What Does The Mist Symbolize

In The Great Expectations, Charles Dickens uses irony and symbols to help the reader to better understand the overall theme, as well as the characters descriptions. This really helps to give the story more depth and meaning. If it was not for this, the reader would not be able to see what is supposed to be humorous in some parts of the story. In the novel The Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, fog and mist are commonly mentioned. Although it may seem unimportant, it actually plays a big role in tying up the overall theme. There are many symbols in the story, but the mist is one of the most important. This is because it shows how Pip will listen to anything Estella says, meaning he can't see the truth. When it is foggy outside,

The mist really helps to bring out the importance of what Pip believes."I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists has risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now..." (484) In the end he changes to be a better person, and he gets over Estella. When this happens, the mist rises. "On every rail and gate, wet lay clammy, and the marsh mist was so thick..." This is another quote from the story that shows that there was mist, meaning that he was listening to Estella. Another symbol in this story is being uncommon and common. Pip was seen as common and not a gentleman at first. He wanted to change to become uncommon for Estella, since she only liked gentlemen. He started to get a lot of money and learn to be a gentleman from people like Herbert. He started to treat people lower than him terribly, but he never used to. Like with Provis, in the beginning, he would help him out and not be scared of him. Later in the book, he hated him. Pip was a way kinder and better person when he was considered common. This symbol helps to show the way he would try to change for Estella, as well as how his attitude toward others

Estella hurt Pip more than she had helped him. She changed the way he treated people and later in his life he regrets that he treated his friends and family so badly, "O Joe, you break my heart! Look angry at me, Joe. Strike me, Joe. Tell me of my ingratitude. Don't be so good to me!" (463). Estella made Pip hate being common when she said, "He calls the Knaves, Jacks, this boy! And what coarse hands he has. And what thick boots," (60). After he met her and heard what her views on him were, his self-esteem plummeted. His hatred towards his way of life showed when he said, "I was a common labouring-boy...I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived bad way," (65). I do believe that she did him good though. He wanted to impress Estella and the challenges he went through let him see that the life of a gentlemen wasn't as glamorous as he thought it would have been. His experiences with the upper-class lifestyle made him appreciate the life he had when he was younger and he tells us, "I looked on the loveliness around me and thought how it had grown and changed," and this shows us that he now sees the beauty of the place he used to live in (467). Therefore, Estella changed the way Pip looked at his life and it hurts him more than it helps