Mister Pip

     Author                        Lloyd Jones

     Country                      New Zealand

     Genre                          Historical Fiction

     Publication Date        2006

     Pages                           256






This is an intriguing and enthralling story to say the least. Set in Papa New Guinea, on the island of Bougainville; against the backdrop of the nation’s historic civil war in 1991, this is the story of the 13 year old Matilda who lives on the island with her mother and hopes to have a better life in the future.

Through this short and poignant story, Lloyd Jones very artistically portrays the everyday struggles of the ordinary man, the desperate need for survival against all odds and the constant hope that the future will be better than the present. At the heart of the story, is the book “Great Expectations” and Mr Watts' deep urge to share his love for the book with the children on the island. And this is what particularly stands out for me about the book. The love for reading or rather for an unexplored world that Mr Watts creates in these children who have nothing better to do with their time, is exemplary. The below quotes are a true testimony to this:

“No one had ever told us kids to look there for a friend.”

“Mr Watts had given us another piece of the world. I found I could go back in as often as I liked.”

Matilda’s love for Pip (the central character of Great Expectations) and for the book in general is endearing.  She starts associating with Pip and with that harbours the hope that one day, things will change for her, just as they had changed for Pip.

“What did I hope for? Just hope itself, really, but in a particular way. I knew things could change because they had for Pip.”

The two characters that stand out for me in the book are that of Mr Watts and of Matilda’s mother. Mr Watts is shown as a simpleton, but a man of true character. Despite what the villagers hold against him, he doesn’t budge from teaching the children or from protecting them and the village. Matilda’s mother is a slightly more complex character. A huge believer in religion, she constantly misunderstands Mr Watts and his teachings, to the extent that she puts the entire village in jeopardy due to that. While on one hand, one would detest her for this, on the other hand, her true strength of character comes to life in the end when she ferociously protects her daughter at the cost of her own life.

“He said to be human is to be moral, and you cannot have a day off when it suits. My brave mum had known this when she stepped forward to proclaim herself God's witness to the cold blooded butchery of her old enemy, Mr Watts.”

This quote, for me, has a very deep meaning as it right says that being human means being moral and there cannot and should not be even one instant when one is not so.

The end of the book, as Matilda moves to join her dad in Australia signals the new life, the better life that she used to always hope for. As she matures and learns more about the world around her, she falls in love with Dickens and for her Dickens is the same as Mr Watts.

“My Mr Dickens has taught every one of us kids that our voice was special.”

“Pip is my story and the next day I would try where Pip had failed. I would try to return home.”