Eels in Waterland and Great Expectations

Andrew Kidd, '91

When Mary Metcalf's knickers are visited by the eel, it is the first time her innocence is physically violated, and the violation is commited by a creature who comes from the depths of the fens. Although she doesn't know it at the time, it is the beginning of Mary's voyage into madness- an obsession with sex and reproduction that leads her to kidnap a child.

When Pip's chin is grabbed by Magwitch, it is the first time he becomes aware of himself as a person, with a life and with the potential to die. This awareness is caused by "a man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud," by a creature who comes froms the depths of the fens. Although he does not know it at the time, this is the beginning of Pip's expectations-- an event that will lead him into the adventures and mishaps that shape his life.

Swift and Dickens relate the course of a person's interactions with other people to the course of a person's interaction with nature. Both Mary and Pip become aware of themselves in an unexpected brush with nature. Although Magwitch is a human, he is described as an animal, and even he himself cries, "I wish I was a frog. Or a eel!"

Epiphanies can be slimy.


United Kingdom