Food is a leitmotiv in Dickensâs novels, and in Great Expectations it appears to be the objective correlative of the social rank and the moral stance of the characters. This is especially evident in the verbal and visual representation of Miss Havishamâs decaying banquet: by letting food putrefy, Miss Havisham reduces her own body as mere flesh to feast upon, and it is only by nourishing herself on other bodies that she can satiate her appetites. After exploring how Dickens relates the verbal and visual representation of food to the depiction of his charactersâ emotionality, this essay focuses on Miss Havishamâs banquet and its literary âafterlifeâ in James Joyceâs âThe Deadâ.