Historical Information About The Setting

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.

A related theme that is carried through in this ending is the idea of mistaken identities. Estella mistakes little Pip for Pip's son, when he is really the son of Joe and Biddy. This is like how Pip mistakes Miss Havisham for the one who gives him his expectations when it is really Magwitch.

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

Historical information about the Setting: The major events in this book occurred in the last decade. After the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, the lives of many Middle Easterners (Iraqians, Iranians, etc.) and South Asians (Afghans, Pakistanis, etc.) were changed. Many people, especially women, were brutally slaughtered for disobeying the Taliban, a terrorist group that worked closely with al Qaeda. Not only were the Taliban extreme religious fundamentalists, they were also strict with enforcement. The US and many other countries have tried to end these terrorist organizations, but they hurt a great deal of innocent people, which this book goes further in depth about. In these recent years, there has been great progression in basic rights for women, as well as men, which most likely could have never happened prior to this time.

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.

There are five aspects of a quest discussed by Thomas C. Foster in How To Read Literature Like a Professor. They are “(a.) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there” (Foster 3). These five aspects all apply to Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations. The quester is Pip, the place to go is London, the stated reason is for Pip to become a gentleman and be worthy of winning over Estella. The final aspect, a real reason to go there, could be for him to realize that money cannot find happiness, that being too ambitious can blind someone from what is truly important, or to state that Pip was better off as a common boy with good morals and manners.

The class system becomes a focal point in young Pip's life. Pip first began to think about his place in society when he was sent to visit the wealthy, old lady, Miss Havisham at her mansion. Through these visits Pip becomes socially conscious and begins to dislike his commonality. Almost instantly he wants to become uncommon. The adopted daughter of Miss Havisham, Estella, becomes a focal point and goal for Pip to obtain. Any morality Pip used to have slips away with each visit. Pip walks in circles in a barely lit room with Miss Havisam holding onto his shoulder and in doing so, Pip is somehow leaving behind all the values he was raised with. Miss Havisham and Estella end up corrupting Pip with the rich life. Greed, beauty and hubris are Pips downward spiral into an immoral life. Pip finds Estella very attractive, but Estella calls him common and this does not sit well with Pip. All of Pip's expectations of becoming a rich gentleman are due to this love of Estella.

Magwitch was the convict that Pip had met while in the graveyard one night. After being shown kindness from Pip, Magwitch does everything in his power to help Pip get into a higher social status. The catch is that Pip does not know that the convict is helping him in the beginning. Pip later finds out that he was also his secret benefactor. He had payed for his education and even payed for things to allow Pip to have an amazing lifestyle in London using the help of Lawyer Jaggers.

Throughout his life, Mrs. Joe and Estella have hurt Pip. Mrs. Joe, Pip’s sister, should be a trusted figure in his life, although she acts as the opposite and inflicts pain on Pip. Similarly, Estella (Pip’s childhood love interest) cruelly rejects Pip’s love for her. Pip, like any other beaten child or heartbroken lover, understandably harbors anger against Mrs. Joe and Estella. However, Dickens created a character that, at a young age, perceived the world with virtuous eyes whom is incapable of carrying out his vengeance. Therefore, Dickens invented Orlick and Drummle so they can, “act out Pip’s revenge, even if he does not consciously direct it” (Moynahan 123). By doing this, Pip can maintain his level of innocence and remain a ‘victim’, since Orlick and Drummle attack Pip’s sister and childhood

Pip is content at the forge until pompous Uncle Pumblechook, Joe's uncle, takes him to visit to Satis House, for the first time, where he makes the acquaintance of Miss Havisham and Estella. Satis House is dismal and devoid of life with the exception of Estella, in Pip's eyes. Estella is a pretty, proud, and emotionless girl with who treats Pip badly yet still causes Pip to become completely infatuated with her. The forge now makes Pip ashamed and embarrassed because a coarse, common man could never spend an eternity with such a beauty. Pip is so confused about Estella's insults intertwined with her flirting that all he really knows is that he is ashamed of his social standing. Pip's love for Joe was shadowed by this embarrassment. "…I was ashamed of the dear good fellow—I know I was ashamed of

The critic Edgar Johnson aptly remarked that "Jaggers is too dangerous to despise." In the novel, Mr. Jaggers holds all the clues to the plot. He is the lawyer for both Miss Havisham and Magwitch, thus knowing the identities of Estella's mother and Pip's benefactor. He is Pip's guardian and custodian, thus playing a major role in Pip's education. He is somewhat like a filler of all the gaps in the plot; the connector in an entangled web. In Chapter 51, it is through Mr. Jaggers that we finally learn the mystery surrounding Estella's background. Again, we observe the careful and crafty lawyer at work - repeatedly reiterating the words "Put the case." and "I make no admissions." to Pip as he narrates the account of Estella's past.

The entire story is told through the eyes of an adult Pip, even though Pip is a small child during parts of it. In his early years, Pip was strongly influenced by his guardians, Joe Gargery and his wife, Mrs. Joe. Joe instills a sense of honesty, industry, and friendliness in Pip, while Mrs. Joe does a great deal to contribute to his desires and ambitions through her constant emphasis on pomp and property. Pip is generally good-natured and thoughtful, and very imaginative. His false values, which are bolstered by his love of Estella, decrease the amount of respect that he has for Joe. His alienation from Joe and Joe's values builds through the second part of the novel, as Pip becomes selfish, greedy, and foolish. During the period when his expectations are intact, his only morally positive act was to secretly help Herbert Pocket into a good position. Upon discovering that Magwitch is his benefactor, a new phase begins in Pip's moral evolution. At first, Pip no longer feels the same human compassion for Magwitch that he did the first time he saw him out on the marshes. Gradually, Pip changes his perception of Magwitch, unlearning what he has learned. Pip becomes concerned with the man, and not the expectations that he could provide. When Jaggers presents the thought that there may be a way for Pip to get his hands on Magwitch's property, the idea sounds hollow and utterly empty to Pip. Pip learns about Estella's parentage through

Pip is told who his benefactor really is, something that shocks him. This knowledge begins the change in Pip from ungratefulness to the humility associated with home.

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.

There are salient junctures in Pip’s upbringing that make him who the person he was; this is a tale that in which Pip was soliciting for awareness of himself, as well he realized that his life had major elements of obscurity; due to the fact, he was presented clearly, two radical different lifestyle choices; one, involving a life as a blacksmith and the other; involving the path as life as am affluent prosperous gentleman. Dickens carefully wrote in the periods of Pip’s life and how those set of circumstances; affected by choice, as well affected Pip’s later choices he had made. The temptation of class and wealth perverted the actions of Pip and other people around him; Pip is therefore contemplating on how he was saved by reminiscence of the stages of his life. In the first stage; Pip encounters Magwitch; by accident, this affects the outcome of later events of his life; Pip is than introduced to Miss Havishism and Estella, he fell in love with Estella, and was dramatically persuaded by the promises he made to himself, from his encounters with Miss Havhishism and Estella. Dramatically; Pip than learned the truth about his wealth and that Magwitch was Estella 's father; this collapsed Pip’s vision of reality and forced him to alter his exceptions concerning the truth; Pip than had to save himself from his own selfishness, as well as his malice actions, to the ones who were faithful to him; finally, at the end Pip is a full grown adult and had gain