CHAPTER 9 Practice Quiz — Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 9
What does Mrs. Joe do to Pip when he does not answer her questions about Miss Havisham satisfactorily?
She physically assaults him, bumping him from behind and shoving his face against the kitchen wall.
What elaborate lie does Pip tell about Miss Havisham's mode of transportation?
Pip claims Miss Havisham was sitting in a black velvet coach, with Estella handing her cake and wine through the coach window on a gold plate.
What does Pip say about the dogs at Miss Havisham's?
He claims there were four immense dogs that fought for veal cutlets out of a silver basket.
How does Pumblechook explain the black velvet coach to Mrs. Joe?
He rationalizes it as a sedan chair, saying Miss Havisham is "flighty enough to pass her days in a sedan-chair," despite never having seen her.
What do Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook speculate Miss Havisham will do for Pip?
Mrs. Joe hopes for property, while Pumblechook favors a handsome premium to apprentice Pip to a genteel trade like the corn and seed business.
What does Pip confess to Joe in the forge after the others leave?
Pip confesses that everything he told Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook about Miss Havisham's was lies — there was no coach, no dogs, no flags, and no swords.
What is Pip's state of mind as he goes to bed at the end of Chapter 9?
He is disturbed and unthankful, thinking about how common Estella would consider Joe, and imagining Miss Havisham and Estella as far above common kitchen life.
Why does Pip feel guilty about lying to Joe but not to Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook?
Pip loves Joe and considers him the only person who treats him with genuine kindness, while Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook bully and patronize him.
What does Pumblechook's confident validation of Pip's lies reveal about his character?
It reveals his pompous dishonesty — he pretends to know about Miss Havisham while admitting he has never seen her, exposing his desire to appear authoritative.
What suggestion does Joe make about Miss Havisham's gift, and how is it received?
Joe suggests Pip might only be given one of the dogs. Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook dismiss him in disgust, sending him back to the forge.
How does Joe respond when Pip confesses his lies?
Joe is shocked and dismayed but not angry. He counsels Pip that "lies is lies" and advises that dishonesty is no way to escape being common.
What does Pip tell Joe about why he lied?
Pip says a beautiful young lady called him common, that he felt miserable, and that the lies came from his inability to explain the truth to Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook.
How does Chapter 9 develop the theme of social class?
Pip's lies and his confession to Joe reveal that Estella's contempt has made him deeply ashamed of being common — he wishes his boots were thinner and his hands less coarse.
What does Chapter 9 suggest about the relationship between truth and social ambition?
It suggests ambition can corrupt honesty. Pip's desire to seem worthy of Miss Havisham's world leads him to fabricate an elaborate fantasy, while Joe warns that one cannot become "oncommon" through dishonesty.
How do the adults' reactions to Pip's lies reflect the theme of "great expectations"?
Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook eagerly project fantasies of wealth and status onto Pip's future, showing how greed and ambition distort judgment and make people willing to believe comfortable fictions.
Why does the older Pip call this a "memorable day" at the chapter's end?
Because it marks the beginning of his transformation — the day shame about being common and desire for a different life first took root, setting the course for everything that follows.
What is the dramatic irony in Pumblechook's validation of Pip's lies?
The reader knows Pip is lying, so Pumblechook's confident agreement — including his sedan-chair explanation — exposes his ignorance and pretension rather than confirming the truth.
What does the "long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers" metaphor signify?
It represents fate and consequence, framing this day as the first link in the chain of events that will shape Pip's entire life, with the contrasting materials suggesting destiny can lead to either suffering or joy.
How does Dickens use the retrospective narrator in Chapter 9?
The older Pip comments on his childhood lies with wry amazement, adding self-aware humor and moral reflection that the child-Pip could not have articulated at the time.
What role does Joe's dialect play as a literary device in this chapter?
Joe's malapropisms ("welwet," "oncommon," "weal-cutlets") serve as characterization that reinforces the class divide Pip now painfully perceives between common working people and the genteel world.
What does "adamantine" mean in the context of Pip's obstinacy?
It means utterly unyielding or impenetrable, like a diamond. Pip uses it to describe how the whitewash on his forehead seemed to harden his stubbornness.
What does "penitence" mean in Pip's reaction to Joe?
Penitence means deep remorse or regret for wrongdoing. Pip is overtaken by penitence when he sees Joe's innocent amazement at the lies he told.
Who says "Lies is lies. Howsever they come, they didn't ought to come" and what does it mean?
Joe says this to Pip during his confession. It means that regardless of the circumstances that provoke dishonesty, lies are always wrong and always destructive.
What does Joe mean by "if you can't get to be oncommon through going straight, you'll never get to do it through going crooked"?
Joe means that if Pip cannot rise above his common station through honest means, then dishonesty will certainly never achieve it either — integrity is the only legitimate path to self-improvement.
What is the significance of the narrator's statement: "That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me"?
It signals that this single day — with Estella's contempt and the resulting shame — permanently altered Pip's self-perception and ambitions, setting the novel's central conflict in motion.