Mr Pip
Question: Analyse how a conflict was used to explore themes in the written text(s)
Statement of intention: My intention is to write a formal essay relating the themes explored in the written text Mr Pip using quotes to back up my evidence.
The novel Mr Pip is written by Lloyd Jones. It is a fictional story that takes place in Bougainville (just east of Papua New Guinea) during the early 90s of the civil war over the valuable Copper mines. After World War 2 when the Japanese had captivated Bougainville but were then conquered by the American army, after the conflict large supplies of ammunition and guns were left behind, and so when the soldiers left a rebellion started with the bougainvilleans and the rebels were armed to their teeth to fight any other forces that came their way. The Papua New Guineans and Australians were exploiting the island of Bougainville by mining the rich copper soil. Determined as they were, the rebels tried to eradicate as many Papua New Guineans and Australians as possible, this initiated a lot of conflict.During this historical setting Lloyd Jones explores the conflict through themes being good vs evil, Endurance and how the actions of one person can change the course of the story.
The story is set in a small village. Matilda (the main character) is taught by a white man called Mr Watts who teaches them his knowledge of white ways and gets them to read the book Great Expectations, however her mother (Dolores) believes that Great Expectations is against the bible and that Mr Watts is the devil. Dolores mentions in the novel, “And to abandon his family? How will Pip even know if he’s made a mistake? If there is no God and no Devil, how will he know what’s right from wrong.”
The theme explored in this is good vs evil, neither Dolores nor Mr Watts is good or evil, but they still seem to have a conflict. Dolores thinks that Mr Watts is the devil because he is not teaching the children about the bible, instead he is teaching them the story of Mr Pip.Again Dolores has confidence that Mr Pip is a symbol of the devil. Matilda and Dolores discuss this,
Dolores: “Do you believe in the devil, Matilda?”
Matilda: “Mr Watts says that the devil is just a symbol, not living flesh.”
Dolores: “Nor is his Pip.”
Matilda: “But you can’t hear the devil’s voice you can hear Pips.”
Dolores: “That’s it. You’re not going to school anymore.”
Matilda: “Why? So I can be dumb like you?”.My understanding is that there is a lot of unnecessary conflict that could be avoided if Dolores (Matilda’s mother) accepted the fact that Mr Watts was teaching the children about Mr Pip and not the bible.
Endurance is displayed throughout Mr Pip. Matilda has to endure living in a poor country without her father, endure the Redskins that come to her village to rape, murder and torture some of the locals including her mother. When the PNG army (Papua new guinean army) arrive at their village to examine if there is any rebels, they are mistaken to think that PIP is a new recruit to the rebels or some kind of code/signal for the rebels, Mr watts tries to explain to the PNG but is silenced.
PNG Lieutenant: “I will give you one more chance. Bring me this man Pip, or I will burn it all.”
Mr Watts: “Please, sir! The man you’re looking for is… He’s a fiction. He’s a character out of a book.”
PNG Lieutenant: “No. You will speak when I ask you. I am not interested in anymore of your lies.”Following this, the PNG Lieutenant orders his men to kill Mr Watts and feed him to the pigs. The PNG Lieutenant then asks the villagers if they have witnessed the crime that just took place, they all shake their heads apart from Dolores (Matilda’s mother), she steps forward and announces that what they had just done will not go unnoticed as she is “Gods witness” (this meant she was standing up for her religion even when her life was at risk.). After this brave announcement the PNG then decide to rape and kill Dolores. Matilda has to then endure knowing that her mother had been raped and killed almost in front of her own eyes.
The theme “How the actions of one person can change the course of the story” is emphasised in the text. Dolores steals and conceals the book Mr Pip from Mr Watts in her home so that Mr Watts cannot lecture the children about Mr Pip furthermore, what she did not know is that this changes the course of the story in a negative approach. When the rebels came to take the locals names they are mistaken into thinking Pip is a person that has joined the rebels. The locals declare that Pip is a character from a book but the PNG are not convinced, this is because they could not find the novel. The PNG Lieutenant barks at Mr Watts,“No. You will speak when I ask you. I am not interested in anymore of your lies.” If Dolores did not steal and dislodge the novel Mr Pip than they would be able to resolve the conflict and the Redskins would have to leave them in peace. I believe Dolores is being very selfish and that all the conflict could have been avoided, but due to Dolores’ beliefs the whole village has to suffer.
Lloyd Jones succeeds in showing the reader the themes of conflict throughout the text. As a reader we can relate to this as New Zealand played a big role in the peace process and is still involved in it to this day. The author makes us feel as if the fictional novel is non-fiction because he uses true events and makes the reader relate to the story. The characters, setting and language is all very accurate meaning the author would have to have done numerous amounts of research in depth.