CHAPTER 32 Practice Quiz — Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 32
What news does Pip receive at the beginning of Chapter 32?
He receives a letter from Estella informing him she will arrive in London by mid-day coach and that Miss Havisham expects him to meet her.
How does Pip react to Estella's letter?
His appetite vanishes instantly and he knows no peace or rest. He arrives at the coach-office hours early and cannot bear to let it out of his sight for more than five minutes.
Who does Pip encounter while waiting at the coach-office?
He runs into Wemmick, who is on his way to Newgate Prison to meet a client involved in a banker's-parcel case.
What does Pip observe about the conditions inside Newgate Prison?
Jails were much neglected at the time. A potman was going rounds with beer, prisoners behind bars were buying beer and talking to friends, and it was a "frouzy, ugly, disorderly, depressing scene."
What happens between Wemmick and the Colonel?
The Colonel offers Wemmick a ring in gratitude, but Wemmick declines and instead asks for a pair of the Colonel's prized tumbler pigeons, calling them "portable property."
What does Pip do after leaving Newgate and returning to the coach-office?
He beats the prison dust off his feet, shakes it from his clothes, and exhales its air from his lungs, trying to rid himself of the contamination before Estella arrives.
What is the final image of Chapter 32?
Pip sees Estella's face at the coach window and her hand waving to him, but senses a mysterious "nameless shadow" passing in that instant.
How does Wemmick behave toward the prisoners at Newgate?
He walks among them like a gardener among his plants, greeting familiar inmates by name with professional detachment and his post-office mouth set in an immovable state.
Who is the Colonel, and what is his fate?
He is a former soldier who bought his discharge and was convicted of coining (counterfeiting). The evidence was too strong for even Jaggers to save him, and he is expected to be executed on Monday.
How does Wemmick explain Mr. Jaggers's power and authority?
Wemmick says Jaggers keeps himself "so high" that no one dares approach him directly. He uses Wemmick as a subordinate buffer, and through this distance he controls both clients and court officials.
What does Pip wish after observing Jaggers's influence at Newgate?
Pip very heartily wishes he had some other guardian of "minor abilities," suggesting he is uncomfortable with Jaggers's deep connection to the criminal world.
How is Estella's letter characterized?
It is brief and formal, with no greeting like "Dear Mr Pip" or "Dear Anything." It simply states the travel arrangements and closes with "Yours, Estella," reflecting her cold, detached manner.
What major theme does the Newgate visit develop in Chapter 32?
The theme of crime and contamination. Pip reflects that prison and criminality have followed him since childhood, reappearing throughout his life "like a stain that was faded but not gone."
What is ironic about Pip's desire to cleanse himself of Newgate before meeting Estella?
Pip sees Estella as the embodiment of refinement and purity, the opposite of Newgate. The irony is that Estella is actually the daughter of criminals, and Pip's fortune comes from the convict Magwitch.
How does the chapter contrast social classes?
Dickens juxtaposes the grimy, dehumanizing world of Newgate Prison with Pip's idealized vision of the refined Estella, placing them on the same day to force Pip — and the reader — to confront the gulf between aspiration and reality.
What does Wemmick's pragmatic request for the Colonel's pigeons reveal about the portable property motif?
It shows that even in the face of a man's imminent execution, Wemmick's professional instinct is to extract tangible value. Dickens uses this to critique a society that reduces human relationships to transactions.
What extended metaphor does Dickens use to describe Wemmick at Newgate?
He compares Wemmick to a gardener walking among his plants, with prisoners described as shoots coming up overnight, approaching "full blow at their trial," and the condemned Colonel as a "dead plant."
How does Chapter 32 use foreshadowing?
Pip's obsessive reflections on the "taint of prison and crime" pervading his life, and the mysterious "nameless shadow" at the chapter's end, foreshadow the revelation that Magwitch is the source of Pip's expectations.
What role does dramatic irony play in Chapter 32?
The reader senses what Pip does not: that his frantic efforts to clean Newgate's taint from himself before meeting Estella are futile, since both his fortune and Estella's parentage are rooted in the criminal world.
What literary technique does Dickens use with the "nameless shadow" at the end of the chapter?
It functions as a narrative mystery or prolepsis — a deliberate withholding of information that creates suspense. The word "again" signals it has occurred before, linking multiple unsettling moments in Pip's experience of Estella.
What does "portable property" mean as Wemmick uses it?
It refers to any valuable item that can be easily carried and converted to cash. Wemmick uses the phrase to justify accepting the Colonel's pigeons, since even a condemned man's possessions retain practical value.
What does "fain" mean in the phrase "I was fain to be content with those I had"?
It means "obliged" or "willing by necessity." Pip means he had no choice but to be satisfied with the clothes he already owned, since there was no time to order new suits.
What does Pip mean when he says crime had reappeared in his life "like a stain that was faded but not gone"?
He recognizes that his encounters with the criminal world — starting with Magwitch on the marshes — have never truly left him. Each new contact with crime feels like the same persistent stain resurfacing despite his efforts to live as a gentleman.
What does Wemmick mean when he says of Jaggers, "between his height and them, he slips in his subordinate"?
Wemmick explains that Jaggers maintains his power by remaining unapproachable. He uses Wemmick as an intermediary, so clients and court officials must go through the subordinate, giving Jaggers control over all communication.