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How does society shape our identity Essay
Influence of society on identity
How does society shape our identity Essay
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The Effect of Expectations of Society on Youths
In a majority of cultures, the youth of society learned behaviors and ideals based off of their guardians and role models. Children formed their own personal morals, ethics, and common sense based on their parents or close guardian figures’ actions, which led to either a similar or oppositional belief. Though this taught children fairly quickly, it sometimes left little to the imagination and forced the youth to work for only one reason; to fit in. The early years of a person’s life began their transition and integration into society as adults. The continued struggle to fit in and expectations people put on children and adolescents led to a faster maturation and loss of creativity. In both the
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Though Dickens and Salinger expressed Pip and Holden with opposite reactions to the standard, it showed the weight society carried on people throughout time. On one side, Holden saw societal standards as “phony” and full of fakes who tried to blend in (Salinger 53). Though Salinger thoroughly expressed the loathing Holden held for the New York society, his actions contradicted his opinions. Salinger used the contradiction to represent the feelings of people and how they expressed their hate for standards and expectations, but still chose to live by them. Like Holden, Pip chose to live by the high standards of society. Pip constantly tried to live up to the “great expectations” many held of him: “Miss Havisham’s intentions towards me, all a mere dream” (Dickens 302). Dickens utilized the rapid change of Pip’s personality throughout his life to warn people how expectations and power changed behavior and what one cared for. Pip and Holden’s different decisions and ideals showed how people continuously strived towards the societal standard. The infatuation people held of societal normalities led to the loss of personal values and beliefs in favor of acceptance from …show more content…
In contrast to Pip, Salinger showed Holden’s family as fairly well off; “My father’s quite wealthy, though. I don’t know how much he makes- he’s never discussed that stuff with me- but I imagine quite a lot” (Salinger 107). Through the usage of an indifferent tone, Salinger illustrated how many youths seemed reluctant to care about money in his own society. Holden continuously spent a fortune on petty things instead of using it for important matters. His indifference towards wealth showed the mindset of many teens during the time and also how easily one spent his or her life away. In contrast to Holden, who lived in a well-off society, Pip came from a fairly low class area. After the introduction to wealth, Dickens expressed the lust many people held for the higher social classes and also for the material “property” they held: “I felt more than ever dissatisfied with my home and with my trade and with everything” (Dickens 110). Pip easily forgot his first happiness with Joe and began to mourn for the wealth and beauty Miss Havisham and Estella held. Dickens used the relationship between Pip and Estella to show how easily people forgot their ideals and love in the face of wealth. Even children became enraptured in the lust for material wealth in society. Both
To many, material wealth is the epitome of mankind’s earthly desires. With wealth comes money, possessions, a promise of freedom from social constraints and the ability to pursue your dreams. However, the influence it has on a person’s character can be a stark reminder of what the misuse of wealth can ultimately lead to. In both Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the corrupting nature of monetary wealth is displayed through the lives of multiple characters. It is easy to see that a preoccupation with money blinds people to the prosperity that stands before them and can lead them down roads that end with nothing more than loneliness, misery or even death.
The youth of society tend to question and then possibly disregard the rules that are important to their parents if they do not have a good reason to believe in these rules. The rebellious actions of youth can eventually cause their own untimely destruction. (Justin K.)
Many people strive for things that are out of their reach. In the novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens shows the themes of personal ambition and discontent with present conditions. The main character, Pip, shows early on in the story that he is unhappy with his current situation. Throughout the story he strives for the things that are beyond his reach, and is apathetic to the things that he can obtain. Pip demonstrates this by striving for Estella when he could have Biddy, and yearning to be a gentleman when he could be a blacksmith.
Now, just because Pip is a gentleman, he realizes that his materialistic hope of being a gentleman does not make him happy. In this quote, Victorian era values become evident, as money, which is desired and thought to make happiness, changes Pip’s feeling from happy to dissatisfied. Now, the reader realizes that Dickens believes that money has nothing to do with being happy, but, what a society values. Finally, Pip realizes Estella’s adversity when she declares “suffering has been stronger than all other teaching[s]" (515). Through this quote, Pip finally realizes that, even though Estella was brought up with money, it does not help her any more than being raised without money.
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.
As times have changed, so has our culture. Our country tends to veer children towards one particular individualization over another. It seems developmental individualization is more common. People have expectations by society which they must fulfill, and are expected to do so at particular times in their lives, as said by Tamara Haraven who argues the importance of “… the timing of transitions, with those to adulthood becoming more uniform and orderly.” People are expected in life to go to school, work, get married, start a family, all these things are expected to be done at a certain time in their life. People may not want to do all this in this order and whatever point in their life, but they do because they are expected to do so. This is all supposed to happen developmentally. People are molded by society, actively making decisions and trying to be ahead of life’s obstacles. This is occurring in not only America but as well as in Europe, as Wallace observes how instead of becoming their own individual people, people “choose identities from among and increasingly complex array of options”. Sven Morch makes similar observations, on youths who must ‘master’ their adolescence ‘ways’ in order to become successful adults, showing the importance of structure to their culture. Life must be followed in a particular sequence according to ‘contemporary capitalism’ in order to succeed in life. With a million and one people trying to get the same task done, people do things because they have to, not because they want to.
The novel ‘Great Expectations’, by Charles Dickens, follows a young, socially inexperienced orphaned boy called Pip, through his journey, emphasizing his inability to adapt to life and relationships around him. His story is told through the eyes of the older Pip and highlights the aspects of society which Dickens disapproves of. His techniques throughout the novel help to give a better understanding of Pip's life. When Pip first encounters the escaped convict in the graveyard, the tense relationship between them is obvious to the reader, but all is revealed in chapter 39, where the readers meet both Pip and the convict again, and witness a role-reversal between them. The weather in the novel is significant; Dickens describes it in such a way that it creates an atmosphere using foreboding ominous imagery. This story of a lonely orphan in a mixed up world provides plenty of opportunities to consider the difficultly of an impoverished childhood in the nineteenth century and how hard it might have been for such a naïve and gullible young boy to survive in this time, especially with such harsh family circumstances. The theme of injustice, which is inherent throughout, explains some of the reasons why he has so many ‘great expectations.’
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.
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.
...ntation of the distinctions between the social classes. Dickens uses Pip’s relationships with Estella, Joe, and Magwitch to show how the lower class is judged by social status or appearances, instead of morals and values. The lower class is looked down upon and taken advantage of the upper class, and this is prevalent in the novel Great Expectations.
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:
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.
Most importantly, the entire movie is just one story of how a simple country boy is turned into a snob by the city life. Moreover, Pip doesn't gain anything when he goes to live in the city and actually is less happy than his early days. In this, Dickens is trying to convey the sense that being wealthy and aristocratic is not as important as having loyalty, love, humble dignity, and inner worth.
During the nineteenth century, British society was dominated and ruled by a tightly woven system of class distinctions. Social relations and acceptance were based upon position. Charles Dickens utilizes Great Expectations as a commentary on the system of class and each person's place within it. In the character of Pip, Dickens demonstrates the working class' obsession to overthrow their limitations and re-invent new lives. Dickens also uses Pip and various other characters to show that escape from one's origins is never possible, and attempting to do so only creates confusion and suffering. Ultimately Dickens shows that trying to overthrow one's social rank is never possible; only through acceptance of one's position is any semblance of gentility possible.
Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations (1861) has great significance to the plot. The title itself symbolizes prosperity and most importantly ambition. The main character and the protagonist, Pip (Philip Pirrip) was born an orphan and hand-raised by his sister Mrs. Gargery and her husband Joe Gargery. Pip was a young boy when he was threatened by a convict, Magwitch, at his parents’ grave to aid him. Pip nervously agreed to lend him a hand and was haunted day and night of the sin he committed which involved stealing food and tools from his Mr. and Mrs. Gargery’s house. Later on, he is called for at the Satis Manor by a rich woman, Miss Havisham. There he met a beautiful young girl, Estella, to whom Pip falls in love with. The novel being divided into three volumes, Pips great expectations arise soon after visiting the Satis Manor.