Character Analysis Of DickensGreat Expectations

Joe really affected Mr. Joe in a sad way. Mr. Joe is Pip's brother in law and Mrs. Joe's wife. Everyone loves Joe, he is such an honest, forgiving, understanding, and genuinely nice guy. “A fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have somehow got mixed with their own whites. He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow,—a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness” (Dickens 44). This quote just describes Joe’s character and his loving personality that he had. Although Mrs. Joe was the complete opposite from him, losing her was one of the saddest moments of his life. When Pip was little he and Joe had a loving bond, but then Pip grew up and became embarrassed by Joe. Then, Pip see's Joe at the funeral, Pip shakes his hand and is being nice to him which cheers Joe up a little bit. Pip also wants to go sleep in his old bedroom that night as well and promises that he will come back and visit more. I do not believe Pip because of the way he is and I think Joe should ignore him and not count on it, but Joe is simply too nice and understanding to not believe Pip. Joe also now has to look over the house, clean it, and take care of the finances now that Mrs. Joe is gone. “Thus, because, the novel shows, repression works in tandem with crime and death, Dickens’s characters—crushed by blows, turned into automata,

Prosperous or impoverish, given Joe's humane mind and good nature, he is willing- under any circumstances- to help those in need.  Another example of a humane deed committed by Joe is as follows on page 74, chapter 9 when Joe lectures Pip about deceit after he confides in Joe about the lies he told to his family about Miss Havisham's: "`There's one thing you may be sure of, Pip,' said Joe, after some rumination, `namely, that lies is lies. Howsever they come, they didn't ought to come, and they come from the father of lies, and work round to the same. Don't you tell no more of 'em, Pip. That ain't the way to get out of being common, old chap.'" This illustrates that Joe is not only Pip's friend, but more like a father figure in Pip's life; Pip feels comfortable confiding in him, and is open to listen to Joe about what is right and what is wrong. Without Joe, Pip would be lost; he would not have anyone to guide him, tell him what is right and wrong, constantly remind him what is important in life, or to occasionally knock some sense into him. He stands out as a loving figure in Pip's life. Joe and Pip share a relationship based on love and trust, easily likened to the relationship between father and son, or brothers. Without Joe, Pip would not be the same character or share any of the characteristics that he does now; he would be a despondent, ignorant, perplexed orphan.

Just as we sometimes turn away from God, Pip turns away from Joe. When Pip meets Estella and the "glittering alternative to life at the forge that she and Satis House represent, he can't ever again enjoy the idea of working with Joe at the forge."4 When he acquires his fortune, Pip totally pushes Joe out of his life. Because Great Expectations is written in first person (and Pip is a very honest storyteller), we can observe that "while Pip the narrator recognizes Joe's goodness..."5 and great love for him, "...Pip the character goes on

Joe bitterlessly, ungrudgingly, assesses his true character and place in life, as “I’m wrong in these clothes… out of the forge, the kitchen or off th’meshes” (Dickens 154). He can able to accept his lot as is, and can part with Pip if Pip wishes so. “It ain’t that I am proud, but that I want to be right,” shows Joe admitting what Pip can not admit: that they no longer can be together and preserve Pip’s image. The fact that Joe also recognizes and accepts the importance of Pip’s pride shows how highly he views Pip, despite the ungratefulness. Joe also shows his wisdom, reasoning that “Diwisions among such must come, and they must be met as they come” (Dickens 153).

“My father, Pip, he were given to drink, and when he were overtook with drink, he hammered away at my mother most onmerciful.”(62). Although Joe never got the much deserved love and guidance from his parents, Joe still catches on to the values he knew he belonged to. His ability to be friendly with everyone and be the person to let go is commendable. Throughout the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Joe’s character shines by his acts of kindness.

Though Pip did not have a good relationship with his sister, Mrs. Joe, he had a very positive relationship with her husband, Joe; he was the one person who was constantly kind to Pip. He was very close to Joe and cared very deeply for him, affectionately explaining to him as “...a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow-- a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness” (Dickens 6). He also shows interest in becoming his apprentice, excited at the prospect of it. Once he gains wealth, though, his feelings change very suddenly, and he becomes ashamed to Joe for being illiterate and of low class. When he finds out that Joe is coming to London, his thoughts are, “Let me confess exactly with what feelings I looked forward to Joe’s coming.

As an orphan living with his sister and her husband, the town blacksmith, Pip is shown as someone of a lower class. Even through the death of his parents, being beat by his sister on a regular basis, and the negative reinforcement he constantly receives from his relative: Pip is still portrayed as a child full of innocence. Joe is introduced as one, if not the only, positive thing in Pip’s life. In the story, Pip states, “Young as I was, I believe that I dated a new admiration of Joe from that night. We were equals afterwards, as we had been before; but, afterwards at quiet times when I sat looking at Joe and thinking about him, I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart,” (Dickens 61).

One of the many differences between Mr. Joe Gargery and Miss Havisham, is their mood. Joe is always happy whereas Miss Havisham is always tearing people down and getting her revenge. Joe always has a positive attitude, if it is at all possible. Any time that Pip made a mistake he was forgiving and looked toward the bright side of the spectrum. When Joe came to visit Pip when he first moved to London, Pip pushed him away. "As soon as I could recover myself sufficiently, I hurried out after him and looked for him in the neighboring streets; but he was gone" (746). Even after Pip was rude to Joe, Joe still came back at the end of the book, when Pip was sick, and forgave him. He said they were still the best of friends and will forever be the best of friends. Miss Havisham on the other hand has a pretty negative mood. She is always upset or angry and she wants her revenge. When she first had Pip come over to play, her only reason was so he could fall in love with Estella and Estella could then break his heart. "She says many hard things of you, yet you say nothing of her. What do you think of her?" (691) Miss Havisham is never in a happy mood, all she wants

Mrs. Joe’s demanding ways on how her husband runs his shop is just another example that reflects how she runs their relationship as a couple. Although Mrs. Joe does portray this masculine life very exact, she also takes care of the domestic things in their household; however, it becomes evident throughout the book that she does so not by choice. For example when preparing the evening meal she displays her hostility about making supper. “First, with her left hand she jammed the loaf hard and fast against her bib - where it sometimes got a pin into it, and sometimes a needle, which we afterwards got into our mouths” (Dickens 7). Not only does Mrs. Joe show a sense of physical harm to the men in her life, but it becomes evident that she is hurting them mentally as well. Throughout Pip’s life, he is faced with struggles to be better and improve himself as a person, as we know his great expectation throughout the book was to become a true gentleman. Although Pip is forced to deal with his sister treating him badly and making it seem as though he were nothing, Pip relives his injustices from his sister at Miss Havisham’s by explaining that “…I had known, from the time when I could speak, that my sister, in her capricious and violent coercion, was unjust to me. I had cherished a profound conviction that her bringing me up by hand, gave her no right to bring me up by jerks” (Dickens 48). Showing just one way that Mrs. Joe demonstrates a type of built in hatred

Mrs.Joe is a character that is seen as terrifying and irrationally mean through Pip’s eyes. Through Pip’s description, the reader naturally feels sympathetic towards Pip in almost every given situation. For example, in chapter two when Mrs.Joe threatens Pip with the tar water and the tickler. The reader sees the story through one set of eyes, leading them to believe Mrs.Joe is a jerk just because she can be like that and prove her dominance. However, other characters may have viewed her actions differently. For example, in chapter four, Mr.Wopsle, Pumblechook, and Mrs.Joe are all criticizing Pip. Viewing this from Pip’s eyes points the

People in society do not give enough credit to those who raised them. We take advantage of all the sacrifices and love they give to us as children. They are the reason we are who we are today. In the novel, Great Expectations, Dickens tells the story of Pip, the protagonist, suffered through emotional abuse during his childhood and how he does not understand the importance of the good people in his life. As a young adult, he moves to London, where he encounters people from many walks of life, businessmen, convicts and lawyers who influence him in many ways both positive and negative. Pip is negatively influenced by the powerful women in his childhood, which leads to his ungrateful and stagnant character; eventually, when he loses his fortune that he realizes that one of the good people from his childhood, Biddy, did have a positive influence on him but he did not realize it at the time.

Charles Dickens, Great Expectation is a novel about personal development and growth, that portrays in words a process of self-discovery and maturation through experience as a protagonist Pip moves from childhood to adulthood .The novel begins with Pip as a young orphan who is living with his sister and her husband in the marshes of Kent , in the west side of England. Pip is romantic , passionate and has unrealistic expectation of life. He is likely to expect more for himself than he is reasonable.He desires to become a gentleman of higher class . He also wants to improve himself ,both socially and morally. He develops unrealistic hopes and expectations after being introduced to Estella and Miss Havisham. The purpose of this essay is to discuss Pip’s obsession with gentility and class in Great expectation ,analyze the given extract in detail ,the changes in Pip’s character over the course of the novel and the role of his narration in signaling his Moral development.

He suddenly attains the status of a gentleman in society. This may explain Pip’s arrogance towards Joe and his submissiveness towards Miss Havisham and Estella, symbols of the upper class, in his pursuit of love and the luxurious life of high society in London. For Joseph Miller, Pip is ready to “barter all the spontaneity and charity of his relations to Joe for the coldness, formality, and decay of Miss Havisham’s house, and for the life as a gentleman he thinks she has given him.”

In Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations, the character of Phillip “Pip” Pirrup, an orphan living in poverty desperately seeks guidance in the novel from wealthy and non-wealthy mentors. Throughout the novel, Pip seeks identity and a sense of belonging. He initially seeks this from the financially stable mentor of Miss Havisham who affect the character of Pip in an adverse way and impede his fulfillment of happiness and success. It is through impoverished and non-traditional mentors that Pip finds a moral compass and acceptance of self. Mentors like Havisham and Mrs. Joe, who possess traditional values in their views of success and social class serve as negative forces in Pip’s life while non traditional influences who lack a focus on self success and survival like Abel Magwitch and Mr. Joe shape the character of the orphaned boy into the well-developed man at the closing of the novel.

Charles Dickens’s Novel Great Expectations demonstrates Pip’s growth as a result of the outside forces surrounding his life and decisions. Throughout the novel, the reader sees the necessary hardships Pip faces in order to experience pain and guilt and grow into a man who appreciates love and support.