (she reads a book about aristocratic titles all day) and Mr. Pocket is smart and kind, but stunned by the chaos of his house to such a degree that in the more unruly moments he puts his hands in his hair and "appear[s] to make an extraordinary effort to lift himself up by it" (222). There are also two other boarders--Startop and Drummle; a bunch of domestic helpers; a toady neighbor named Mrs. Coiler; and a small army of ill-watched children. Mrs. Pocket shows she's truly on the wrong page when, after the cook is found drunk on the kitchen floor, she summons a completely inappropriate response: the cook, drunk or not, is a perfectly respectful woman, Mrs. Pocket says, because she once told Mrs. Pocket that she felt her to be born to be a Duchess.

Topic Tracking: Class 7