The Essence of Pip
The forms that stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement will naturally suffer most.
--Darwin, The Origin of the Species (1859)
Christopher Ricks poses the question, in his essay on Dickens' Great Expectations, "How does Pip [the novel's fictional narrator] keep our sympathy?" (Ricks 202). The first of his answers to this central inquiry are: the fact that Pip is "ill-treated by his sister Joe and by all the visitors to the house" and that Pip "catches" his unrequited lover, Estella's, "infectious contempt for his commonness" (Ricks 202). In answering like this, Ricks immediately assumes a dichotomous contrast between the natural human and the taught (acted-upon) human. Ricks is saying that the natural Pip is good and therefore holds the reader's sympathy while the manipulated Pip is bad and behaves in ways with which the reader cannot sympathize, and wants to condemn. The reader sides with the basic Pip and blames not him, but his circumstances and others, for his problematic conduct.
The abbreviated childhood narratives that many of the novel's characters provide support this loaded nature / nurture division, in which nature is the base and nurture is the skewed corruption of that base. The reader sympathizes with and is intrigued by the stories the characters tell of their childhoods because the stories easily explain why these people act as they do, and render excuses for them when they act maliciously. Children act according to the way they are raised so as to remedy and balance out the past, and their basic good nature only re-emerges after that task has been completed. Miss Havisham, the novel's schadenfreud terrorist, "was a spoilt child. Her mother ...
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...gled with their circumstances as to incorporate their selves into them, the novel becomes simply a series of events. Miss Havisham asks Estella "Are you tired of me?" and Estella replies, "Only a little tired of myself" (Dickens 279). Estella has no self and so all the intrigue of personal dilemma and development disappears. Even Miss Havisham is not a self, but is only the blunt response to rejection. This extreme example is representative of all the characters in Great Expectations. They are not subjects; they are objects in a world of pure, artless evolution.
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. London: Penguin, 1994.
Ricks, Christopher, "Great Expectations," from Dickens and the Twentieth Century. Ed. John Gross and G. Pearson, 1966. pp. 199-211.
Schad, John. The Reader in the Dickensian Mirrors. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.
A critical time in Irish History, the Great Irish Potato Famine in known in history books around the world, Europe’s last famine. Between 1845 and 1852 in Ireland was a period of excessive starvation, sickness and exile, known as the great Irish potato famine. During this time The Isle of Ireland lost between twenty and thirty per cent of its people. Although blight ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s the impact and human cost in Ireland, where a third of the population was entirely dependent on the potato for food, was intensified by a host of political, social and economic factors which remain the subject of Irish historical discussion. The famine was a watershed in the history of Ireland. Its effects lastingly changed the islands demographic, political and cultural landscape. For both the native and those in the resulting diaspora, the famine entered folk memory and became a rallying point for various nationalist movements.
In April 1986, The Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor melted down and virtually exploded releasing a huge quantity of radiation, covering the western region of the Soviet Union in nuclear fallout. The Soviet Government immediately had to evacuate the civilians in the now contaminated areas around Chernobyl. The entire city of Pripyat numbering about 45000 people were evacuated and relocated the very next day after the explosion. “By 14 May, some 116,000 people that had been living within a 30-kilometre radius had been evacuated and later relocated” (World Nuclear Association). All in all, numbers into the millions were affected by the Chernobyl reactor explosion, whether it was direct contact with high doses of radiation as one of the 1000 firefighters who were first on the scene to the children of men who worked and lived in the city of Pripyat. Thousands to hundreds of thousands of people evacuated never see their homes again and unknowingly leaving the wasteland to return to its natural state.
...ber in order to assess the damage that the potato crop failure had had. A challenge soon presented itself in the form of differing assessment reports so it was not clear exactly how much damage had been done. A detailed report from an agriculturist however estimated the loss of the potato crop to be between one third and one half of the potatoes that were originally thought to be free from the fungus. More charitable relief works were being set up in order to care for the now starving people. Local clergy began to devise means for the labourers to receive his provisions at a cheaper rate and to find a way of bringing food into the country in order to prevent further starvation. Following a damp Spring and Summer the complete potato crop failure occurred in 1846 and from this began a series of potato crop failures that resulted in the decade long famine in Ireland.
During the mid 1840’s, blight in the potato crops in Ireland caused widespread starvation and migration of Irish citizens to the United States. Yet, the massive loss of life and massive exodus could have been avoided if British taxation upon the working class of Ireland was nullified. Though the struggle for liberation was already taking place, the potato famine furthered the cause and helped spread awareness. Furthermore, the potato famine made the average Irish family more reliant upon the government for subsidies and supports to get by.
Gross, John. "A Tale of Two Cities." Dickens and the Twentieth Century. Ed. John Gross and Gabriel Pearson. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962. 187-97.
In Ireland in the years 1845-1852 a great famine caused a mass die off of potato crops throughout the country. Beginning in 1845 the weather in Ireland were abnormally chilly and damp for a summer season in Ireland, providing the perfect type of whether to allow diseases to spread rapidly. Phytophthora infestans, the cause of the great famine, can spread in the blowing wind. Shortage of food caused many Irish people to immigrate to other countries yet, some citizens of Ireland stayed most of which became struck will illnesses or died of starvation. Many farmers consolidated their land and shared the harvested crops creating another shortage of food for consolidated farming families. Potatoes originated from South America. . In the 1800s Ireland’s population grew immensely so, lands owners did not own more than a couple of acres for only themselves.
The Great Potato Famine was a huge disaster that would change Ireland forever. The people in Ireland were extremely dependent on potatoes and when the blight came the economy went down. When the fungus attacked the potato crops slowly crop by crop throughout Ireland, people began to lose their main source of food. With the people in Ireland’s huge dependency on the potato, people began to starve or get sick from the potatoes. No one had any food to eat. The potatoes were black inside with molds through out it that came from the fungus from something in nature. The weather that brought the blight also was one of the causes because they could not control how the weather was bringing the fungus. Ireland was under the British government and did not help Ireland when they needed Britain. The aftermath of the Great Famine was not only a huge drop in population, but emigration, and much more.
Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.” -Brodi Ashton. This shines true but is overlooked in today's society . A hero in today's society clashes with the genuine meaning of hero. A hero is someone who is sacrificial, selfless, and modest. A hero is somebody who is bold and valiant and to a great degree dedicated to something. A hero is a selfless individual who puts and the needs of others before their without seeking any attention for fame. A heroic person is prepared to yield his/her life for society and for what is best for the people. These qualities are constant throughout time. They may change a little bit depending on the society's values. Some heroes throughout history are Odysseus, Stephen Kumalo,
... it was and could not afford food. Potatoes had been the primary source of food for seventy percent of the Irish people. This Famine changed Ireland socially and culturally in many ways.
Individuals might also derogate victims by using the attribution of blame mechanism of moral disengagement. Attribution of blame portrays the aggressor as a faultless victim driven to harmful conduct through forced action (Bandura, 2002). For example, some rapists suggest that the victim was “asking for it” by the way she dressed or acted.
The main character, Pip, is a gentle character. His traits include humbleness, kindness, and lovingness. These traits are most likely the cause of his childhood poverty. In the beginning of the story, Pip is a mild mannered little boy who goes on with his own humble life. That, though, will change as he meets Magwich, a thief and future benefactor. Pip’s kindness goes out to help the convict, Magwich when he gives food and clothing to him. Magwich tells Pip that he’ll never forget his kindness and will remember Pip always and forever. This is the beginning of Pip’s dynamic change. Throughout the novel, Great Expectations, the character, Pip gradually changes from a kind and humble character to a character that is bitter, then snobbish and finally evolves into the kind and loving character which he was at the beginning of the story.
...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.
...evidence and textual evidence. She delves deeper into the lives of the characters in comparison to the prior works of Dickenson and Darwinian influence. According to Morgentaler, “Pip represents the evolution of the human species away from its primitive origins, whether the primitive be defined as the degenerate or the spontaneously goodhearted. For better or worse, Pip—and the rest of humanity around him has been civilized” (719). It can be said that Pip’s great expectations are equivalent to what is expected of mankind. As we, humans, evolve and grow, we can be expected to have great expectations and they are not to be determined by those who’s DNA we share.
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens emphasizes how the desire to improve oneself is one of the most important things in life. The basis of a personality is shaped when growing up and cannot be changed, however learning and reevaluating can occur. Pip wanted to become a better person and for him it meant to make better choices, obtain a greater education, and improve his rank in society, as did many characters throughout the novel. Learning how to deal with personality weaknesses is a huge step towards becoming true to oneself.
The main qualities that a hero should have is being brave, which would be the biggest trait of a hero. A hero needs to overcome huge obstacles to rescue other. Bravery is important when saving lives, because they have to trust themselves. Bravery can also be define as, being able to face your fears and stand