“Joe’s station and influence were something feebler (if possible) when there was company than when there was none”
This means that Mrs Joe has more dominance in their relationship too. We find out in chapter 7 why Joe does not object to this arrangement. Joe explains his fathers drinking problem led to gross mistreatment of his mother:
“He hammered away at my mother most unmercifully. It were the only hammering he did indeed ‘xcepting at myself”
He also goes on to explain more about his mother:
“I see so much in my poor mother, of a woman drudging and slaving and breaking her honest heart and never getting no peace in her mortal days, that I’m dead a feared of going wrong in the way of not doing what’s right by a woman, and I’d fur rather of the two go wrong the other way, and be a ill-convenienced myself”
He wishes
“It were only me who got put out Pip; I wish there weren’t no tickler for you old chap; I wish I could take it all on myself”
This reinforces the fact that Joe has the best intentions at heart for everybody even if the don’t get realised. After Joe’s conversation with Pip, Pip is filled with more admiration for Joe that ever before:
“Young as I was I believe that I dated a new admiration of Joe from that night. We were equals afterwards as we had been before…… I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart”
Pip’s new found admiration for Joe is quickly forgotten after Pip’s first visit to Miss Havisham’s. Estella looks down on Pip for being common and makes Pip wish Joe had been ‘more genteelly brought up and then I should have been too’. Pip feels like this mainly because Estella laughed at him for calling knaves jacks which shows that he is common by the words he has been taught.
Pip’s character changes so quickly after his visit to Miss Havisham’s and he starts to disrespect Joe and he sees the change in him self towards Joe:
“Towards Joe and Joe only I considered myself a young monster “
But it doesn’t stop Pip looking down on Joe:
“How common Estella would consider Joe a mere blacksmith, how thick his boots and how course his hands …. That was a memorable day for it sparked great changes in me “pg 68 chapters
He also says:
“I know I was ashamed of him – when I saw that Estella stood at the back of Miss Havisham’s chair and that her eyes laughed mischievously
ven thought Joe and Pip have a respect between them Pip is ashamed of Joe and is worried about what Estella will think of Joe.
When Pip has lived in London for quite a while and had established himself within his community he gets a letter from Biddy saying Joe was coming to London. Pip had a very strange and snobbish reaction to this news:
“Not with pleasure though I was bound to him by so many ties; no; with considerable disturbance; some mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity. If I could have kept him away by paying money I certainly would have paid money
This is a very big change from the younger Pip who “dated a new admiration of Joe from that night”. It is so much of a change that Pip’s character seems arrogant and unworthy of Joe’s visit. When Joe arrives at Barnard’s inn and is making his way up to Pips room, Pip is waiting in anticipation of Joes visit:
“I knew it was Joe, by his clumsy manner of coming up stairs his state boots always too big for him – and by the time it took him to read the names on the other floors in the course of his accent”
Joe feels uncomfortable around Pip and in his new clothes and feels he is “not right in these clothes Pip” and tells Pip “you and me is not two figures to be together in London” but reassures Pip they are “ever the best of friends”.
The language used to show the difference in status between Pip and Joe is most noticeable when Joe is at Bernard’s Inn and calls Pip sir and says he is” your servant sir” meaning that Joe feels he is lower than Pip and that he should respect it by calling him ‘sir’.
The character of Magwitch is introduced in chapter 1 while Pip is reflecting on his dead parents “My first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from the tombstones” When Magwitch jumps out from behind one of the tombstones and startles Pip; Pip starts to scream so Magwitch threatens him: “Keep still you little devil or I’ll cut your throat”
Pip is so scared he agrees to take a file and whittle from Joe and bring them to the convict early the next morning or “lord strike you dead if you don’t”.
Pip and Magwitch’s first meeting has a bad effect on Pip’s behaviour he even steals from and lies too Joe at the time when they had a mutual respect between them and his behaviour changed even Joe noticed a change when they were at the dinner table:
“You know Pip you and me is always friends and I’d be the last to tell upon you any time”
Pip later regrets this in chapter 6:
“It was much upon my mind that I ought to tell Joe the whole truth – yet I did not and for the reason that I mistrusted that if I did he would think less of me than I was”
This fear stays with Pip for most of his childhood
After Pip has met Magwitch again to give him the file and . Pip describes Magwitch’s eating style as “one of our large dogs I had often watched eating”.
When Pip returns home soldiers were looking for Joe because he could mend the handcuffs for them because he is a black smith. The soldiers explain that they are hunting for two fugitives and Joe, Pip, Pumblechook and Wopsle decide to join the soldiers in their search and they end up on the marshes where they find the two convicts fighting in the mud, the soldiers immediately arrest them but when Magwitch sees Pip’s scared face he decides to help him by saying that he is the one who took the pie, brandy, file and whittles.
“I wish to say something…. It may prevent some persons lying under suspicions”
Even though Pip and Magwitch have only know each other for a day Magwitch already shows a fondness towards him and shows he wants too protect him. This later builds a strong relationship between the two.
After this incident Pip tries to carry on with his life as normally as he can and succeeds. After this Dickens wrote nothing about Magwitch again until in chapter 39 when Pip is 23 yrs old Magwitch turns up at Pips house revealing that he is Pips real benefactor Pip doesn’t want to believe this and tries to get the man out of the house:
“The abhorrence in which I held the man, the dread I had of him, the repugnance with which I shrank for him, could not have been exceeded if he had been some terrible beast”
Pip has this attitude towards Magwitch because he had hoped that Miss Havisham was his benefactor and finding out that a convict is your financial benefactor must be quite shocking. When Pip finds out that it is Magwitch who has helped make him a gentleman he feels the “strongest repugnance” but Magwitch feels proud that he has a gentleman even though he has nothing else he has Pip to show for his efforts.
“If I ain’t a gentleman, nor yet ain’t got no learning, I’m the owner of such. All on you owns stock and land; which on you owns a brought-up London gentleman? “
The fact that Magwitch feels he owns Pip is very interesting because he is treating Pip as more of a possession rather than a person because you can’t own a person.
He says that the only thing that kept him working so hard was the fact that “it was a to me, look’ee here, to know in secret that I was making a gentleman”. He also feels a strong connection towards Pip so strong in fact he considers Pip his son and feels that Pip should think of him as his second father:
“Look’ee here, Pip I’m your second father. You’re my son –more to me nor any son. I’ve put away money, only for you to spend. When I was a hired out Shepard in a solitary hut, not seeing no faces but faces of sheep till I half forgot wot men’s and women’s faces wos like , I see yourn …I see you there many times plain as ever I see you in them misty marshes …”
Pip and Magwitch’s bond becomes stronger as Pip shelters Magwitch and helps to keep him hidden. As Pip finds out more things about Magwitch he starts to respect him more and when he finds out that he once had a child... a girl and then he finds out other things which lead to him finding out that Magwitch is really Estella’s father but that he was told she had died. This is also a reason magwitch gives Pip when Pip asks why he has done so much for him when he has done nothing for him. Magwitch doesn’t know his daughter is still living until the moment he dies when Pip tells him:
“‘Dear Magwitch, I must tell you, now at last. You understand what I say?’ a gentle pressure on my hand ‘you had a child once, whom you loved and lost”
This is an emotional revelation and straight after we see Magwitch dying after knowing this.
The paternal relationships in Pip’s life are very important because he has lost his parents and has no love from his sister so he only has male role models in his life.
recalled my sister with much tenderness” pg 255 chapter 35
At this stage of the book Pip is confused about what to think or feel towards the sister who “brought him up by hand” beating him regularly.
Miss Havisham and Estella played a big part in the development in the way Pip thinks at such a young age. As soon as he meets them he starts to recognise his ‘commonness’ this is because Estella remarks about his course hands and thick boots.
“Her pg 57 chapter 8
Even though Estella makes Pip feel bad about himself he still feels attracted to her and is determined to change himself to suit her. When Pip has come of fortune and is in London he remarks
“She had adopted Estella, she has as good as adopted me, and it could not fail to be her intention to bring us together” pg 213 chapter 29
Pip feels happy in his dream that Estella is suited for him by Miss Havisham that he goes on believing this until he meets his real benefactor.
Joe and Magwitch are 2 very different characters and help Pip in two very different ways throughout the novel.
Joe helps Pip in a lot of different ways but Pip is naïve and doesn’t always realise how kind Joe is being even if Pip doesn’t deserve Joe’s affection sometimes. At the beginning of the novel Pip admires Joe for his subtle ways of taking care of him but as soon as Pip visits Miss Havisham's for the first time all of his admiration towards Joe is lost and Pip starts to think more about what Estella and Miss Havisham would think rather than thinking about how his behaviour is hurting Joes feelings. Pip wishes that Joe had been brought up better so that he would have been able to impress Estella more. After his visit to Miss Havisham's Pip has a very snobbish behaviour towards Joe and the rest of his ‘family’ which continues to grow as he gets older but Pip only regrets his behaviour towards Joe
Joe protects Pip as much as he can and helps him to see the difference between money and family and helps him to see the error of his ways, throughout the novel Joe acts as a moral guardian trying to raise Pip as a sensible well rounded young man but as soon as Pip gets his expectations all of his hard work goes unnoticed as Pip instantly forgets all moral values and starts to look down on Joe. Pips attitude towards Joe changes again when he falls ill and Joe comes to look after him. Joe is very forgiving and helps Pip until he gets well again. Pip was in debt when he fell ill and when he finds Joe has paid his debt for him he is amazed
By the end of the novel Pip realises he should never have deserted his family because of his expectations and that his place was at home in the forge with Joe and Biddy
“Receive my humble thanks for all you have done for me and all I have so ill repaid …. Dear Joe and Biddy if I could repay it a thousand times over I suppose I could cancel a farthing of the debt I owe you “pg 438 chapter 58
This could also have been a subtle message from Dickens to his readers that money is not everything and it cannot buy you happiness and that you should be happy where you are. It may also be saying that this is what it means to be a true gentleman.
We do not hear again from Magwitch until chapter 39 when Magwitch appears at Pip’s house and reveals that he is in fact Pip’s benefactor. When Pip finds out he feels the “strongest repugnance” towards him and tries to get rid of him as soon as he appears but to no success.
As the novel goes on Pip and Magwitch’s relationship gets stronger and when Magwitch is ill and on his death bed Pip feels it is his duty to tell Magwitch his daughter is still alive
“Dear Magwitch, I must tell you, now at last. You understand what I say?’ a gentle pressure on my hand ‘you had a child once, whom you loved and lost”
This is a very kind thing of Pip to do for Magwitch and shows that Joe has taught him something.
It is very hard to say who helped Pip develop the most because there are many factors that have helped him which have come from all different people.
On the one hand Joe has helped Pip the most because in his early years he gave Pip a lot of support and protection. Also Joe provides a strong moral foundation to his life.
On the other hand Miss Havisham and Estella have helped Pip a lot because they made him have his expectations and without that there would have been no story and also they made him feel he had to become better so they were the spark of the fire of his desires which made him have his expectations.
While Miss Havisham and Estella sparked Pip’s desire to be a gentleman Magwitch helped Pip the most because he gave him the confidence to think he could one day marry Estella and also he gave him the financial backing he needed to become the object of his desires; a true gentleman.
All of these things helped Pip to become the person he wished to be but at the end of the novel Joe , Biddy and baby Pip are the most important things to Pip because they were so forgiving even though he had been snobbish towards them. Pip sees the error of his ways and begs forgiveness even though Joe and Biddy have said he is forgiven. This echo’s the parable of the prodigal son. Pip goes away to find his fortune and deserts his family but they forgive him. This could be Dickens’s way of telling his readers to be forgiving in situations like this.
In conclusion all of the people in pips life have aided his development in some way or another some more than others but each has a significant effect on Pip as a person. I think that Joe has had the biggest effect on Pip’s life because he gave Pip the morals that made him tell Magwitch about Estella and also the morals that made him come home after all that time and if in the book Pip had never met Miss Havisham and Estella he would have been happy where he was and wouldn’t have had great expectations.
