Great Expectations: Analyzed Through A Marxist Criticism

After gaining his wealth, Pip becomes snobby and lets everything go to his head. Now, after losing his wealth, we, as readers see a new change in Pip's personality. As for himself, Pip appears to feel ashamed of himself and his new class. In ​Great Expectations​, explaining Pip's feelings, Pip thinks, "Next day, I had the meanness to feign that I was under a binding promise to go down to Joe; but I was capable of almost any meanness towards Joe or his name." (Dickens, 391) Pips thoughts here, represent how he starts to realize how he has changed since moving to London. In his childhood, Pip was practically best friends with Joe, then becoming a gentleman, he has this sense that he is above Joe and essentially wanted nothing to do with

Pip expresses that he "...loved Joe perhaps for no better reason than because the dear fellow let me love him" implying that Pip may have a problem expressing the way he feels about those in his life (Dickens 41). This lack of expression remains present in Pip’s character throughout the novel, especially with frustration for the way he feels about Estella. Pip earning his expectations put a strain on the already limited relationship that he had with Joe, once Pip began to realize that Joe’s occupation was meager and unfit for someone with Pip’s means.

Estella lives in the Manor House with her adoptive mother Miss Havisham who has raised her up as a tool to be used to break men’s hearts. Although she constantly insults and makes fun of Pip, he falls in love with her. This love for her makes Pip vulnerable to any and every little insult that comes out of her mouth and Pip puts to heart everything she says. So, when she says, "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!...And what course hands he has! And what thick boots!" he takes it to heart (Dickens 105). It is at this point that Pip begins to feel ashamed of his uneducated family, and longs to become a gentleman. Due to Estella’s cold-hearted character and her arrogant personality, Pip is made to feel that he stands no chance with her. Even more dangerous is her destructive influence on Pip which makes him strive to become a gentleman no matter the cost. Rather than being surrounded by people such as Estella who do nothing but put Pip’s character down, he should surround himself with supportive and encouraging individuals who are always there for him and appreciate his unique personality. This is what causes growth in a person.

He never would have been embarrassed about Joe if he did not expect to live a better life than him. When Dickens gives Pip the possibility of happiness with Estella in the revised ending, he completely undermines the lesson he was teaching Pip and the reader.

Joe brought a moral side to the novel and gave the readers relief from tough characters in the novel. To show a contrast between Joe and the other characters in the novel, Dicken made Joe a simple, content guy, who does not focus on money nor society’s standards during his time. No matter how Pip treats Joe, he is always there and continues to show Pip how much he cares and loves him. After Pip has grown up, Joe still listens to him and he still confides in Joe. As the theme of social class continues to rise in the novel, Joe excluded himself, by being true to himself and doing good, despite having little money. To demonstrate, in the novel, Joe states, “But if you think as Money can make compensation to me for the loss of the little child—what come to the forge—and ever the best of friends.” Here Joe lets Jagger know how much Pip meant to him and how little he cares about money.

Joe’s personality is the opposite of his wife’s, including the presence of a moral code which is in turn passed on to Pip. When Joe learned Pip had told everyone lies about what he saw at Miss Havisham’s home, instead of yelling at him he told him that he’d never get to be a gentleman by “going crooked” and simply advised him to never do so again. Pip was also influenced by listening to Joe talk about the good in people, including how he was married to Mrs. Joe because he saw the good in Pip as a baby, and this makes Pip “look up to Joe in his heart.” Even though Joe was Pip’s brother-in-law he was more like a father figure/friend who taught Pip almost all of his admirable

Pip then goes on to address the reader directly and explains that “[t]hat was a memorable day to [him], for it made great changes in [him],” (Dickens 70). After meeting with Estella several times and becoming extremely fond of her, despite her bipolar attitudes towards him, Ms. Havisham suddenly decides to recompense Pip for his time and then tells him that he no longer has to come back to the Satis House. Everyday after this, Pip continuously thinks of Estella and of how he must become a gentleman in order to be at the same level as Estella and eventually marry her. Another character Biddy (whose relationship to Pip is somewhat complicated) begins acting as Pip’s teacher and Pip says “[w]hatever [he] acquired, [he] tried to impart to Joe,” because “[he] wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common.” Pip’s plans to become a well-mannered gentleman to be worthy of high-society and to be worthy of Estella’s affection are two goals or “great expectations” that Pip sets for himself that ultimately carry the plot of the novel along.

Joe armed with wrath and “Tickler” (Dickens 7). Joe wishes that Pip would not have to bear the brunt of “Tickler”; he wishes that he could “‘take it all’” himself (Dickens 51). Joe takes a kindly, brotherly interest in Pip; he and Pip share a “good-natured companionship” (Dickens 9). When Pip refrains from eating his bread and butter, which he intends to save for the convict, Joe believes that Pip has lost his appetite. Joe becomes “uncomfortable” and does not “enjoy” his food (Dickens 9). Joe often encourages and motivates Pip. When Pip presents Joe with his first specimen of writing, Joe declares that Pip is a “‘scholar’” (Dickens 73). When Pip complains about his commonness, Joe says that Pip is “‘oncommon’”. He wisely observes that “‘you must be a common scholar afore you can be a oncommon one’” (Dickens 73). Joe’s kindness and generosity also extends beyond his family. When the convict confesses that he stole some food from the blacksmith, Joe says that he is “‘welcome to it’”; he would not want even a convict to be “‘starved to death’” (Dickens 40).

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

Estella violently dehumanizes Pip because she is of a higher class, and she wants to propel her own self-worth. When Estella first meets Pip, she points out the fact that “he calls the knaves jacks,” and that he has “coarse hands” and “thick boots” (Dickens 122). Estella wants to prove that she is superior to Pip, because she is of a higher class. But the only way to do this successfully is to dehumanize Pip, by pointing out things that take away his humanity, like his coarse hands and thick boots. Before he meets Estella, Pip does not share

Joe Gargery, Pip's brother-in-law and a benevolent blacksmith , is very satisfied with his status as a member of the lower class. He believes that he’s “wrong out of the forge” (224) and well off working in what he senses is his rightful place. In an unqualified, typical lower class setting Joe is contented and able to be himself, but he feels abnormal and tense in a higher-class, environment. He feels out of place in Miss Havisham’s mansion, Satis House, a vast dissimilarity from his own modest home. Joe targets all his answers to Miss Havisham’s queries at Pip, displaying abnormal uneasiness and a “great politeness” (99). Joe, in all his inelegance around rich personalities and having no material wealth himself, is impeccably able to find cheerfulness. Joe Gargery really doesn’t worry if he’s the underprivileged or

Charles Dickens uses his own opinions to develop the larger-than-life characters in Great Expectations. The novel is written from the point of view of the protagonist, Pip. Pip guides the reader through his life, describing the different stages from childhood to manhood. Many judgments are made regarding the other characters, and Pip's views of them are constantly changing according to his place in the social hierarchy. For instance, Pip feels total admiration that, later, turns to total shame for the man who raised him, Joe Gargery. The primary theme in this novel questions whether being in a higher social and economic class helps a person to achieve true happiness. This idea is shown through Pip's innocence at the forge, visits

Charles Dickens, author of Great Expectations, provides a perfect example of the hope of class mobility. The novel portrays very diverse and varied social classes which spread from a diligent, hardworking peasant (Joe) to a good-natured middle class man (Mr. Wemmick) to a rich, beautiful young girl (Estella). Pip, in particular, elevates in the social pyramid from a common boy to a gentleman with great expectations. With his rise in society, he also alters his attitude, from being a caring child to an apathetic gentleman. During this process, Pip learns how he should act and how to become a real gentleman. Social mobility and wealth, furthermore, carves a disposition and how a character is looked upon.

As a boy, Dickens himself grew up with a father who didn’t make a lot of money and lived a lower class lifestyle. When we was only 12 he was forced to work in a factory so he could make the money he needed to bail his dad out of jail. Therefore in Great Expectations, he shows how he sympathizes with the lower class. The main way Dickens shows how he feels about the classes is through pip. One example of Dickens's expressing his feelings towards the class differences is through Pip’s realizations towards the end of the book. “...pondering, as I went along, on all I had seen, and deeply revolving that I was a common labouring-boy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived bad way.” (113). By Pip realizing that being accepted into the upper class depends on how he actually lives not just how he appears, Dickens shows his belief that class is determined by more than just surface qualities. Similarly, this shows how Dickens believes that the class status of a person doesn’t always show a person's true personality. To illustrate his view of class education differences Dickens uses Pip’s transition from a uneducated blacksmith to a gentleman. Dickens also shows how he feels about the class wealth difference through a difference between Miss Havisham, and Joe and Pip. Miss Havisham had plenty of money but didn’t live the happiest life. On the other hand, Pip and Joe were rather poor and didn’t have a lot of money, but always found a way to pay off debts and live a decently enjoyable life (36). This proves how Dickens thinks that, while the classes might be determined by things like money, wealth isn’t a necessity to having a good life. While some

The theme of family is shown mainly through Pip’s relationship with his brother-in-law, Joe Gargery. In the beginning of the novel, Pip makes it obvious that he dislikes his sister, and takes more of a liking to her husband Joe because Pip is able to sympathize with him (Dickens 40). Joe becomes his confidant, a fact that becomes apparent when Pip comes home to face a harsh interrogation by Mrs. Joe and Uncle Pumblechook after his first visit to Miss Havisham’s. Pip lies to the both of them about his experience, but feels guilty about doing the same to Joe and confesses his wrongdoing. Joe shows understanding towards Pip, and instead of sternly rebuking him for lying, he simply but seriously Pip about the dangers of lying, saying “if you can’t get to be oncommon (uncommon) through going straight, you’ll never get to do it through going crooked” (Dickens 100). While Pip’s relationship with Joe is being tested by his desire to gain a higher social standing, Pip shows significant guilt over his mistreatment of Joe ( Dickens 296), proving that deep down, Pip never loses his deep love for Joe. It can be safely assumed that the point that Dickens wants to make through Pip and Joe’s relationship is that family is not necessarily determined by biological connections, but by who a person is closest to and feels most comfortable sharing their life with through the best and worst times.