CHAPTER 21 Practice Quiz — Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 21
Who escorts Pip to his new lodgings in Chapter 21?
Mr. Wemmick, the clerk of Mr. Jaggers, walks Pip through London to Barnard's Inn.
What did Pip expect Barnard's Inn to be?
Pip expected it to be a respectable hotel, comparable to the Blue Boar in his hometown.
What does Pip actually find when he arrives at Barnard's Inn?
He finds a decaying collection of shabby buildings around a dismal courtyard, with cracked windows, rotting stairs, and pervasive smells of decay.
What name is painted on the door of the chambers where Pip is to stay?
MR. POCKET, JUN. is painted on the door, with a label on the letter-box reading "Return shortly."
What does Herbert Pocket bring when he arrives at the chambers?
He brings two paper bags and a pottle of strawberries, purchased at Covent Garden Market because he thought Pip might enjoy fruit after dinner.
What shocking recognition occurs at the end of Chapter 21?
Pip and Herbert Pocket recognize each other from Satis House — Herbert is the "pale young gentleman" Pip fought, and Pip is the "prowling boy" Herbert remembers.
What happens when Pip tries to open the staircase window after Wemmick leaves?
The window comes crashing down like a guillotine because the lines have rotted away, nearly beheading Pip.
How does Dickens describe Wemmick's physical appearance?
Wemmick is a dry, short man with a square wooden face that looks "imperfectly chipped out with a dull-edged chisel," with small, keen, black glittering eyes and thin wide mottled lips.
What does Wemmick wear that suggests his connection to death and the legal world?
He wears at least four mourning rings, a brooch showing a lady and a weeping willow at a tomb, and several rings and seals on his watch chain — remembrances of departed friends (likely former clients).
What is distinctive about Wemmick's mouth?
His mouth is described as a "post-office of a mouth" that gives a mechanical appearance of smiling, though he is not actually smiling at all.
What first impression does Herbert Pocket make on Pip?
Herbert arrives breathless and apologetic, carrying fruit he bought for Pip's benefit. He is warm, generous, and slightly bumbling — a stark contrast to the cold, mechanical Wemmick.
What does Herbert Pocket reveal about his financial situation?
Herbert says he has "my own bread to earn" and that his father has nothing to give him — nor would Herbert be willing to take it if he did.
How does Chapter 21 illustrate the theme of expectation versus reality?
Pip imagined London would be glamorous, but Barnard's Inn is squalid and decaying. His first "great expectation" — a gentleman's lodging — turns out to be a dusty ruin.
What does Wemmick's view of London crime reveal about a theme of the novel?
Wemmick says people will cheat, rob, and murder "if there's anything to be got by it," reflecting the theme that money and self-interest drive human behavior across all social classes.
How does the chapter develop the theme of interconnected fates?
The coincidence that Herbert Pocket is both Pip's new roommate and the pale young gentleman from Satis House shows how the novel's characters are tightly bound together by fate and Miss Havisham's influence.
What does Pip's confusion about handshaking reveal thematically?
When Wemmick seems unfamiliar with handshakes, Pip wonders if it is "out of the London fashion," revealing his anxiety about class performance and his fear of not fitting into genteel society.
What extended metaphor does Dickens use to describe Wemmick's face?
Dickens compares Wemmick's face to a block of wood imperfectly chipped out with a dull-edged chisel, with dimples that are merely "dints" in the hard material.
How does Dickens personify Barnard's Inn?
He describes it as a mourning figure wearing "a frouzy mourning of soot and smoke" that has "strewn ashes on its head" and is "undergoing penance and humiliation as a mere dust-hole."
What role does dramatic irony play in the recognition scene?
Attentive readers may recall the pale young gentleman from Chapter 11 before Pip and Herbert recognize each other, making the reveal both satisfying and humorous.
What recurring motif dominates the imagery of Chapter 21?
Death imagery pervades the chapter — mourning rings, weeping willows on brooches, the courtyard as a "flat burying-ground," rotting stairs, and the phrase "Try Barnard's Mixture" moaned by the rots.
What does "pottle" mean as used in "a pottle of strawberries"?
A pottle is a small basket or container used for carrying fruit, typically holding about half a gallon.
What does "frouzy" mean in the description of Barnard's Inn?
Frouzy (also "frowzy") means musty, stale, or stuffy — suggesting a damp, neglected, and unpleasant smell.
What does the word "dints" mean in the description of Wemmick's face?
Dints are dents or small indentations, used here to describe marks on Wemmick's face where dimples might have been if the material were softer.
Who says "You may get cheated, robbed, and murdered, in London" and what does it reveal?
Mr. Wemmick says this to Pip, revealing his unsentimental, matter-of-fact view of London shaped by years of working in criminal law.
What is the significance of the exchange "Lord bless me, you're the prowling boy!" / "And you are the pale young gentleman!"?
This exchange between Herbert and Pip reveals their mutual recognition from the Satis House encounter in Chapter 11, creating a comic climax that links Pip's past and present lives.