Crush+worthy+allison+shifflett

Love can be a harmful thing. //Great Expectations// shows that. Dickens says in his novel that love blinds everyone, even the ones who think that it won’t affect them.

Pip is a wonderful example to show what love, or even just a crush can do. His crush totally changes his perspective on life. Whether this is good or bad, it makes him turn his back on the ones that truely care for him. That’s never a good thing. He becomes very clingy, to the point where he is almost obsessive. The way Pip treats Estella comes close to harrassment. Her feelings are more of irritation and she sometimes becomes very annoyed with Pip. He even knows that she doesn’t like him, but he doesn’t give up. He’s very persistent, and even though at the beginning it doesn’t work out, at the end he gets his happy ending.

With Pip's crush, Dickens adds to the overall conflict of the book. The book becomes much more tense and interesting with Estella as a main character. // Great Expectations // would be boring if not for Pip's interest in Estella. This crush also sews together the plot of the story. Without it, there would be less of a story. Since everyone can relate to a youthful crush, it’s easier to read and understand what Pip is thinking.

The crush also definitely helps Pip’s character develop. Pip wouldn’t be the complicated character he is without Estella. His desire to have love and to be loved makes him who he is. Estella helps Pip define who he is.

With this crush, Charles Dickens is trying to say that if you desire someone or something badly enough, then you don’t think correctly and what you think is best for you is honestly not. Pip’s crush on Estella fuels the reader through the whole book to keep reading and see where it leads.