Language and Outsider Status

The first striking difference between the two novels is the use of language. In Great Expectations, Dickens uses Pip’s voice to give long explanations of his feelings that often explicitly show the reader the meaning he interprets. In Lolly Willows, Warner uses a third person omniscient narrator that employs short, terse sentences. Even the large type enhances this “choppy” (as Paul said) structure while the spacing highlights the sparse language. This forces the reader to look carefully into each word that is chosen in order to grasp the meaning of the text. Therefore, if one is just surface reading, it may seem very dry compared to Dickens’ more flowery language. Danielle explained Warner’s writing as “economical” since although not many words are used, her vocabulary seems very precise and each word seems to serve a distinct purpose.

These different styles influence how the reader views the character’s outsider status. We see Pip’s inner feelings of loneliness (like his first night of his “bright fortunes” alone in his room) and of how he responds to other people isolating him (rumpling his hair, being stared at, etc). Since we are not getting the other novel through Laura’s perspective we must rely on the few thoughts the omniscient narrator gives us and the reactions of those around her. Warner’s style then calls for the reader to become more involved.

At Lady Place, Laura is very content with her life managing the house, reading at her leisure, and exploring the land for interesting herbs and plants to brew home remedies with. Though she does not consider herself an outsider, the reader can see that others do. Her differences as a female are first addressed by her father’s special treatment of her and the duties later imposed on her by the townswomen’s insistence that she go to school to become a lady and find a husband. This does not really affect Laura because she still has the freedom to do what she enjoys.

This freedom is first threatened when Sybil comes in as the matriarch if the house and is later destroyed when she is sent to London to live with Henry and Caroline. In London, we see Laura start to identify as an outsider since she cannot maintain the identity she had at Lady Place. She cannot adequately help around the house since she is in Caroline’s domain, cannot peruse her own hobbies since she is always with Caroline doing “useful” needlework and embroidery, and cannot even maintain her name as she becomes simply “Aunt Lolly.” The addition of Aunt seems to emphasize that she is only a relation to Henry and not her own person. Lolly is a nickname that only accounts for only a portion of the name. It could then be seen that “Aunt Lolly” becomes a character that is only a portion of Laura.