The Deveopment of Pip in Dickens' Great Expectations

The Deveopment of Pip in Dickens' Great Expectations

Great expectations maybe considered as being a bildungsroman as it

charts the development of the main character (Pip) from childhood to

adulthood. Traditionally a bildungsroman contains the progress of one

character as he or she deals with death, love, social status and other

life effecting factors. In this way "Great expectations" fits the

bildungsroman genre. In some ways Great expectations does not fit the

traditional bildungsroman as the person is telling the story as an

adult reflecting on his life from childhood. Primarily bildungsromans

are narrated by a protagonist and no one else. This essay will

deliberate how the novel fits into the bildungsroman genre and how the

novel charts Pip's progress from childhood to adulthood.

The opening of the novel confirms that the novel fits bildungsroman

genre as we are immediately introduced to the main character, Pip and

he is the one who is telling the story. "I called myself Pip." It is

"Old Pip" telling the story as "young Pip" as he remembers it. "Old

Pip" is the omnipotent narrator and "Young Pip" is the protagonist and

the first narrator. We can see the day to day maturation of pip and

also hear how events turn out for Pip as he is the omnipotent

narrator. This also means that we get a biased opinion from Pip as he

can modify and cut out bits of his past to make others seem bad or to

make us feel more sympathetic towards him. This is one of the reasons

why "Great Expectations" may not be classified as a bildungsroman. We

discover that Pip has had a hard upbringing and this helps us see how

Pip develops throughout the course of ...

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... like Joe showing he is

snobbish. Pip also wants Joe to be like him but he is also stating Joe

is quite lower than him. Pip still doesn't have everything he still

needs to achieve love from Estella. In the novel, Pip has developed

from an innocent child to an established member of society. "Great

Expectations" fits the bildungsroman genre as he adopts a social order

to the extent that he becomes a part of it. It is very clear in

charting Pip's change because of the clear language changes and his

attitude. "Great Expectations" is not a traditional bildungsroman

because the protagonist goes beyond growing up and tells his own story

as an older omnipotent narrator. The novel fits and developed the

genre in many ways. It is a love story as he is in love with Estella

and a mystery ad he doesn't know what is going to happen.