The document provides background information on several key characters in the novel Mister Pip including: Mr Watts, the only white man on the island who teaches the children; Matilda, the 13-year old narrator of the story; Dolores, Matilda's mother who hates the white man; Grace, Mr Watts' depressed wife; and the settings of Bougainville and the conflict between the Redskins and Rebels. The characters experience loss, conflict, brutality and the horrors of war as the village is destroyed during Bougainville's civil wars. Religion and education also emerge as themes in how the characters respond to their changing world.

1. Mr Watts
• Known as ‘Pop-Eye’ at the start
of the novel
• Wears a red clown nose
• Only white man on the island
• Teaches the children after all the
teachers have left on ‘the last boat’
•He introduces Matilda to Great
Expectations
• He is married to Grace and their
child died sending her into a deep
depression
• His house is the only building
that is not destroyed when the
rambos come for the second time
• He plans to escape the island with
Matilda
•He is beaten, shot, chopped up and
fed to pigs – he is sacrificed

2. Matilda
• is the narrator of the story and we
see everything through her eyes
•She is 13 years old at the start of
the novel
•Her mother rejects the ‘white
world’ but her absent father (who
works in Australia for the ‘white
man’) embraces it
•She is a very strong character who
grows throughout the novel
•She is fascinated by Great
Expectations and the character of
Pip
•She escapes the island by accident
after witnessing the traumatic
deaths of Mr Watts and her mother
•She meets Mr Watts’ first wife and
finds he is not what she thought he
was

3. Dolores
• Matilda’s mother
• hates everything that ‘the white man’
stands for
• believes the ‘white man’ took her
husband away from her and she is
angry (or did her ‘strong’ personality
drive him away?)
• is highly religious but is a hypocrite
•She hates Mr Watts
•She causes the village to be destroyed
• she is very proud and will NOT give
in to anyone
•She sees everything in very simple
and very moral (in her opinion) terms
- she refuses to be questioned
•She is raped, chopped up and fed to
pigs
•But in this act she redeems herself
and shows great courage as she
protects Matilda

4. Grace
• Mr Watts’ wife
•She is the reason Mr Watts came to
Bougainville
• Mr Watts pulls her around on a
trolley
•Was an actress who played the
Queen of Sheba
•Lost a child
•Suffered with extreme grief
•We learn about her by the things
she wrote on the attic walls
•Dies without much mention

5. Bougainville
• Is part of the Solomon Islands
•Has a tropical climate
• it is rich in copper which was
mined and is a valuable resource
hence the wars
• a war torn country
• Suffered two major civil wars in
1975 and 1990
• Setting for Mister Pip

6. Redskins
• Papua New Guinea (PNG)
military force
• they were armed with military
weapons; wore uniforms
• believed that Bougainville
belonged to Papua New Guinea
and should not be independent
•Committed many atrocities on
their own people

7. Rebels
•Bougainville Revolutionary Army
(BRA or Rebels)
• they had no guns and used basic
weapon; no official uniform
• they believed that Bougainville
should be independent from Papua
New Guinea
•Committed many atrocities on
their own people
•It became difficult to tell the
difference between the Redskins
and the Rebels.

8.  Conflict
 Loss
 Education
 Escape
 Horror of war
 Brutality
 Loss of innocence
 Religion

9.  Matilda’s internal conflict
 The redskins and the rambos/rebels
 Mr Watts – a ‘white’ man in a ‘black’ world
 Dolores and Mr Watts
 Religion and education

10.  Dolores ‘looses’ her husband to the ‘white’ man
and does not want to loose her daughter too
 The death of Dolores
 The death of Mr Watts
 The loss of possessions
 The loss of their way of life
 The loss of children from the village and the
death of Grace and Mr Watts’ child
 Loss of teachers and formal education

11.  The impact of Great Expectations on the village
and on Matilda
 Education verses religion
 The lack of formal education of the women that
come to ‘teach’ the children in the school
 The lack of understanding/education of the
rebels and redskins
 Grace – Matilda learns a different side to her
 Matilda’s life after Bougainville

12.  Great Expectations
 The last boat
 Mr Watts’ plan to escape from the island
 The inability to escape – death of Dolores and
Mr Watts
 Matilda’s accidental escape
 The children and babies that died due to the
lack of treatment for malaria – they escaped the
suffering (you could argue)

13.  Death of Dolores
 Death of Mr Watts
 Gilbert
 Black the dog
 Burning of possessions
 Helicopters throwing people out of them
 Daniel and his grandmother

14.  Violence and punishment
 Dolores’ treatment of Matilda
 Black the dog

15.  Death of Mr Watts and Dolores
 Witnessing the horror of war
 Daniel and his grandmother

16.  God verses education
 Religion used for hypocrisy
 Religion used as abuse
 Sacrifice
 Fear
 Resentment

17.  Use PEEL
 P - Point – make it brief and relate to the
question
 E – Evidence – pick an appropriate quotation
aim for 5 words or less
 E – Explanation – write about the effect of
language, structure or form
 L – Link – link what you have said back to the
question

18.  Analyse the words the Jones uses and relate it
to the question
 For instance what words show feelings –
identify them in your quotation and talk about
the effect of individual words

19.  Slow progressive build up – flies; dragon-flies;
dogs
 Matilda loses track of time as the Redskins
burn her calendar
 This is important as it reflects how cut off the
villagers are from the outside world

20.  First person narrative – gives us only Matilda’s
viewpoint – Matilda is a witness to the truth –
she ‘observes’
 Jones uses a ‘blunt’ tone – it is very matter of
fact and Matilda expresses no emotion nor does
she pass judgement
 The novel follows a chronological order
 A record of the events in Matilda’s life