Question

Read this excerpt from Charles Dickens's novel Great Expectations: The most prominent object was a long table with a tablecloth spread on it. . . . An épergne or centre-piece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable. . . . "What do you think that is?" she asked me, again pointing with her stick; "that, where those cobwebs are?" . . . "It's a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!" What does the cake most likely symbolize?
A. Letting go of bad memories
B. Thinking about the future
C. Holding on to the past
D. Remembering happy occasions

Answer 1

Answer:

Option C. Holding on to the past.

Explanation:

An object like a cake is something that is made to be consumed in short-term, not to be covered on cloth and left untouched for years. One can infer the cake is spoiled given the cobwebs that grew on the edges of the tablecloth.

This image is allusive to the incapability of the owner to overcome the past (a wedding) and dispose of an old consumable object, which means the owner is clinging to the past.

Answer 2

Answer:

C. Holding on to the past

Explanation:

Miss Havisham has declined to relinquish her past and that is the reason she has kept her wedding dress and wedding cake.

The cake isn't longer consumable, subsequently, it is an image that tells the peruser how clutching the past can spoiled one's life.