development. Appropriately, the second important stage of the novel concludes at the end of
this section; we are told here, "this is the end of the second stage of pip's expectations."
Dickens opens this section by illustrating the extent to which Pip must now fool himself to
believe that he is still meant to marry Estella. His relationship with Estella has gone from bad to
worse: where he was once her innocent playmate, he is now expected to act as her innocuous
companion, accompanying her to meet suitor after suitor at innumerable parties, essentially
functioning as her chaperone. Dickens contrasts Pip's romantic quandary with the romantic
optimism of his friends, who all seem to find romantic happiness. Wemmick has Miss Skiffins
and Herbert has Clara; Pip has only the bitter knowledge that the oafish Drummle has begun
courting his beloved Estella.
Of course, the most important and most ominous development in these chapters, foreshadowed
countless times in the earlier sections of the novel, is the reappearance of the convict, now a
rugged old man, and the revelation that he, not Miss Havisham, is Pip's secret benefactor. This
revelation deflates Pip's hopes that he is meant for Estella, and it completely collapses the stark
social divisions that have defined him in the novel, first as a poor laborer envious of the rich, then
as a gentleman embarrassed of his poor relations. Now Pip learns that his wealth and social
standing come from the labor of an uneducated prison inmate, turning his social perceptions
inside out. The fulfillment of his hope of being raised to a higher social class turns out to be the
work of a man from a class even lower than his own. The sense of duty that compels Pip to help
the convict is a mark of his inner goodness, just as it was many years ago in the swamp, but he
is nevertheless unable to hide his disgust and disappointment.
"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.”
The convict's reference to himself as Pip's "second father" in Chapter 39 allows us to track Pip's
development through a succession of father figures. The orphaned Pip identifies most closely
with Joe as a father in the first section of the novel, and the blacksmith's soft-spoken good
nature most strongly defines his childhood. After the magical appearance of his wealth,
adolescent Pip seems to treat Jaggers as a kind of distant father figure, referring to him
repeatedly as "my guardian" and allowing him to set the parameters for his life in London. Now
a young adult, Pip is confronted with the convict as an unwanted father, a relationship that will
develop and deepen in the final section of the novel. With Pip's discovery of his new father
figure, this section ends on an extremely ominous note, as the morning sky is darkened by a
violent storm. As setting is always connected to dramatic action and atmosphere in the world of
Great Expectations, a storm can only mean that trouble lies ahead for Pip and his frightening
benefactor.
