Great+Expectations+Essay


 * Great Expectations Essay **

> Ch-Ch-Changes...Describe the dynamic nature of Pip's character. How does he change throughout the novel? What do you think Dickens is trying to say about the ability to make or break oneself?
 * ** What Would David Bowie Say? **

In //__Great Expectations__// the reader follows the life journey of Pip on his quest to become a gentleman. He aspires to rid himself of his peasant life and to be respected. On his journey he grows and changes from his kind innocent self to someone who became selfish. What Dickens is trying to say is a journey with good intentions may not end up as originally intended.

Towards the beginning of the book the reader is introduced to a young, clueless version of Pip. The audience is easily captured by his young nature and they understand his goal to want to become a gentleman, to make and have a better life for himself. This is the little blob of clay Dickens is molding; this is a relation to the main person about to set out on an adventure for his life to unfold. Dickens sets up the situation in a way that shows that any goal can be set and worked towards by anybody. The question is; is it possible to reach them without forgetting who you really are?

In the middle of the book, the reader will notice an ever so slight change in Pip’s behavior. The narrator Pip (many years after when the story actually took place) looks down upon his idealism and shameful deeds of himself; when he basically ignores the tender, good, or the fond ones. As he starts to gain money (from an unknown source) ,and really starts to consider himself as a gentleman; Pip starts to reject his childhood as the young orphan boy in England. The reader can perceive this as either a “good-for-him” type of deal for moving on towards his goal, or a “shame-on-him” for leaving behind his family and friends that raised him with some care and love. These parts of the story are showing how the journey to a great goal may not always be so pleasant.

As Pip heads off to Paris with his money and new status as gentleman, he leaves his old world behind. His sister and brother in-law that raised him, and his love, Estella, the woman who couldn’t love him back, were all left behind. Pip setting off to Paris is more of the physical journey than anything else to being a gentleman. Him leaving his loved ones behind really shows how he’s morphed into something new, how he’s not the same Pip the reader learns about in the beginning. This is the cracking of the “Pip-pot” where his goals become greater than used to be.

When the reader finally reaches the end, secrets are uncovered, knots are undone, and the world -in comparison to the beginning- is upside-down. Years have passed, people have changed, and Pip is now, finally, a gentleman in society with his money and proper attitude. Charles Dickens may have not made Pip break, but he most certainly was altered in a great way.

By. Katy Tincher