In Chapter XXII of Great Expectations, Pip narrates, that
after he and Herbert Pocket have lunch on his first day in
London
...we
went back to Barnard's Inn and got my little portmanteau, and then took coach for
Hammersmith. We arrived there at two or three o'clock in
the afternoon, and had very little way to walk to Mr. Pocket's
house.
There Pip encounters
all the other children in the Pocket household as well as Mr. Pocket, who has a rather
"perplexed expression" on his face and rather disheveled gray hair as though, Pip,
remarks, "he didn't quite see his way to putting anything straight. Still Pip likes Mr.
Pocket, who looks young despite his gray hair, and his demeanor is
natural.
The Pockets of Hammersmith are targets for
Dickens's satire as Mrs. Pocket is one of the class who aspires to what Dickens
considered a frivolous aristocracy. For, she constantly readers from a book of titles,
hoping to discover her family name somewhere so that she can rise above her social
station and have wealth and luxury. While she is absorbed in this worthless book, her
small children engage in activities that are extremely dangerous and must be rescued by
the maid because Mrs. Pocket is oblivious. The frustrated Mr. Pocket pulls on his hair
hopelessly as Mrs. Pocket berates the maid and other servants for what
happens.
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