Great Expectations By Charles Dickens

The main storyline has to do with Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. To do this he received help from a secret benefactor. For the first half of the novel Pip is convinced that Miss Havisham is the one doing this so one day he and Estella can be together. Dickens creates a story around Pip’s assumption to make this a very logical explanation. Coincidentally right after Pip realizes and confirms he was wrong about his benefactor, an unexpected character reappears. “You acted nobly, my boy,” said he. “Noble Pip! And I have never forgot it!” (Dickens 248) These words ring out of his benefactor’s name. Who appears to be the escaped convict from the beginning who threatened him, known by the name of Magwitch. Magwitch reveals that ever since that day in the graveyard when Pip returned to give him what he requested he has found a job to help Pip out for what he did for him. By doing this secretly for all this

Pip is later told by the well-known lawyer Mr. Jaggers that he is to join him in London to receive the education needed to become a gentleman. Pip’s opportunity is set up by a mysterious unknown benefactor, who Pip believes to be Miss Havisham.

After being released from Ms. Havishams service, Pip becomes Joe’s apprentice. Four years into his apprenticeship, Pip is approached by a man who he vaguely remembers meeting once at the Satis House. This man is Jaggers, a lawyer, who proceeds to tell Pip that an anonymous benefactor has made Pip

Although Pip undergoes a dramatic personality change, Joe does not significantly change throughout the novel. When Pip finally visits the forge again, he finds that Joe is still as kind as he was when Pip young. This final insight shows that Pip has finally learned that he can be happy with a modest social class, despite what society may try to convince him otherwise. Joe’s static characterization constantly reminds the reader of Pip’s humble beginnings. In this way, Joe inadvertently teaches Pip that happiness can be found where money is not. Pip’s struggle to compromise his past and his present is ultimately resolved when he reconciles with Joe at the end of the

It is said that right before someone dies, they see their life flash before their eyes. They are said to see the things most dear to them. However, no one on their deathbed regrets the amount of money that they have. In the moment of clarity, most realize that a number on a paycheck is not as important as emotional and mental possessions. People always tell each other that money can not buy happiness, yet most end up spending every waking moment thinking about money. Why do people waste their time and energy pursuing something that is not what they truly need? Often, they use social class to fill a void in their lives that can not be filled by materialistic possessions. Many people realize this, but it is often too late. Charles Dickens demonstrates the effects of social climbing in his novel, Great Expectations. This novel explores the connections and effects of human nature and society, which are the two most powerful forces that guide people’s decisions. Some may say that social climbing is good, but as will be proven, pursuing social class for the wrong reason can result in disastrous consequences. The motivation to obtain higher social status leaves those who pursue it dissatisfied with reality and with a wider void in their lives as shown by Pip, Estella, and Magwitch.

Pips life however is not turning out as he wants and he becomes an apprentice to his brother in-law Joe, until one fateful day, a lawyer named Jagger’s informs him that a secret benefactor has left Pip with a large fortune. Excited with the news Pip agrees to go to London immediately so he can learn the ways of a gentleman. In hope that it is indeed Miss

Pip is informed that he is going to London to begin his gentlemanly education and this only serves to feed into his new obsession. The first to see this is wholesome and virtuous Joe. Joe was a caring and compassionate man and stays true to his character throughout the novel. It is

Pip does not tell Joe because he fears he will lose his companionship. In the future, Pip will struggle with telling the truth because of the fear that society will think less of him. Later that same day, the police are engaged in a search party to find the criminal. Joe and Pip accompany them; although, they do not believe that he must be apprehended. Once Magwitch is taken into custody, Joe and Pip both shed a tear. Pip's life at the forge is difficult due to Mrs. Joe's harsh nature, but he is also surrounded by the goodness and love of Joe. He has been taught that humans of all societal levels are important.

The next day he returns but he there is another convict there and he is an enemy of the guy from yesterday. The two convicts get to a fight and are captured by the police and put back in jail. When pip returns home his uncle has arranged for him to go to Mrs. Havisham’s house (the richest lady in town) to play with her daughter Estella (Shoomp). When he arrives he finds that Estella is cold, snobby, and rude. Somehow pip still falls in love with her but he has no chance. Even though they treat him bad Pip keeps going over to play with Estella for several months. Mrs. Havisham’s relatives come over and they hate pip and just want her money. One of the relatives challenges pip to a fist fight and Pip wins and earns a kiss from Estella (Shoomp). Later on Pip starts working as a blacksmith for Mrs. Havisham and she starts paying him. Pip continues visiting her throughout the rest of the year. While Pip is out at a local pup he runs into a strange man that has something he stole for one of the convicts years ago. The man gives Pip two one pound notes and Pip heads home. On his way home he discovers that his sister was almost murdered and is now mentally crippled (Cliff notes).

Great Expectations, occurs in the early 1800s over three major settings: his sister’s house in the Kent marshes, Satis House, and London. Pip describes his first home with his sister and brother-in-law as, “...the marsh country, down by the river...this bleak place” (1). Pip regards his hometown to be dull and boring. This symbolizes how plain Pip’s life was before his benefactor’s generosity enabled Pip to go to more thriving places and have more lively experiences. Here, Pip spends his days gloomily, as his sister always scolds him, and he cannot escape it. However, one day, Mr. Pumblechook gives Pip an opportunity to be whisked to Satis House, the residence of Miss Havisham and Estella. Miss Havisham lives an isolated, restricted life which can be seen in the architecture of her house. It was “...of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it” (54). Miss Havisham’s residence represents her well because the worn bricks show how old and tired she is of life, and the iron bars symbolize how she lives as if she were in a prison. She mainly keeps to herself and does not step outside her house. In Miss Havisham’s manor, Pip’s life changes as he meets Estella, his beloved, and he encounters people different than him. Pip then travels to the metropolis of London with Mr. Jaggers and money from his benefactor. Pip, at first glance at the enormous city, “...was scared by the immensity of London...rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty” (161). During the early

He gets apprenticed to Joe as a blacksmith and he hates it and he is still in love with Estella and he wishes he could wed her! Suddenly, a sketchy looking lawyer called Mr. Jaggers appears and tells Pip that a mysterious benefactor has given him tons of money. Pip selfishly abandons his job with Joe and moves to London assuming that his benefactor is Miss Havisham. Pip continues again on his deluded quest to become a gentlemen and woo Estella, despite her rejecting him over and over again! Pip meets several new characters in London such as his new best friend Matthew Pocket and his father, Herbert. He also meets a rival lawyer to Mr. Jaggers named Mr. Wemmick. Matthew and his father, alongside Wemmick and Jaggers, teach Pip how to be a gentlemen. Pip mostly succeeds but gets into some financial debts down the road. Pip becomes snobby and rude to Joe and his old

Again, like Magwitch, Joe's most valuable lessons are about morals. Although Pip treats Joe like he is nothing, Joe understands that Pip is just going through a phase and soon Pip realizes this too. After the London breakfast, Pip reflects that his tears at his treatment of Joe "had soon dried, God forgive me! soon dried"(244); this response prepares for his ignoring Joe when he visits Miss Havisham. Pip says of his attempts to rationalize not seeing Joe, "All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers, and with such pretences did I cheat myself" (page 225). Pip believes that Joe's behavior is worse than that of Pumblechook, whom he earlier identified as a swindler, and that his own behavior is criminal. In addition, Joe is the one who makes Pip realize that having the status of a gentleman is not the same as being a gentleman. He teaches Pip that being a good person gets people far in life. Pip is in debt, and Joe has no hesitation in paying them off, even though they are his life savings and Pip has treated him very poorly. Pip learns many lessons from Joe, but the most important ones are the ones about being a god

Pip was always being pushed around by grown-ups. He was forced to bring a man food. He was in love with Estella, who was mean to him and made fun of him. Pip was forced to work with Joe and another cruel man named Orlick. His sister, with whom he was living with, was attacked one day, but no one knew who it was. Pip moved to London and met Herbert Pocket and became friends with him. Pip met the man who forced him to bring food one day. The man, named Abel Magwitch, revealed that he was Pip’s secret benefactor. Pip gets a note one day to go to the marshes. He does, and Orlick was there, informing Pip that it was he that had killed Mrs. Joe. When Herbert comes and tries to catch Orlick, he

Great Expectations’ main character, Phillip Pirrip- generally known as Pip- had a rough upbringing as a child. His sister, Mrs. Joe had “brought him up by hand”, after their parents and five brothers had all been laid to rest many years ago. Another character, Herbert Pocket experienced a bizarre childhood, though in a different manner. Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations develops through the novel following Pip, a young “common boy” who grew up in the countryside. As he matured so did his love for a girl of higher class, Estella. However, being a common boy, Pip was not good enough for his Estella, thus once he was given an opportunity to become a gentleman in London he seized it without much hesitation. Charles Dickens’ had his own

4). Even though he aids the convict, the reader's sympathy for Pip soon increases, as his robbery of his own home weighs greatly on his conscience. For example, when Mrs. Joe leaves the Sunday dinner to retrieve the "savoury pork pie," which Magwitch had enjoyed heartily, Pip is tortured by the thought of his actions, while his mind screams, "Must they! Let them not hope to taste it!" (p. 27). He seems to sincerely regret his actions and the fact that he "had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong" (p. 40). Approximately one year after his encounter with the convict, Pip is still shown to be an innocent, caring boy. One night, when Pip and Joe are alone at the forge, Joe explains his various reasons for enduring Mrs. Joe's constant abuse. After their conversation, Pip realizes that he cares deeply for Joe and appreciates everything that the blacksmith does for him. Also, he develops "a new admiration of Joe from that night" and "a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart" (p. 48). Unfortunately, as Pip develops unrealistic hopes and expectations for his life, these positive characteristics are replaced by undesirable ones.