CHAPTER 22 Practice Quiz — Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 22
Who is the "pale young gentleman" that Pip recognizes at Barnard's Inn?
Herbert Pocket, the boy Pip fought years earlier at Satis House during his visits to Miss Havisham.
What nickname does Herbert give Pip, and why?
Herbert calls Pip "Handel" after the composer Handel's piece The Harmonious Blacksmith, connecting Pip's blacksmith origins with their harmonious friendship.
Why had Herbert originally visited Satis House as a boy?
Miss Havisham had sent for him on a trial visit to see if she could take a fancy to him as a potential match for Estella, but she rejected him.
What happened to Miss Havisham on her wedding day?
Her bridegroom sent a letter at twenty minutes to nine breaking off the marriage. She stopped all the clocks at that time and never looked upon daylight again.
Who is suspected of conspiring with the man who jilted Miss Havisham?
Miss Havisham's half-brother Arthur, who resented her inheritance and had squandered his own fortune. They are believed to have shared the profits.
What is Herbert's current occupation?
He works in a counting-house in the City, looking about him for opportunities, though the position does not actually pay him anything.
Where do Pip and Herbert travel on Monday, and whom do they meet?
They travel to Hammersmith to Mr. Pocket's house, where Pip meets Mrs. Pocket, the nursemaids Flopson and Millers, and the Pocket children.
How does Pip describe Herbert Pocket's character?
Pip says Herbert expresses "a natural incapacity to do anything secret and mean" and has something "wonderfully hopeful" about him, though Pip senses he will never be very successful or rich.
How does Herbert describe Estella?
Herbert calls her a "Tartar" and says she is "hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree," brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex.
What kind of father was Mr. Havisham according to Herbert?
He was very rich and very proud. He denied his daughter nothing, secretly married his cook as a second wife, and eventually disinherited his riotous son before softening on his deathbed.
Why was Herbert's father Matthew banished from Miss Havisham's house?
Matthew warned Miss Havisham she was giving too much to her suitor. She angrily ordered him out, accusing him of fawning on her for his own advancement.
What is notable about Mrs. Pocket when Pip meets her?
She sits reading in the garden, oblivious to her children tumbling around her, repeatedly dropping her handkerchief and tripping people with a hidden footstool.
How does Chapter 22 explore the difference between wealth and true gentility?
Herbert is poor but naturally gracious and honest, while Pip has wealth but lacks social polish. Dickens suggests genuine gentility comes from character, not money.
What does Miss Havisham's backstory reveal about the theme of revenge?
After being jilted, Miss Havisham adopted Estella and raised her as an instrument of revenge against men, channeling her personal heartbreak into a systematic campaign of emotional cruelty.
How does the chapter develop the theme of ambition versus reality?
Herbert dreams grandly of trading to the East and West Indies, yet earns nothing and lives in bare rooms. His hopeful delusions parallel Pip's own inflated expectations.
What does the Pocket household suggest about appearances versus reality?
Mrs. Pocket maintains an air of "amiable dignity" while her children tumble unchecked and servants run the household, satirizing the gap between social pretension and practical competence.
What is the effect of Herbert interrupting Miss Havisham's story with etiquette corrections?
It creates comic juxtaposition, alternating between the grave tragedy of Miss Havisham's jilting and lighthearted lessons about knives, napkins, and spoons, blending pathos with humor.
What dramatic irony is present in Chapter 22?
Herbert clearly assumes Miss Havisham is Pip's secret benefactress, and Pip shares this belief. The reader may suspect this assumption is wrong, creating irony that pays off later in the novel.
How does Dickens use foreshadowing in his description of Herbert?
Pip repeatedly intuits that Herbert "would never be very successful or rich," foreshadowing Herbert's continued financial struggles throughout the novel.
What satirical technique does Dickens use in the Pocket household scene?
He uses absurdist comedy — children constantly tumbling over their mother, a baby wailing like "a young ventriloquist," a hidden footstool causing pile-ups — to satirize upper-class domestic incompetence.
What does "magnanimous" mean as Herbert uses it?
Generous and forgiving, especially toward a rival or someone less powerful. Herbert hopes Pip will be magnanimous enough to forgive him for their childhood fight.
What does "propitiate" mean in the context of Matthew Pocket and Miss Havisham?
To win favor or appease someone. Herbert says his father "will not propitiate her," meaning Matthew refuses to flatter or grovel to Miss Havisham for personal gain.
What does the word "asseverates" mean?
To declare solemnly or emphatically. Herbert says his father "most strongly asseverates" that no varnish can hide the grain of the wood — meaning true character always shows through.
Who says "That girl's hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree" and about whom?
Herbert Pocket says this about Estella, adding that she "has been brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex."
What does Herbert mean when he says "you look about you" regarding the counting-house?
Herbert claims the value of working in a counting-house is observing the business world until "you see your opening" to make your fortune. Pip privately finds this logic unconvincing.