Oliver Twist And Great Expectations

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.

In the novel “Great Expectations”, the author, Charles Dickens, shows the views of the people of different social classes. The main character, known as Pip, shows these many views throughout his own life. Pip’s misguided interpretation of what it is to be a gentleman leads him to push people away that matter most to him, follow deceptive dreams, and reject the love that is continually shown to him.

English author Charles Dickens has written many well known novels such as Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol, of which both have a recurring theme: the expectations of society. During the Victorian Era, England was over populated and had terrible living conditions, with an enormous gap between the rich and the poor. Generally, people during the Victorian Era were not allowed to talk about things such as sex and crime, and had to live by strict social rules set by society. With the social disparities came many other concerns as well. Charles Dickens eloquently displays issues such as child abuse, prostitution, poverty, and crime in such a way that readers are able to understand and view them from diverse perceptions. By creating characters that have been through hell and back, Charles Dickens executes a great display of struggle especially within the lower classes. In the works of Charles Dickens, the wide variety of social issues of the Victorian Era are presented in a way such that readers are able to see specific issues from the perspectives of people from contrasting social classes, while speaking from his own experience through the characters. By doing so, Dickens is able to compare and contrast issues deemed controversial in the Victorian Era, especially regarding the disadvantaged.

Charles Dickens may seem like just a writer, but he is more than that, an advocate, a savior. Dickens’s works targets topics such as poor legislation, corrupt government, and the lack of quality education. These works inspired many people to act, and changed the ways people saw these contemporary issues. A prime example of these underlying themes is in his book Oliver Twist, which portrayed the reality that orphans and other children had to go through to survive in the extreme poverty they were systematically forced

In the story Mister Pip, the author Lloyd Jones used the main character's development to advance the novel's themes. The story of imagination and books starts with Matilda as the narrator. Matilda’s father lives in the mainland and so she doesn't know him as much as she knows her strict mom. To start off the book Matilda talks about the only white man that lives on the island. His name is Mr. Watts or as some people calls him "Pop Eye". In the beginning portion of the story everyone on the island was announced that the school is reopening since everyone left the island and abandoned them. Mr. Watts was the teacher and he didn't use conventional types of teaching, instead he read the kids a book called, "Great Expectations". Mr. Watts read

Arguably one of the most feared characters in the book and easily the most influential to other characters in the book. In this magnificent work: Great Expectations, Charles Dickens would not even have a story without the compelling and sinister Mr. Jaggers. The reason Jaggers is who he is simply is because his drive for power, which is fueled by his status as London 's greatest lawyer continuing to stay intact. Jaggers has acquired this power through many actions; such as, striking fear unto others, maintaining his self-confidence, and never allowing emotions to get the best of him.

Power and the struggle to obtain power is a challenge that mankind deals with on a daily basis. Throughout the thousands of years since the invention of currency, those with more wealth are regarded as powerful by those with less wealth. Charles Dickens, a famous writer from the mid 19th century, used his literature to bring attention to the problems in the world around him, more specifically the problems in England. One of these problems was wealth and the class system, which Dickens not only illustrated in his writings, but used as a plot for two of his books. Great Expectations and Nicholas Nickleby both demonstrate that money leads to unhappiness.

Archetypes can be found in every piece of literature, even if they are hidden within the writing. For example, even though religion may not be a primary aspect in a piece of literature, the complex idea of angels and demons can still be apparent. In the novel Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, the several diverse characters represent the idea of angels and demons. The novel revolves around the life of a young, common boy named Pip who receives a sudden fortune from an unknown benefactor and is expected to learn the ways of being a gentleman after moving to London. When he falls in love with a heartless woman, his need to woo her clouds his judgment regarding what is important in his life, and the importance of wealth and social class

The two novels “Great Expectations” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” relate us about discrimination during two different periods in history, even though their characters have similar characteristics. The society represented in these books is unequal, because powerful people tended to be more dominant over the poor ones. Certainly, it reflects the disadvantages of not having an education, and remarks that without it, people have no principles. Of course, these characters seek success like Pip, who was always persistent and fought to reach his goals. “Yet, having already made his fortune in his own mind, he was so unassuming with it that I felt quite graceful to him for not being puffed up.” (Dickens 185). Pip went through many harsh moments to reach his goals, because he wasn´t used to that environment. This environment of envy and a society in which being rich was more important than the values in life and humility. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Great Expectations”, the social inequality is represented through children in different status´s development that visualize the injustice among the hierarchy.

A boy works on the field, tirelessly for five hours as the sun showers its heat and bright light upon his face, causing streams of sweat to roll down his face, making him seem as tired as he could ever be. Suddenly, a bright and colorful carriage approaches the corn field, and inside it, a woman whose power and wealth surprasses that of the farmer. As he walks towards the carriage with pride, the lady, who you would expect to be sincere, instead kicks him the chest, and insults the man’s status and poor lifestyle. Many would expect that creating equality among all is as easy as making a pie, but even if it can be achieved, one obstacle stands in the way of that future: social injustice. Through Dickens’ work of literature, Great Expectations, it delivers us the message of how one person can change another’s view on themselves and the ones they love. As Great Expectations opens, Pip is hardly aware of his social and educational condition, but as he becomes exposed to Estella, his consciousness becomes more astute and he desires self-improvement. Since social injustice is invisible to many individuals, Charles Dickens makes the invisible visible to his readers, by incorporating the literary device of characterization.

The novel “Great Expectation” by Charles Dickens, is written from the perspective of an innocent boy, Pip, whose life is faced with different challenges and expectations. Growing up in a small village with a ruthless and violent sister who shows him little love causes him to be sensitive. In essence, the narrator not only begins to yearn for love and acceptance, but he also develops a high desire of becoming a gentleman in order to obtain genuine happiness. According to Pip, being a gentleman is the key to being acknowledged and accepted by his new found love as well as his only way to escape the village life. Subsequently, Pip’s dreams and hopes of becoming a rich gentleman living in the city are finally met even though his quest for true happiness is not. He is met by the busy, filthy and expensive life in the city. Furthermore, his character changes from a once innocent boy to a lavish and disorderly one. Moreover, he discovers that his benefactor, Abel Magwitch is none other than a criminal and his childhood love, Estella, who was his only motivation to becoming a gentleman, marries someone else. Nevertheless, even though Pip fails to meet his original expectations, his life’s challenges teaches him to be humble and appreciative, to work hard and to acknowledge true love.

The rise and fall in society through the corrupting power of money is also an important theme of the novel . The novel which is of a simple structure , deals with the development of the protagonist Oliver . Dickens describes the phases of Oliver's progress in terms of a child's instinctive and therefore virtuous response to his natural surrounding and in terms of negation of childhood simplicity . Oliver is a member of that vast and cruel machine of the Victorian society with its obsession with money and class distinction

Dickens explores many social themes in Oliver Twist, but three are predominant: the abuses of the new Poor Law system, the evils of the criminal world in London and the victimisation of children. The critique of the Poor Law of 1834 and the administration of the workhouse is presented in the opening chapters of Oliver Twist. Dickens gives the most uncompromising critique of the Victorian workhouse, which was run according to a regime of prolonged hunger, physical punishment, humiliation and hypocrisy.(Diniejko)

Oliver Twist is the narrative of a youthful vagrant, Oliver, and his endeavors to remain great in a general public that declines to help. Oliver is conceived in a workhouse, to a mother not known to anybody in the town. She passes on directly in the wake of bringing forth him, and he is sent to the parochial halfway house, where he and alternate vagrants are dealt with unpleasantly and sustained practically nothing. When he turns nine, he is sent to the workhouse, where again he and the others are dealt with severely and for all intents and purposes starved. Alternate young men, unfit to stand their appetite any more, choose to attract straws to pick who should go up and request more nourishment. Oliver loses. On the designated day, subsequent to completing his initially serving of gruel, he goes up and requests more. Mr. Blunder, the beadle, and the board are offended, and choose they should dispose of Oliver, apprenticing him to the parochial funeral director, Mr. Sowerberry. It isn't extraordinary there either, and after an assault on his mom's memory, Oliver flees.

People tend naively see orphans and those without caring families as hopeless and loveless creatures. However, the goodness of strangers can easily prove these thoughts nonsensical as people can provide an abundance of support and love to those with no blood relation to them and can embrace strangers as family. In Charles Dickens’ two novels Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, Dickens challenges the typical idea of parentage and suggests the through love and generosity anyone can become a guardian or mentor figure. Therefore, people should not place as much faith in blood relations and look to others for sources of guidance and compassion.