CHAPTER 50 Practice Quiz — Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 50
What injuries does Pip have at the start of Chapter 50?
His left arm is badly burned to the elbow and carried in a sling, and his right hand is burned but still mobile. His hair was also caught by the fire, but not his head or face.
How did Pip sustain his burns?
He was burned while rescuing Miss Havisham from the fire at Satis House in the previous chapter.
Who nurses Pip throughout the day in Chapter 50?
Herbert Pocket, who Pip describes as "the kindest of nurses."
What psychological torment does Pip experience while recovering?
He cannot shake the impression of the flames, their noise and burning smell, and keeps seeing Miss Havisham running at him on fire whenever he dozes.
What subject do Pip and Herbert carefully avoid discussing?
The plan to smuggle Provis (Magwitch) out of England by boat. They tacitly agree to measure Pip's recovery in hours rather than weeks.
Who is Gruffandgrim?
Herbert's nickname for Clara Barley's father, Old Bill Barley, who is ill and constantly pegging at the floor when Clara leaves his sight.
What crime did Provis's former partner commit?
She strangled another woman during a struggle in a barn. She was tried for murder but acquitted.
Who defended Provis's partner at her murder trial?
Mr. Jaggers. This case was the one that first made Jaggers's name and reputation as a lawyer.
What did the woman threaten to do with her and Provis's child?
She swore she would destroy the child and that Provis would never see it again, then she vanished.
Why did Provis go into hiding after the murder?
He feared being called to testify about the destroyed child, which would have been evidence against the woman and could lead to her execution.
How was Provis known during the trial?
He was only vaguely talked of as "a certain man called Abel, out of whom the jealousy arose."
How did Compeyson exploit knowledge of Provis's past?
Compeyson used it as blackmail to keep Provis poorer and working harder, holding the knowledge over his head for years.
How long ago did Provis say these events occurred?
He said "a round score o' year ago" (about twenty years), almost directly after he took up with Compeyson.
How old was Pip when he first met the convict in the churchyard?
About seven years old, which means the events of Provis's story happened three or four years before that meeting.
What is the dramatic revelation at the end of Chapter 50?
Pip declares that "the man we have in hiding down the river, is Estella's Father" — meaning Provis (Magwitch) is Estella's biological father.
What theme does the revelation about Estella's parentage reinforce?
The interconnectedness of social classes: the refined Estella, raised by wealthy Miss Havisham, is actually the daughter of a convict and an accused murderess.
How does Herbert describe Provis's former partner?
As "a young woman, and a jealous woman, and a revengeful woman; revengeful, Handel, to the last degree."
What literary device does Dickens use by having Herbert interweave medical care with storytelling?
Dramatic irony — Herbert treats the tale as casual biography while Pip grasps its significance. The medical asides also create tension by delaying each revelation.
Why does Pip start at Herbert's words rather than his touch?
Herbert mentions the woman Provis "had great trouble with," and Pip realizes this connects to information he already knows. Herbert mistakes the reaction for physical pain.
What does Pip ask Herbert to do before making his revelation?
He asks Herbert to look at him, touch him, and confirm that Pip is not feverish or mentally disordered — establishing that his conclusion is rational, not delirious.
What motif connects Pip's physical injuries to the chapter's revelations?
The motif of wounds and healing — Pip's burns mirror deeper psychological scars, and the act of unbandaging parallels the uncovering of painful truths about Provis's past.