Question

Read the excerpt by Joe, telling Pip about his father:

"I'll tell you. M' father, Pip, he were given to drink, and when he were overtook with drink, he hammered away at my mother, most onmerciful. It were a'most the only hammering he did, indeed, 'xcepting at myself. And he hammered at me with a wigour only to be equalled by the wigour with which he didn't hammer at his anwil. - You're a-listening and understanding, Pip?"
In this excerpt, the action of "hammering"

A. has a double meaning, both of physically punishing and the hammering that a blacksmith does.
B. invites the reader to understand why Joe allows Miss Havisham to act the way she does.
C. is a symbol for the kind of man Joe seeks to become.
D. is personification of a hammer.

Answer 1

I believe the correct answer is A. has a double meaning, both of physically punishing and the hammering that a blacksmith does.

In this excerpt from “Great Expectations” written by Charles Dickens, the action of "hammering" has double meaning, both of physically punishing Joe and his mother (“he hammered away at my mother, most onmerciful”), and the hammering that blacksmith does (“he didn't hammer at his anwil.”).