Mister Pip

Mister Pip ~ Lloyd Jones


Lloyd Jones - Journalist reporting for an Australian newspaper on the civil war in Papua New Guinea and on the island of Bouganville (where the novel is set)

Summary - Main character Matilda (13 year old) and fellow natives of the Island of Bouganville are trapped in the civil war between Papua New Guinea forces and native rebels over power of the island. The war is triggered by the rich natural mining sources the island holds.

A white man called Mr Watts offers to teach the children of the village after the island is barricaded from outside assistance, and he reads them the novel Great Expectations. There are a number of interesting similarities between the character Pip and Matilda, and the narrative follows through the invasion of their village by the 'redskins', the death of two significant characters in Matilda's life and finally her escape off the island.

Themes of struggle for identity

• Racial
• National
• Individual

National struggle

The island of Bouganville struggles for identity as it is trapped between two armies fighting for control.

• 'Our ignorance of the outside world' - the civilian villagers were isolated from the outside world by the barricade, with no tv, newspapers or contact with a 'modernised world'. 'Ignorance' could also go the other way; other countries were ignoring the struggle and war on the island, effectively stranding the civilian society with no hope of help.
• 'She had never left Bouganville' - could also show the fact that most people in Bouganville had never left the island to tell anyone outside their society of the struggle happening on the island.
• 'How could you seal off a country?' - shows that Matilda doesn't understand they are on an island and surrounded by water; highlights the innocent and honest of the narrative as it is told from the perspective of a young girl.

Racial struggle

• White people are idolised on the island; '[Mr Watts] was the only white on the island' and 'he was the last white man'. In a society where 'white is the colour of all the important things' Mr Watts is something new and exciting for the villagers, but he is also treated with a certain amount of trepidation, as the villagers really don't know what to make of him. 

Individual struggle

Matilda - She is trying to find who she is and uses Pip from Great Expectations as someone to relate to, and as a form of escape. 'It was always a relief to return to Great Expectations. It contained a world that was whole and made sense, unlike ours.' 

- 'contained' adds to the impression that the book is a form of escape for Matilda and Mr Watts, as something that can be opened and the contents explored from a 'container', where they can escape from their harsh reality on the island.