First Prize
My favourite book is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It was first published by Chapman & Hall in 1861. Dickens was a social critic and a didactic writer who tried to bring about social reform through his writings. Great Expectations revolves around an orphaned boy named Pip and begins with an encounter between Pip and a convict named Magwitch, which becomes the turning point in Pip’s life later on.
Pip aspires to make his fortune and climb up the social ladder and find a new identity. But he realizes the vanity and futility of his great expectations through experience and suffering, and understands that money is not everything.
I like this book because it explores many universal themes such as social class, exploitation, effects of money and love.
Gavithri Dilesha Amarasinghe,
Grade 13,
Devi Balika Vidyalaya,
Colombo.