How Does Magwitch Affect His Life's Journey

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During the course of the novel, Great Expectations, Pip develops from a young boy to a full grown adult. The encounters and relationships he forges with the significant characters, Magwitch, Mrs. Joe, Miss Havisham, and Estella had significant effects on his life’s journey. The reader first meets young Pip, as a small boy with no parents. Pip lives with his frightening, abusive sister, and her kind husband Joe. He has the misfortune of meeting Magwitch, an ex-convict which sets the tale in motion. By the end of the novel, his life comes full circle where he saves Magwitch, in turn saving himself. Pip’s story is more than personal development. It is the story of a young man who learns to rise above selfishness. “Surprising turns of events and unexpected connections between the people he meets teach him about the nature of his society and about his permanent value of his childhood loyalties” (Bloom 25). The novel opens with Pip residing in his childhood home with …show more content…

She represents the promise of Pip’s adulthood, in spite of her own ruin (Pickrel 159). Miss Havisham is “self-indulgent, giving a free reign to her whims and self-pity” (Pickrel 160). She adopted Estella to keep as a child “plaything”, rearing her on the principle of vengeance against men who have broken her heart. She cultivates Estella’s natural beauty to grow up and break men’s hearts (Pickrel 160). Prior to meeting them, Pip only knew one way of living, in an unpretentious home of working class means. The money from his anonymous benefactor led him to London to fulfill his “great expectations” of becoming a true gentleman and climb the social ladder. Estella, who is young and beautiful, influences Pip significantly. He falls in love with her, becoming even more snobbish and foolish to please her. Pip is “naturally decent” however for a time; his ambitions lead him to selfishness, moral cowardice, and the trappings of snobbery (Leone

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