How Does Dickens Present Struggles

Charles John Huffman Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 to John and Elizabeth Dickens. Dickens went through a difficult childhood that contained a jar full of worries that far transcended of an average boy due to unstable family conditions. (biography.com). As a young child, it didn’t stop him from anything, Dickens found peace and comfort through the use of his imagination. In 1822, the Dickens family moved to a poor neighborhood in Camden Town, London.

As mentioned before, Pip possess and inability to fully express his feeling about those around him. When he first encounters Estella, he knows that is a physical attraction but Estella’s cold and indifferent actions toward Pip leave him longing for someone he cannot create a true connection with. Furthermore, Estella has the one of the greatest influence on Pip’s identity in the novel once he obtains his expectations and attempts to alter his personality to mimic that of a genteel individual. Pip describes the anguish he feels about his background as “a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home” insinuating that the only way to win Estella over is to disregard his humble beginnings in Kent. Which leads to his desires to become a gentleman in London in hopes that he will be better suited for Estella.

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.

However, when Pip pays his first visit to Satis House, his loyalties began to shift (Kappel 116). Like the prodigal son, Pip becomes discontent with his humble origin and longs for a life of prestige. After only one visit to Miss Havisham, Pip already begins to feel discontent and ashamed. Estella’s prideful and scornful attitude makes him feel inferior. Estella derogatorily

Charles Dickens was born February 7th, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. He is famous for writing in the victorian era. Where life was changing quickly, and too quickly for many families making them poor. He was born into a very poor family, and as he was growing up his family's need for money grew higher and higher. This lifestyle acts upon his writing a lot as many stories he makes has many poor families, like Tiny Tim in The Christmas Carol, the whole novel Oliver Twist. With a bad family income, Dickens had

This all begins when he is at Miss Havisham’s and her daughter Estella comments on his lifestyle. As soon as he sees her, Pip immediately adores Estella, he thinks she is so beautiful. When Miss havisham tells Estella to play cards with Pip, she responds in a way that is crushing to Pip; “With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring-boy!” (Dickens 61). They also comment on Pip’s hands and how they are so course from labouring. Pip never before thought of himself as common and he finds this very insulting. He knows he doesn't want to be classified like this again, especially by the one he admires. From then on, Pip desires to impress Estella. He doesn't live in the biggest house and he doesn't come from the wealthiest family and this upsets him. However, he doesn’t even see how good he has it living the life that he lives in the home that he lives in. This makes him ungrateful and unseeing to the things that once made him happy. Pip is ashamed of what he has: “ It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home” (Dickens Ch 14). Pip is so blinded by how he wants to be higher class for Estella that he doesn't see how good he does have it because he is so focused on what more he wants. Because of the way he wants to be seen by Estella, he dreams much of being a gentleman but he

As a “common labouring boy,” Pip lacks the proper surroundings, in which to realize his numerous ambitions, from his “desire to be wiser” to capturing the love of Estella, who is the daughter of “an immensely rich and grim lady” (192) (89). With no access to quality education and rejected by his love interest because of his status, Pip first-handedly witnesses the divide in the society and the disparity that exists between classes. Consequently, his unpleasant memories of domestic abuse, together with experiencing unavoidable social barriers, renders his childhood a traumatic experience and his background a prison that he seeks to

Charles Dickenss’s novel Great Expectations occurs during Pip’s period of transition from adolescence into adulthood when others’ opinions matter far more than his own. Because of Pip’s acute awareness of societal views and expectations, his first meeting with Estella results in lasting change that drives Pip to change his social standing: “...and that there had been a beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham's who was dreadfully proud, and that she had said I was common, and that I knew I was common, and that I wished I was not common…” (Dickens 70). Before Pip’s introduction to the wealth Miss Havisham experienced, he felt no shame in his identity and background. Additionally, although Pip recognizes Estella’s own flaws, Estella’s obvious privilege and his own

“I set off on the four-mile walk to our forge; pondering, as I went along, on all I had seen, and deeply revolving that I was a common laboring 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, on the whole, that I was in a low-lived bad way” (Dickens 46). Pip gets his first sense of shame which will continue to influence him throughout much of the novel. Estella’s remarks affect him strongly, due to the “unfair world he is raised in,” and his harsh upbringing (Dickens 46). Pip, crying and kicking the wall in frustration after Estella’s remarks show how deeply her words hurt.

Throughout Great Expectations, Pip undergoes many changes in his values and goals. Early in the story, Pip visits Miss Havisham and Estella. After this, he starts to think about how he is just “‘a common laboring-boy’” (65), and he becomes ashamed of his social status. This day sparks his aspiration to marry Estella and “‘be a gentleman on her account’” (129). In the end of the novel, Pip realizes that he doesn’t need to be wealthy to enjoy life and that he had everything he needed to be happy, but he threw it away for money.

Pip’s being an orphan not only affected his childhood but his development into an adult as well. The status of Pip being an orphan meant he had limited parental guidance and started from a low point in society . In Pip’s case he had parents that adopted him but his mother was awfully strict and mean to Pip. In addition to this Pip being on a low rung in the social ladder meant that he not only lived a rough life but that he was looked down upon by most members of the higher class. It also could be said that if Pip had never been adopted and therefore not know Pumblechook so well that he may have never been summoned to Miss Havisham whom adopted Estella.

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

One of the first that we meet the character Estella in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is when Pip goes to Miss Havisham’s to play with her. The two kids play the game beggar my neighbor when Estella decides to express her opinion on Pip’s looks. “ ‘He calls the knaves jacks, this boy!’ said Estella with disdain, before our first game was out. ‘And what course hands he has! And what thick boots!’ “ (Dickens 34). Estella looks down on Pip as he is, a common boy unlike her. She feels superior, and thinks that she has all the right in the world to treat him like dirt. Pip takes this rather harshly, especially coming from Estella, whom he thinks is very pretty. Estella’s insults hurt Pip at first, but then they encourage hime to become a gentleman. We see many instances of this throughout Great Expectations,

The expectations that cause Pip's character to become less likable are those that he develops after being introduced to Miss Havisham and Estella. During his first visit to the Satis House, Estella, who considers herself much too refined and well-bred to

The author of this classic novel was the late Charles Dickens; He was born on the 7Th of February in the year of 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. He was born into a family of ten members including his parents as well as a poverty-stricken class (what class means is a name to say for a rank of something.) They lived near the countryside, until 1822 when the family was forced to move the city of Camden Town, which is a poor neighborhood in London. They were forced because of financial issues and his father was sent to prison because of a great deal of debt. Since the situation with young Charles’s father, the boy had to quit school go work in a boot-blacking factory to help support his family. While he looks back at his experience, Dickens saw it as the moment he said goodbye to his youthful innocence, stating that he wondered “how [he] could be so easily cast away at such a young age.”