'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens is much more than just a story about a boy called Pip.

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Great Expectations

'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens is much more than just a story about a boy called Pip. Dickens makes it a story of self-knowledge and learning about life. We learn from Pip that wealth and prestige aren't everything in life. As Pip gains wealth he loses other things such as his close relationship with his brother in law Joe and his self-respect. Through his experiences he becomes a stronger character, he learns what being a true gentleman is really about and he learns life's true values.

Dickens uses his book to make social comment, as he used to be a reporter. He tells us both lower and higher classes have their corruption and evil. Through Pip we see that Dickens is trying to say he sees individuals like pawns in a chess game, influenced by their background and the power of others.

At the beginning of the book Pip was very kind hearted. We know this because when he was talking to the convict he said, "I think you've got the ague" even though he was threatening to kill him. Pip is also a very gullible young boy because when Mrs. Joe tells Pip that asking too many questions leads to going to jail he believes her. Also when the convict tells him there is a young man who will eat his liver he believes him. Pip is very respectable to his elders, even though the convict is threatening him he is still respectable because he says, "If you would kindly please to keep me upright sir" to him. Pip has a simple family background because five of his brothers had gave up trying to get a living in that universal struggle and at Christmas they have no presents and their Christmas dinner is very basic. Pip has a very strong relationship with his brother in law Joe, we know this because during this book Pip says things like "Joe and I being fellow sufferers and having confidences as good as natured companionship", "Joe always sided when he could" and "I always treated him as a larger species of child and as no more than my equal." Pip has a strong sense of right and wrong because when he is going to steal the food he says, "I was about to commit a larceny" so he knows that he's doing wrong. Another example of Pip's simple family background is that Mrs. Joe always wears always an apron like a servant. Mrs. Joe makes a point of this because she sees it as a kind of sign that she is a slave to Pip and Joe. As you can see from this piece, Pip is a typical young boy, however wasn't brought up by hand from his parents but by his sister because both his parents are dead. Pip has a kind-hearted and gullible and has much respect for his elders, comes from a simple family background, his sisters husband is called Joe who Pip has a very close relationship because they are both treated the same from Mrs. Joe and Pip wasn't a bad boy because he had a strong sense of right and wrong and always tries to keep to it whenever he can. When he is going to steel the food Pip knows he is doing wrong.
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Pip has a very rough background; his bullying sister brought him up by hand because both of his parents died when he was young. His house is surrounded by marshes upon which escaped convicts are found. His family is working class and led a lower class life. Dickens was commenting on the corrupt nature of working class - the setting is full of darkness. The marshes are described as a black horizontal line on the horizon as is the river. Crime and death are very much a part of lower class life; the marshes, churchyard and the hulks, ...

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