Dickens' social criticism of the treatment of orphan children appears as early as the opening chapters, ironically during a Christmas celebration. Matthew discussed examples of Mrs Joe's physical abuse of Pip as well as the sarcasm in the narrator's voice as he relates the treatment he suffered as a young boy. Matthew made very perceptive comments about the first person narration and Dickens' craftsmanship noting how the narrator is an adult at the time he relates his story(the novel) and knows the outcome of his life but is narrating the story through the eyes of an innocent unknowing child . We further discussed the use of exaggerated character "tags " or traits and the implications of the characters' names such as Pumblechook and Wopsle. Last, Matthew discussed Joe's compassionate and generous character as exemplified by Joe's informing the convict that as a fellow creature he was welcome to the food he ostensibly(but did not) steal from Joe and Mrs Gargary as Joe does not wish to see anyone starve-even a convict. We last reviewed Matthew's study guide homework which was complete and well done. HW for Tues: read next 3 chapters/study guide.Test Weds on ch 1-6.