In the novel 'Great Expectations', the central character Pip has many expectations thrust upon him by others, as well as himself, from a very early age. What do we discover about these expectations and the characters who 'demand' great things of Pip?

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Mira Kudiarskyj     10GS             Great Expectations coursework

In the novel ‘Great Expectations’, the central character Pip has many expectations thrust upon him by others, as well as himself, from a very early age. What do we discover about these expectations and the characters who ‘demand’ great things of Pip and does he live up to the expectations of himself and others?

In the novel ‘Great Expectations’ the writer, Charles Dickens expresses in expectations for the main character, Pip. This essay will explain these expectations and will see if pip meets them.

The first person that has expectations is Pip, his own expectations. As a child he expects to work for Joe Gargery (Pip’s sisters husband) as a blacksmith, ‘I always knew I would be apprenticed to Joe as soon as I was old enough, and so I used to spend most of the day helping him in the forge.’ He is happy to work with Joe, as Joe protects him and is very kind to Pip. For a while Pip lived up to these expectations. But later on in the novel Pip discovers that he could become a gentleman and then he dreams of becoming a gentleman. When the opportunity came he took it but did not realize how hard it would be, ‘Now, what I have to say, and remember I’m only an agent, I don’t speak for myself, is that this young man has great expectations,’ Mr. Jaggers says this to Joe. I think this is saying that the boy will soon have pressure on him and that he will have to work at it and that he will have to live up to these expectations.

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In the opening of the novel we meet the main character, Pip. We then meet the convict, Abel Magwitch. He has expectations of Pip. Firstly he wants Pip to bring him food, drink and a file, ‘now look here. You bring me a file. You do know what that is? And bring me some food. If you don’t, or if you tell anyone about me, I’ll cut your heart out.’ As Pip is frightened he does what he is told. Pip did what Abel wanted as he, ‘ was dressed in all grey, with an iron chain on his ...

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