Trapped In A Cultural Collision

This all begins when he is at Miss Havisham’s and her daughter Estella comments on his lifestyle. As soon as he sees her, Pip immediately adores Estella, he thinks she is so beautiful. When Miss havisham tells Estella to play cards with Pip, she responds in a way that is crushing to Pip; “With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring-boy!” (Dickens 61). They also comment on Pip’s hands and how they are so course from labouring. Pip never before thought of himself as common and he finds this very insulting. He knows he doesn't want to be classified like this again, especially by the one he admires. From then on, Pip desires to impress Estella. He doesn't live in the biggest house and he doesn't come from the wealthiest family and this upsets him. However, he doesn’t even see how good he has it living the life that he lives in the home that he lives in. This makes him ungrateful and unseeing to the things that once made him happy. Pip is ashamed of what he has: “ It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home” (Dickens Ch 14). Pip is so blinded by how he wants to be higher class for Estella that he doesn't see how good he does have it because he is so focused on what more he wants. Because of the way he wants to be seen by Estella, he dreams much of being a gentleman but he

He initially believed that London would be a bustling city full of gentleman and upper-class citizens. However, as soon as he stepped foot in the city, Pip “became fascinated by the dismal atmosphere of the place,” (Dickens, p.__) and he gives varying descriptions of the grimy, bloody atmosphere over the next several chapters. Just as much, Pip believed that his benefactor was Miss Havisham and that he would be destined for Estella with a life of luxuries, only to discover the reality that Provis, a scrappy convict with a bounty on his head, was his sponsor all along. Furthermore, the young gentleman believed that his rise in status would distance him from his lifelong association with criminals and poor wealth- but his expectations only brought him closer to both of those things. Association with Magwitch tied Pip into the lifelong conflict between the convict and Compeyson, and the outcome of his expectations was ultimately debt. No matter what he inherited or where he resided, Pip could not cut his permanent ties with his past.

Throughout the novel the author shows the many ways that Pip pushes away the people he cares about and how he later regrets it. Pip slowly becomes attached to Estella of Satis House and seems to always think that he “ought to make Miss Havisham a visit (Dickens 106)” but Estella thinks “he is a common laboring boy (Dickens 57)” and nothing more. Pip is “so hurt (Dickens 60)” but still wants to visit her and Miss Havisham. Even though Estella mistreats Pip, he feels drawn to her and thinks they are meant to be. Because of this, he pushes away Mr. Joe and Biddy. Biddy “had a deep concern in everything [he] told

gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly

Pip then on wanted to surmount his social class, become educated, and attract Estella. After each visit, Pip began to feel even more strongly that people of a higher social class will domineer over those of a lower class. Although the visit to the Havisham manor majorly impacted Pip’s childhood, the visit from Magwitch in London massively impacted Pip’s future

Charles Dicken’s novel Great Expectations occurs during Pip’s period of transition from adolescence into adulthood when others’ opinions matter far more than his own. Because of Pip’s acute awareness of societal views and expectations, his first meeting with Estella results in lasting change that drives Pip to change his social standing: “...and that there had been a beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham's who was dreadfully proud, and that she had said I was common, and that I knew I was common, and that I wished I was not common…” (Dickens 70). Before Pip’s introduction to the wealth Miss Havisham experienced, he felt no shame in his identity and background. Additionally, although Pip recognizes Estella’s own flaws, his opinion is superseded by Estella’s obvious privilege and his own embarrassment. Dickens reveals that the material benefits of becoming a part of higher society results in classism perpetuated by even the most negatively affected and causes the degradation of one’s identity to create conformity. To change oneself into the paragon of a corrupted system results in the contribution of further corruption and a lack of moral values. Dickens uses the insecurity of the masses to portray the willingness to compromise themselves for the illusion of more fulfilling life. Once Pip achieves the wealth and status he has desired, he must conform to the practices of the wealthy which involves the avoidance of the lower class including his own sister and brother-in-law. Once the news of his

Twenty five percent of people in 1800s England were classified as poor and had very little chance of escaping their class. Pip, the main character in Great Expectations, is one of those people. However, one event changes all that. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, is a novel about a boy, Pip, and his life as a low class person. But, when a mysterious benefactor gives Pip a small fortune, his life is changed forever. Although Pip's journey to becoming a gentleman is a long and tough one, many characters in the book help Pip along his journey. However, three characters help Pip the most. Because of their urge to help Pip, Estella, Magwitch, and Joe are the three most important characters in Pip's development.

In the beginning of the novel Pip is almost blind to the differences between the social classes. He only knows of the life that he has led. In chapter 6 Miss Havisham sends for Pip to visit. There he meets, of course Miss Havisham, and Estella, whom he is instantly attracted to. On page 34 Estella comments on the state

In the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip was an orphan living with his sister and her husband Joe Gargery who was a blacksmith. Pip was met by a convict. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file for him. Pip meets Miss Havisham and Estella. Pip falls in love with Estella, but she can’t love anyone. Miss Havisham raised Estella to degrade men because she was left at her wedding, so she’s getting payback. Pip wants to be a gentleman because of how Estella is rich and silky and not dirty. One day Pip got an anonymous enormous amount of money so he decides to leave for London to be trained like a gentleman. Pip’s wealth and position changes him to a dissipated life of idleness.

The main storyline has to do with Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. To do this he received help from a secret benefactor. For the first half of the novel Pip is convinced that Miss Havisham is the one doing this so one day he and Estella can be together. Dickens creates a story around Pip’s assumption to make this a very logical explanation. Coincidentally right after Pip realizes and confirms he was wrong about his benefactor, an unexpected character reappears. “You acted nobly, my boy,” said he. “Noble Pip! And I have never forgot it!” (Dickens 248) These words ring out of his benefactor’s name. Who appears to be the escaped convict from the beginning who threatened him, known by the name of Magwitch. Magwitch reveals that ever since that day in the graveyard when Pip returned to give him what he requested he has found a job to help Pip out for what he did for him. By doing this secretly for all this

The expectations that cause Pip's character to become less likable are those that he develops after being introduced to Miss Havisham and Estella. During his first visit to the Satis House, Estella, who considers herself much too refined and well-bred to

Pip’s mindset regarding classes and success in life is drastically altered after his initial visit to the aristocratic Miss Havisham. “She said I was common” (69) spurs the realization in Pip that he is indeed innocent but unfortunately much oppressed. Pip is very distraught with his birth place into society, to the point that he “was discontented” (130) -- he increasingly desires to be a gentleman. He primarily desires this as a means of impressing Estella and winning her over. At this point in the novel, Pip is willing to give away what he loves (Joe – family setting) to obtain a superficial and insulting girl. One day Pip receives word that he now has the ability to grow up to be his ultimate dream, to be a gentleman. Pip awakens to a new world and those he once loved are no longer good enough for Pip. Moving to London, he becomes far more sophisticated, but at the same time loses his natural goodness. (Chesterton 142). Pip is leaving happiness and his real family to attain a life he thinks will make him more content. Before departing, he dreams of “Fantastic failures of journeys occupied me until the day dawned and the birds were singing” (148). This relates the dream that Pip has just before he sets out to London for the first time, with all of his "great expectations" before him. Pip’s dream is permeated with the sadness and guilt caused by his imminent departure from Joe and Biddy and his aspirations for a new social station.

and shapes the person he is and is to become. There are also some much

Being acquainted with Miss Havisham and Estella will cause Pip’s identity to be altered. Lucidly, both characters do not share similar qualities with Pip. Pip is humble and content while Miss Havisham and Estella are wealthy and full of rancor. However, Pip’s qualities do not last and seem to diminish as he becomes more acquainted with Miss Havisham and Estella. Moreover, Pip’s decision to allow Estella’s words hurt him will resonate throughout the novel. During this scene, Pip becomes a dynamic character. He no longer desires to be “coarse and common”, but ambitions to become a

Beginning in the second stage, Pip goes off to London with his newfound fortune to become a gentleman, though all that he would truly become is a rich, wealthy snob. Upon arriving at Barnard’s Inn, Pip rudely talks about the shabby conditions of the place, even saying, “So imperfect was this realization of the first of my great expectations that I looked in dismay at Wemmick,” showing that now that he is rich, he feels he should be treated like a king (181). Wemmick even mistakes his look of contempt, demonstrating that already he is becoming a snob, but at this point others don’t take him to be one. Although this passage only talks about the ‘first’ of Pip’s expectations, one can see that they are already set too high. Pip accompanies Wemmick to Newgate prison, but afterwards says, “I wished Wemmick had not met me, or I had not yielded to him and gone with him,” because he feels he is too far above the prisoners there (279). This is very ironic, because the person who has made him ‘rise’ above all these people is a convict. Pip didn’t want Newgate to be ‘on’ him because he felt it would detour Estella, when in fact her father was a convict as well. When Pip finds out that Magwitch is his benefactor and not Miss Havisham he says, “The abhorrence in which I held the