Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones Free Essay Example

This extract is a short passage from the book Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones, this passage centres around Mr Pop Eye and the world around him in which he lives in. He is contrasted with his wife who seems to be the exact opposite of what he is, this is told through the eyes of an adult that has known the about Pop Eye ever since he was a teenager.

Popeye is shown as a character that is different from the narrator and other people that live on the island.

This is shown through the use of language by the narrator which gives the reader the feeling that the him and Popeye would both see each other very often yet would never greet each other. This would imply some sort of social barrier that exists between them which prevents the both of them from having a simple conversation with each other. “I thought he probably knew about his nickname but didn’t care.

” This example shows the name calling that the author lays upon Pop Eye, this is a form of bullying that is shown further when the narrator explains that the reasoning behind the name Pop Eye is because of “His large eyes in his large head stuck out further than anyone else’s – like they wanted to leave the surface of his head.” This mocking of the protagonist by the narrator shows that they do not care about the feelings of the protagonist. The use of the nickname could also be because it allows the islanders to refer to him without having to use his real name which they probably do not know.

This shows the amount of respect that is given to the Pop Eye by the other people on the island.

There is a stark contrast between Pop Eye and his wife; however both are stand up from the rest of the population. Mr Pop Eye is portrayed as a person that is enslaved by Mrs Pop Eye he is shown to be pulling “a piece of rope attached to a trolley on which Mrs Pop Eye stood.” This example is amongst many others that show the difference between Pop Eye and the person that seems to be his wife. Pop Eye wears the “same white linen suit every day”, and is extremely skinny as he posses “bony knees”. While Mrs Pop Eye is portrayed as one whose bum was so big that when a person sees it, they would be “worried about the toilet seat.”. Although both of them are shown as unhealthy, they are both on opposite ends of the scale, Mr. Pop Eye is famished while Mrs. Pop Eye obviously has had more food that she can handle and is carrying around her spares. However both of them do not fit in with the rest of the inhabitants in the island. Not only has has she “straightened her hair” while everyone else else had “crinkled hair”. She also stood out as she owned the “only parasol in the whole of the island”, this would imply that she would have access to items that the rest of the inhabitants did not. Which would normally imply a different social class. Both are do not show much emotion, Mrs Pop Eye is said to be an “ice queen” while Mr. Pop Eye seemed ” like someone who had seen or known graet suffering and hadn’t been able to forget it.”

The narrator is protayed as a person that is of a different social class from the protagonist, and has been on the island from ” when I was a skinny thirteen-year-old“. The author makes uses of if first person effectively in the passage, as he was able to provide the view of Pop Eye through the eyes of one the island’s inhabitants. This allowed the reader to take the view of one of the inhabitants on the island thus making the reader feel that they are stepping in the shoes of the narrator. This allows the author to introduce bias points of view while forcing the reader to accept them as it is the only point of view that the reader is exposed to and hence will accept more willingly the facts that are given by the author. The narrator is English, this is shown in his use of colloqual English The usage of ‘arse’ instead of ass. The author also makes good use of the changes in the tone of the narrator to enhance his message.

The narrator’s tone when describing the Pop Eye’s constantly changes. In the second and third paragraph, it can be seen that the tone of the narrator is symphatic and the narrators feels bad for the Pop Eyes. However in paragraph five, six and seven, the author tone is clearly one that is almost mocking the people Pop Eyes. This switch in tone allows the narrator to sway the feelings of the reader in one way or the other in order to achieve the desired effects. The sudden switching of tone in this passage would mean that the reader will feel like the narrator is still on the side of Pop Eye as the tone changes too fast and therefore it becomes like a matter of fact tone and allows the narrator to more easily pass his views on to the reader.

This short and informative extract provides a good insight into the main characters in the story. The author makes good use of imagery which allows him to be able to paint detailed pictures inside the head of the reader.

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