Summary Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Mr. Matthew Pocket assures Pip he is not a scary person, and he hopes Pip is glad to have him as a tutor.

Mrs. Pocket is the daughter of a knight. She was brought up to be a decorative mate to a man with a title. She wound up marrying a man secretly that lacked one. Her father accepted the marriage. She is incapable of running the household, and the servants are in control. She resents it when anyone tells her of any misdoings of the servants.

Mr. Pocket distinguished himself at Cambridge, but he had ruined his prospects by marrying. He became a tutor in London, which helped him maintain his family. A neighbor, Mrs. Coiler, tells Pip how humiliating Mrs. Pocket finds it that her husband has to tutor. Belinda Pocket always laments her fall from status.

Mrs. Coiler tries to find out Pip’s history.

Mrs. Pocket doesn’t pay attention to her children, and her baby runs the risk of injuring itself constantly. She gets angry at her daughter Jane when the child takes away a sharp object. She thinks the child is suggesting that she is not a good mother.

Mrs. Pocket gets upset when a servant wants to speak to Mr. Pocket instead of her. The cook is drunk on the kitchen floor and has spoiled the butter. Mrs. Pocket claims that the informing servant is a troublemaker. She defends the cook, who recognizes her title and told her she should be a duchess. Mr. Pocket despairs over his domestic life.