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Is there a scholar of Dickens and/or general English whiz who can help me understand a quote?

13 replies

banivani · 07/12/2020 16:39

It's not me, it's my daughter who is studying Great Expecations and is stuck on a passage. I might just be tired, but I can't really make sense of it myself and can't help her. We are in Scandinavia btw so be kind. Sometimes there's just a gap in our English knowledge!

This is the passage, from chapter 18 or 19

[quote]“Whether you scold me or approve of me,” returned poor Biddy, “you may equally depend upon my trying to do all that lies in my power, here, at all times. And whatever opinion you take away of me, shall make no difference in my remembrance of you. Yet a gentleman should not be unjust neither,” said Biddy, turning away her head.

I again warmly repeated that it was a bad side of human nature (in which sentiment, waiving its application, I have since seen reason to think I was right), and I walked down the little path away from Biddy, and Biddy went into the house, and I went out at the garden gate and took a dejected stroll until supper-time; again feeling it very sorrowful and strange that this, the second night of my bright fortunes, should be as lonely and unsatisfactory as the first.

But, morning once more brightened my view, and I extended my clemency to Biddy, and we dropped the subject. [/quote]

In particular this sentence
[quote] I again warmly repeated that it was a bad side of human nature (in which sentiment, waiving its application, I have since seen reason to think I was right)[/quote]

I'm just not getting it and I feel Really Thick. Help! What does that sentence mean?

We get the general gist and if we were just reading then what the hell. But this is for school so she wanted to be sure of what that said.

OP posts:
onyourway · 07/12/2020 16:45

I assume you've got this:

www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/

banivani · 07/12/2020 16:49

Yes, that sentence is not explained. I just need someone to break it down for me. [what Biddy is allegedly showing] is a bad side of human nature, and in that sentiment ... what.What!

OP posts:
katy1213 · 07/12/2020 16:52

Pip is (unjustly) accusing Biddy of begrudging his good fortune. Such jealousy is a bad side of human nature and in later life he continues to hold this opinion generally, however 'waiving its application' in this particular case - ie allowing that he was completely wrong about Biddy.
Hope this helps and hasn't muddied the waters even more!

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katy1213 · 07/12/2020 16:56

You need to remember that Pip is writing this as an adult looking back on his misguided opinions as a boy. So as an adult, he holds to his opinion that jealousy is bad - but allows, with hindsight, that he was misguided in applying this motive to Biddy.

winechateauxjoy · 07/12/2020 17:03

Pip is reflecting back to his conversation with Biddy. He had accused her of being jealous of his good fortune - and as an adult he still believes that as a general rule people were envious of him. However, he accepts in the case of Biddy he was wrong - she was not jealous. She was the exception to the rule.

winechateauxjoy · 07/12/2020 17:05

Sorry - that was meant to say - that as a general rule he believed jealousy to be a negative aspect of human nature.

katy1213 · 07/12/2020 17:07

I don't think he still believes that people were jealous of him; just that jealousy is an unfortunate side of human nature, generally.

banivani · 07/12/2020 18:18

See we took the sentence to sort of mean the opposite. We couldn’t get it to mean anything but that he WAS applying it to poor Biddy.

OP posts:
winechateauxjoy · 07/12/2020 18:32

It's the phrase 'waiving its application' - in other words he is saying jealousy is a bad thing but he dismisses it in this case because it does not apply - Biddy is not jealous.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 07/12/2020 18:44

Paraphrase
His opinion has generally been proved generally right [about jealousy] even though he acknowledges in retrospect that it’s application in this specific case [to Biddy] was wrong.

banivani · 07/12/2020 19:00

Thank you all you’ve been so helpful! Since it didn’t say waiving it’s application in this specific instance I really read it around to the opposite meaning, and was so confused.

OP posts:
katy1213 · 07/12/2020 19:19

Well done for trying to unravel a sentence that would have defeated many (most!) native English speakers!

banivani · 08/12/2020 07:05

I am a native speaker (well, a speaker from birth, have never lived in an English-speaking country completely). Sad That was the depressing part! Grin

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