In Great Expectations, Pip, the narrator of the story, grows from a young child to a gentleman with high social status. Pip shows us the important events in his life that shaped who he became. Throughout the story he goes through many changes from the people he meets and the decisions he makes.
One day Pip is taken by his arrogant Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of the wealthy Miss Havisham (who has not seen day light for many years as she was left at the alter when she was a lot younger). During this visit here, Pip meets a beautiful young girl named Estella, who unfortunately treats him very coldly. For a good time Pip travels back and fourth to the Satis house to visit Miss Havisham and he becomes closely acquainted with her. However, more significantly, he grows very fond of Estella despite her terrible treatment of him. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her and dreams of someday becoming a wealthy gentleman so that he might be worthy of her love.
At age 16 Pip is apprenticed to his brother-in-law Joe Gargery. The apprenticeship didn’t last very long because one day a lawyer named Mr. Jaggers appears with the strange news that a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune, and he must come to London immediately to begin his education as a gentleman. Pip quickly assumes that Miss Havisham is the secret benefactor but Mr. Jaggers refuses to tell him who it is as that was their agreement.
Pip soon leaves for London.
Dickens novel is about Pip’s quest for Estella’s love and what he is willing to do to gain it. The story is never about the love itself. We can see this because in the majority of the story, Estella is only in Pip’s heart and thoughts.
Pip’s story has one main point: no matter what happens to a person in their life, a person cannot change who they are inside. Pip does not realize this at first however. From the time he met Estella and Miss Havisham, Pip tried to change himself to fit a mould that he thought they desired. He began simply, learning to read and write. As time went on, and his circumstances changed, Pip pulled farther and farther away from where he came from and in doing that, who he was.
Great Expectations is a story that the public can relate to because at some point, everyone goes through the struggles that Pip must battle. It shows that possessions and wealth do not change who people are inside.