Social Class Influence on the Individual

In this book, they had levels of wealth for different families. The levels are determined by numbers. For example, the main character in this book is a Five while the highest number you can be is a One and the lowest is an Eight. The higher your number is, the more opportunities will be given to you. On the other hand, in the modern American society, we are all equal as in rights and opportunities.

This shows that Pip unconsciously understands that wealth does not bring happiness to a person. It can make someone a better person if one chooses to be generous and kind towards others. Pip contributed to a poor person’s happiness. He is not happy with his sister’s behavior and his tasks, but he rejoices after seeing the excitement on the convicts

In Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations Pip does not appreciate the surprise fulfillment of his dreams and only becomes selfish and condescending toward those not as fortunate as he. Pip’s character deration as a result of his inheritance is evidenced by his desire to serve “a gallon of condescension, upon everybody in the village” (Dickens 151). Dickens uses Pips ungrateful attitude toward his home town to illustrate the corruption of aspirations when one did not have to work for his success. Pips continued under appreciation of his success and subsequent failure allow Dickens to rebuild Pip through hard work to and achieve “happiness “and fulfill his dreams meaningfully (Dickens 487). Dickens informs the reader that meaningless wealth and success is worthless, and that true success comes from hard work and passion.

In Dicken’s novel Great Expectations, which is set in the Victorian era, Dickens uses the social classes to reveal that change is often driven by societal expectations and can often cause sacrifices to be made which often lead to an unhappy life. In this era status was important. Those who were in lower classes strived to move up, and those in higher classes lived lavish lives of elegance. Dickens reveals these ideas though the actions of other characters as Pip receives his expectations. Uncle Pumblechook, who wanted nothing to do with Pip before he had received his expectations, says, “To think, that I

Charles Dickens’ aptly titled novel Great Expectations focuses on the journey of the stories chief protagonist, Pip, to fulfill the expectations of his life that have been set for him by external forces. The fusing of the seemingly unattainable aspects of high society and upper class, coupled with Pip’s insatiable desire to reach such status, drives him to realize these expectations that have been prescribed for him. The encompassing desire that he feels stems from his experiences with Mrs. Havisham and the unbridled passion that he feels for Estella. Pip realizes that due to the society-imposed caste system that he is trapped in, he will never be able to acquire

Soon after the incident in the graveyard, Pip is introduced to a class of people deemed superior to his own only by virtue of their wealth. From them, Pip learns to judge others, and himself, by the quantity and quality of their material possessions, rather than the quantity and quality of their humanity. Thus blinded by the tangible, or material, Pip adopts the values of this better class and goes off in blind pursuit of such possessions as will make him an acceptable member of their numbers.

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.

In novels and plays, characters are usually depicted as being trapped in a cultural collision which often causes them to question their identity. The cultural collisions that are involved are institutional, ethnic, religious, regional, and national. In the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations, Pip, the protagonist and narrator, finds himself questioning his identity after being caught up in the regional cultural collision of his low class society background and the background of individuals in the upper class society. Pip’s response to this cultural collision is that he abandons his old lifestyle, rarely speaking to anyone from his past, such as Joe and Biddy. However, in the end, Pip begins to regret pushing his old acquaintances aside.

“Sometimes we expect more from others because we would be willing to do that for them.” This quote summarizes Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. In this book, Pip, the protagonist faces rejection at every turn with the death of his parents, and his low class in society. But soon, his entire world begins to change. He meets a rich girl, who he falls in love with, and begins to dream of rising beyond what his social class will allow.

The ones who seem to be most affected by society’s beliefs about class and social order are Pip, his family, and his friends, who would definitely fall under the “lower” part of the socio-economic ladder. Throughout the novel, the “lower” characters have a heightened and even a bit unhealthy obsession with

Class is one of the many issues we face in this world, and often some of the worst traits are found in people of high social class. Now, some believe that this is how they were brought up, others believe it is their personalities, or a combination of the two. In Great Expectations, Pip is often made out to be not the kindest or most caring of people. Some attribute this to his social class, however, this is not the case. Pip pushed his old friends out of his life because of his lack of empathy and maturity in regards to his position in life, not solely because his new social standing pushed him towards these conditions

It is very easy for a person to become obsessed with their social status. This is obvious throughout Charles Dickens’ book Great Expectations. The book is about a young boy who loses and gains many friends of different social standings. Although he starts out poor, he is given a great deal of money and power. This is shown by two characters, Pip and Joe Gargery, throughout the entire novel. Pip expresses that no matter how high one's social status is, it does not mean that they have a good and honest character and Joe proves that even though one might not have a lot of fame and fortune, one’s character can still be pure. Throughout Charles Dickens’ book, Great Expectations, Pip and Joe show how the quality and purity of one’s character and

The plot revolves around Pip’s change in social class and his happiness with it. From the beginning, Pip is exposed to different social classes and how they are different from each other, how society sees them, etc. He is, at a young age, removed from his home, and given the means to be in a higher social class.“‘I am instructed to communicate to him,’ said Mr Jaggers[...], ‘that he will come into a handsome property [...] immediately removed from his present sphere [...] and from this place, and be brought up as a gentleman”(Dickens 245). In this quote, Pip meets Jaggers, who informs him that a mysterious benefactor has given him the means to fulfill his dream of being a gentleman. In this section of the story, Pip believes that being a gentleman is solely about social status and the amount of money one has. His encounters with Estella have made him believe that he will only be loved and worthy of it if he is wealthy. This, however, is not what Pip finds to be true later on in life, when he reflects on his poor spending habits and how he replaced those

In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens rejects conventional Victorian class stratification, using Pip 's Bildungsroman to demonstrate that social mobility can be achieved through moral education, experience and personal development, rather than the simple acquisition of wealth. The compassion Pip learns from Joe leads him to assist Magwitch, which ultimately results in Pip becoming a gentleman. The secondary characters in Pip’s Bildungsroman help him to find a place within society where he can finally feel happy and fulfilled. Although Pip receives wealth from Magwitch, Dickens demonstrates that his success in migrating from the poorer working class to the newly developed middle class is actually the result of his more educated view of the

Pip has had no experiences with the upper class by the beginning of Great Expectations, and as a result, he is satisfied with his conventional life. But, this all changes when he starts going to the Satis house and socializing with Ms. Havisham and her daughter, Estella. After seeing what Pip feels his life should be, he becomes dissatisfied with his social class, even stating “I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.”, Implying that he is also unhappy with the upbringing of his family members. His preoccupation with wealth and status causes him to grow distant from his family and friends, a decision that he later regrets. Pip reflects, “It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home. There may be black ingratitude in the thing, and the punishment may be retributive and well-deserved, but that is a miserable thing, I can testify.” He is ashamed of his home because he feels that his and his family’s financial status is