What happens in Chapter XIII of Great Expectations?
The chapter begins with Pip feeling embarrassed as Joe puts on his uncomfortable Sunday best for their visit to Miss Havisham. Mrs. Joe insists on joining them until they reach Uncle Pumblechook's, carrying a flashy assortment of items. Once at Miss Havisham's, Estella leads them inside, and Joe is so overwhelmed that he directs all his answers to Pip instead of addressing Miss Havisham, even when she directly asks him questions. Miss Havisham offers Pip a bag containing twenty-five guineas as a reward for his apprenticeship, but then dismisses them, telling Joe that Pip has been a good boy and shouldn’t expect anything more. After they leave, a stunned Joe leans against a wall, repeating "Astonishing!" until he regains his composure. At Pumblechook's, Joe cleverly fabricates a flattering message from Miss Havisham for Mrs. Joe and reveals the premium in a teasing manner, letting Pumblechook act like he was aware of it all along. Pumblechook then rushes Pip to the Town Hall, where Pip is formally bound as Joe's apprentice in front of the Justices. The day wraps up with a celebratory dinner at the Blue Boar, attended by the Hubbles and Mr. Wopsle. Pip feels miserable the entire time, treated as an afterthought, and the chapter ends with him in bed, feeling wretched and convinced he will never enjoy Joe's trade.
Analysis
The chapter unfolds as a series of comic misfortunes that gradually build into real emotional depth. Dickens uses Joe's awkwardness in addressing Miss Havisham as both a recurring joke and a heartfelt character exploration: Joe's social awkwardness is illustrated through a bird simile — "standing as he did speechless, with his tuft of feathers ruffled, and his mouth open as if he wanted a worm" — echoing the feather-like hair described at the chapter's start, creating a visual theme of Joe as a creature out of his element. The interview scene follows a humorous triple rhythm: Miss Havisham poses a question to Joe, Joe replies to Pip, Pip attempts to steer him back, and Joe continues — a sequence that keeps repeating until it becomes both amusing and poignant.
The tone changes significantly in the Pumblechook parlor scene. Joe, who appeared powerless in front of Miss Havisham, now shows quiet cleverness, crafting a gracious message and distributing the prize money in a slow build-up that keeps Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook in suspense. Dickens’s narrator layers on satirical labels for Pumblechook — "that fearful Impostor," "that abject hypocrite," "that basest of swindlers," "that diabolical cornchandler" — in a growing comic list that reflects the rising guesses about money.
The apprenticeship scene at the Town Hall is depicted through the lens of a criminal trial, with Pip shoved through the crowd as if he had "picked a pocket or fired a rick," and a bystander thrusting him a pamphlet titled TO BE READ IN MY CELL. This ironic framing undermines any sense of ceremony. The chapter concludes in a quiet sense of despair: Pip's final thought — "I had liked it once, but once was not now" — indicates an internal change, with the cheerful atmosphere around him starkly contrasting his private misery.
Key quotes from Chapter XIII
“standing as he did speechless, with his tuft of feathers ruffled, and his mouth open as if he wanted a worm.”
The narrator describes Joe's appearance during his first moments before Miss Havisham, overwhelmed by her strange presence.
“I was pushed over by Pumblechook, exactly as if I had that moment picked a pocket or fired a rick”
Pip describes being marched by Pumblechook through the crowd to the Town Hall to be formally bound apprentice.
“I had liked it once, but once was not now.”
Pip's closing reflection in his bedroom, after the dinner at the Blue Boar, on his feelings about Joe's trade.
Check your understanding
Ask about this work
The reader has this chapter in front of it — the summary, the analysis, the key quotes and the vocabulary — along with the rest of the book’s chapters. Ask what happens and why it matters, or push back on a reading.
It cites the chapter or the line it is working from, and it says so plainly when the guide doesn’t cover something. It’s instructed never to write an essay, a paragraph or an answer for you to hand in, and never to grade anything — it will show you how to approach the question instead. The reader is an AI, not a person, and its replies are written by Claude, from Anthropic. The people behind Storgy are at hello@storgy.com.
Sign in to ask the reader about this work — 1 credit covers three messages.
Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter XIII
- sticking-plaster
- An adhesive bandage or strip of sticky material used to cover a wound; here used as a metaphor for something cheap and makeshift.