The book (Symbol)
The novel Great Expectations stands here as a symbol of some kind of trigger which changes everybody in the village, changes their lives, their personalities, even attitude to life.
War (motif)
The story is soaked with the motif of war. The author doesn’t describe this theme in details and directly, it looks like some kind of background on which the main events take place.
Fancy/fantasy (motif)
This motif is opened from time to time in the story and it’s mainly connected with the book Great Expectations: Mr Watts shows the locals the immense world of imagination, Matilda and other children believe in the characters of the book no less than in God.