Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” In his novel, Great Expectations, Charles Dickens exemplifies Ralph’s belief and conveys that when a person has gone wrong in life, a trauma or pain can help him or her return to a better path. All through the novel, characters such as Pip, Miss Havisham, and Magwitch illustrate this theme through the decisions they made in life and where those decisions took them.
Throughout the novel, Pip goes through a lot of events that transforms him as a person. At the start of the novel, Pip, an uneducated and naïve little boy, does not care about social class and is happy with what he has. But as he grows, he meets people from both social classes, who change his views and cause him to think things such as: “…deeply revolving that I was a common labouring-boy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick; that I had fallen in a despicable habit of calling knaves jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night; and generally that I was in a low-lived bad way,” (Page 67). This alludes to the Garden of Eden, where the snake influenced Eve to eat the apple and caused her and Adam their downfall. However, in Great Expectations, the snake would be Estella, who influences Pip to change his views and makes him believe that money and social class are everything. Dickens also uses diction such as “common labouring-boy”, “hands were coarse”, boots were thick”, “despicable habit”, and “ignorant”, to show that Pip thinks it is a bad thing to belong from an uneducated family. However, as he grows and goes through many experiences and events, he becomes aware of what he ...
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...ir wrongdoings. After Pip loses everything he gained, he becomes aware of what he neglected and understands what the true value of family and friendship is. Miss Havisham transforms her adopted daughter from a human to a “beautiful creature” to seek revenge on the men species, but her influence on Estella backfires on her and causes her destruction. Going through this makes her understand that revenge is not the answer, and redeems at the hand of helping others. Finally, Magwitch--a character who grows up as a criminal and tries to keep away from society--meets Pip, a naïve little boy who changes Magwitch’s ways of living and gives him a reason to do something in life. Through these characters, Dickens illustrates a universal truth that one may get off track, but going through a traumatic event or pain in life changes a person as a whole and gets him back on track.
As humans grow up, they must all experience the awkward phase of the teen years, as they leave behind childhood for adulthood. In these times of transformations, one often finds themselves marred by the wicked ways of naïve love and the humiliation many experience. In Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations, one is able to watch an innocent boy’s transformation into a mature gentleman who is still a child at heart. Pip is plagued with the daunting responsibilities of adulthood and deciding where his loyalties lay. Torn between the alluring world of the rich and his roots in a destitute village, Pip must make a decision.
Charles Dickens utilizes his life for inspiration for the protagonist Pip in his novel Great Expectations. They both struggle with their social standing. Dickens loved plays and theatre and therefore incorporated them into Pip’s life. Dickens died happy in the middle class and Pip died happy in the middle class. The connection Dickens makes with his life to Pip’s life is undeniable. If readers understand Dickens and his upbringing then readers can understand how and why he created Pip’s upbringing. Charles Dickens’ life, full of highs and lows, mirrors that of Pip’s life. Their lives began the same and ended the same. To understand the difficulty of Dickens’ childhood is to understand why his writing focuses on the English social structure. Dickens’ life revolved around social standing. He was born in the lower class but wasn’t miserable. After his father fell into tremendous debt he was forced into work at a young age. He had to work his way to a higher social standing. Because of Dicken’s constant fighting of class the English social structure is buried beneath the surface in nearly all of his writings. In Great Expectations Pip’s life mirrors Dickens’ in the start of low class and the rise to a comfortable life. Fortunately for Dickens, he does not fall again as Pip does. However, Pip and Dickens both end up in a stable social standing.
In conclusion, Charles Dickens develops different characters to create an image of a true gentleman that proves how inherited money usually leads to corruption and discontent in life. All of the characters: Miss Havisham, Pip, and Joe Gargery finally learned what a gentleman is, even if they all had different events happen to them. People often use their money to buy clothes or toys at stores, but there is never a store that sells happiness. Happiness cannot be bought, but it is created by reliable and friendly people who have always been loyal and trustworthy to their friends. Money cannot create happiness; only the individual can determine their contentment with their lives.
The settings of Great Expectations are Pip’s homes, one home that he lives in during his childhood in Kent, England, and the other that he lives in when he is grown in London, England. Social status was a big deal in the mid-nineteenth century. The rich were highly respected and liked by all, and the poor were treated unkindly and were sometimes made fun of. The rich could have any job that they liked, but the poor would almost always take over the job that their father had. The narrator of Great Expectations is Pip. If the novel were narrated from any other point of view, it would not have the same effect as it does now.
Living in a world where much about a person’s character is measured by wealth, it has become increasingly important to maintain a separation between material characteristics and intangible moral values. Pip, in Dickens’ Great Expectations, must learn from his series of disappointments and realize the importance of self-reliance over acceptance to social norms. Through his unwavering faith in wealthy “ideals,” such as Miss Havisham and Estella, Pip develops both emotionally and morally, learning that surface appearances never reveal the truth in a person’s heart.
In the novel, Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens the principal character, Pip, undergoes a tremendous change in character. I would like to explore with you the major incidents in Pip’s childhood that contribute to his change from an innocent child to someone consumed by false values and snobbery.
As a bildungsroman, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations presents the growth and development of Philip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Pip is both the main character in the story and the narrator, telling his tale many years after the events take place. Pip goes from being a young boy living in poverty in the marsh country of Kent, to being a gentleman of high status in London. Pip’s growth and maturation in Great Expectations lead him to realize that social status is in no way related to one’s real character.
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed.
There are so many important characters in this book that it would take me longer to describe the characters and there importance than it would to summarize the book. So I will keep it to a minimum with just a few crucial people. First there is Pip he is the main character in this book. When he was very young his parents died and know he is raised by his sister and her husband Joe Pip is a very innocent and caring person who wants to have a greater fate than the one presently owned. But is burdened by the fact that he lives in poverty. Next there is Mrs. Joe who raised Pip but is very mean to him and controlling of everyone in her house. Then Joe he is the person that gives Pip help. They play games and explain a lot of things to Pip he is about the only nice person in Pips life. Mrs. Havasham she lets Pip come over to her house and is very wealthy and the people around him think that she will raise him to be a gentleman. But hates men and never changes out of her wedding dress. She also has a daughter named Estella that was adopted and is very beautiful. But is being raised to hate men as well and is using her looks to break there hearts. Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery. But out of Kindness Pip still bring the man what he asks for. Pip's kindness, however, makes a deep impression on him, and he subsequently devotes himself to making a fortune and using it to elevate Pip into a higher social class. Herbert pocket who is a good friend of Pip's and gives him advice throughout the book.
In his numerous literary works, Dickens strong sense of right and wrong, and his recognition of the many injustices present in Victorian Society are clearly displayed. There is no better an example of these strong set of ideals then those portrayed in his novel, Great Expectations, which tells the story of Pip, a young boy who is initially fooled into believing that material wealth is a substitute for the real moral values a gentleman should posses. However, through the many trials and tribulations he is forced to go through, he is finally able to identify what it means to be a "true gentleman", one that has acquired true wealth and value. It is only then that he is able to see the real meaning behind Matthew Pocket’s wise words, that:
It can be seen through Dickens’s highly successful novel Great Expectations, that his early life events are reflected into the novel. Firstly the reader can relate to Dickens’s early experiences, as the novel’s protagonist Pip, lives in the marsh country, and hates his job. Pip also considers himself, to be too good for his ...
Everyone, at some point in their life, has made a mistake. Sometimes we get lucky and only falter a little, making it through the problem relatively intact. Other times, we mess up a lot and have to fix what was damaged over a long period of time. However, the same is true for most, if not all cases—those who make the mistake learn from it. Often times, our failures teach us valuable lessons that we only gained because of the experience we gathered after messing up. I have personally achieved a wealth of knowledge and experience just from all of my own little mishaps, and a few major ones.
Throughout Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, the character, personality, and social beliefs of Pip undergo complete transformations as he interacts with an ever-changing pool of characters presented in the book. Pip’s moral values remain more or less constant at the beginning and the end; however, it is evident that in the time between, the years of his maturation and coming of adulthood, he is fledgling to find his place in society. Although Pip is influenced by many characters throughout the novel, his two most influential role models are: Estella, the object of Miss Havisham’s revenge against men, and Magwitch, the benevolent convict. Exposing himself to such diverse characters Pip has to learn to discern right from wrong and chose role models who are worthy of the title.
As American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once said, “To be yourself, in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” In other words, pressure and temptation lurk in every corner and create a self-image that everyone feels obligated to have and people should not fear being themselves for the sake of others’ opinions. Charles Dickens conveys this message primarily through his protagonist, Pip, in his classic Great Expectations. Before Pip gained wealth and confidence, he constantly tried to impress the beautiful, yet arrogant Estella. His expectations only fueled the burning desire to please her, along with his drastic change in attitude. Estella, side effects of wealth, and loyal family like Joe all helped Pip realize that others can help form his opinions, but he possesses the ability to act for himself. Throughout Great Expectations, Charles Dickens implies that in order to attain true happiness, people must stay true to their character regardless of negative influences.
In conclusion, Dickens portrays the novels title, Great Expectations, through Pip’s desires and dreams and luck. Once he finds out his secret benefactor was Magwitch, he is surprised. Pip has had many great expectations which he was able to fulfill through the aid of Magwitch. Apart from Pip’s expectations of riches and importance of being a gentleman, the readers have expectations of the novel having many turning points due to Dickens ability to craft a consistent plot in which there is a fluency in all angles. Pip had high hopes, or Great Expectations, for everything which blindly seems right to him were not carried out.