MISTER+PIP

= = = Mister Pip = = =

** by Lloyd Jones **

 * STUDY GUIDE **


 * [|Details]
 * [[file:mspope1/MisterPip_excellent study guide.pdf|Download]]
 * 623 KB

** BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND CONTEXT **
Bougainville Island is the main island of the autonomous region of Bougainville, a province of Papua New Guinea which is part of the Solomon Islands. In the 1970s Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto) began exploiting the island’s huge copper reserves.
 * Background and context**

Resentment over the negative effects of the company’s activities on the area and the lack of any tangible benefit to the islanders erupted into conflict in the 1990s. The struggle for independence in the 1990s was lead by Francis Ona, a former surveyor for BCL. The Papua New Guinea army received military aid from Australia and enlisted the support of Sandline International, a private military company. The government forces are known as ‘redskins’ in the book. The island was blockaded to weaken its people’s resistance (the ‘rebels’) which provides the background for the unfolding events of the story.

The ‘redskins’, with their helicopters and smartly dressed officers, vie with the rebels for control of the island. When the village is razed, something much more important is destroyed than the villagers’ possessions: their one copy of //Great Expectations.// The parallels and effect of //Great// //Expectations// are a constant theme in the book.

Some of the key parallels are: names and identity, growing up, and loss of innocence.

Lloyd Jones, a New Zealand author, got wind of these events when he was investigating the war as a journalist. He failed to get inside the country during the worst of the atrocities, but he heard about the government helicopters dumping rebels out at sea or dropping them into the forest from a great height. These events and other acts of violence are reflected in the book.

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[[file:mr pip background.docx]]
[|History of Bougainville]

DICKENS AND GREAT EXPECTATIONS

[|Charles Dickens - lots of information] Background to Dickens' novel Great Expectations [|The Plot and characters] [|Key Quotes] [|Images]

LLOYD JONES



media type="youtube" key="rAzelR0jdpc" height="315" width="420" This is an audio interview with the author. Of particular interest is his explanation for the focus on Great Expectations as a source [|Reviews and Questions on Mr Pip]

Useful resources on Mr Pip BOOKLET WITH QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR READING