The key word in this quote is common. Pip probably always knew that he was a common boy, but he never minded. Now the word has taken on a new meaning for him. Pip was so happy with his life and so carefree before he met Miss Havisham and Estella, now he sees everything in a different light. Little things, like his hands, now matter to him. He probably didn’t even realise the things that Estella pointed out to him.
Pip and Joe have an excellent relationship. “I always treated him as a larger species of child, and as no more than my equal.” Pip treats Joe as a sort of best friend, and Joe treats Pip the same. The fact that in two parts of the book Pip is ashamed and embarrassed by Joe really shows us just how pretentious Pip has become. The first time this occurs is in chapter thirteen when Pip takes Joe to Miss Havisham’s house, and is instantly mortified by him.
“I am afraid I was ashamed of the dear good fellow – I know I was ashamed of him – when I saw that Estella stood at the back of Miss Havisham’s chair and laughed mischievously.”
Additionally in chapter twenty-seven, when Joe stays with Pip and Herbert, Pip is so ashamed of Joe that he is glad when Herbert leaves them.
“I was heartily glad when Herbert left us for the city.”
Pip is so distressed about Joe that he can’t bear his best friend seeing him.
“Well! Joe is a dear good fellow – in fact, I think he is the dearest fellow that ever lived – but he is rather backwards in some things. For instance, Biddy, in his learning and his manners.”
This is a quote taken from chapter nineteen. It is when Pip is talking to Biddy about Joe. For Pip to speak about his equal in such a way is very patronising. I think that Joe is actually better than Pip. He knows that he is common, yet he does not let it affect him. He is proud of what he is. Pip is ashamed that he is a pauper. He really cares about what others think of him, and believes that he cannot act like a gentleman unless he has the money. Now Joe, who he really loved, is not good enough for his new lifestyle and plans. If and when he meets rich people, Pip does not want them to know that he was poor. He wants to wipe any connection of being poor from his life. In a way, he wants to begin a completely new life and forget his old life. Therefore, he would disown Joe any day. Joe, who has done so much for Pip.
Personally, the thing that really confirms Pip’s snobbery is at the very end of the first volume of Great Expectations. It is just after Pip has been told about his expectations, and he is talking to Biddy before he leaves for London.
“Now Biddy,” said I,“I am very sorry to see this in you. I did not expect to see this in you. You are envious Biddy, and grudging. You are dissatisfied on account of my rise in fortune, and you can’t help showing it.”
Pip is now looking down his nose at Biddy. He knows that he is going to be better than her, even though they are (or were) equals. He is in a way boasting to her about it. He wants her to be jealous of him, and doesn’t take it very well when he sees that she is not in the least jealous of his sudden abundance. Pip now feels that the world revolves around him and for Biddy, who isn’t really interested in his money, to not be jealous is a sort of crime to Pip. However, not everybody is like Pip. They do not feel that the only thing of importance in life is your social status or how much you possess. Since his meeting with Miss Havisham, this is all that Pip has felt.
In chapters thirty-nine to forty Pip finds out who his anonymous benefactor is. The fact that it is a convict disgusts and repulses Pip. He can’t bear that a lowly, common convict has made him a gentleman. This is very ironic because a person who is so clearly not in any aspect a gentleman has made Pip one. All he can think about is what Miss Havisham and Estella would think if they knew about it. He has no thanks for Magwitch. He hates him;
“The abhorrence in which I held the man, the dread I had of him.”
Pip prays that Miss Havisham is involved in some way and upon finding that she is not, he is devastated. He can’t bear to be touched or looked at by a person who has done so much for him. At this point in the book, we as the reader loathe Pip. How anybody could be so ungrateful and rude is beyond most peoples reasoning. Magwitch saved Pip from a hard life. He gave everything he earned to Pip, and risked his life to see him. You would think that Pip might be a little bit appreciative of him. But all Pip can think about is Miss Havisham and Estella.
All the evidence that I have collected points to one thing; Pip is undeniably a snob. Although at the end of the book when Magwitch is dying Pip does feel some gratitude towards him, but he is still a snob. Pip will never get rid of his snobbery, he may become less snobbish, but it is part of who he is. Great Expectations would not be such a good book without us as the reader having such a love-hate relationship with the main character. Although there are points in the book when Pip is not a snob, he is a snob throughout over three-quarters of Great Expectations. I think from all the evidence I have shown you, you will agree that Pip is a snob.
