Great Expectations
...Three different places played important roles in Pip's life. Pip lost his parents when he was young and lived with his older sister in a marsh area. His sister was about twenty years older than he, so she was able to take care of him. Then he went to Miss Havisham's house, which was called Satis House. He wanted to become a rich man because of his experiences at Satis House. One day, an unknown benefactor gave him money and told him to go to London to become a gentleman, so he went to London. Pip learned and changed a lot from his experiences in the three places. However, Dickens is not only trying to show changes in Pip's character, but also trying to express the mutual relationship between humans and the effect of the surrounding environments.
Pip was an innocent boy who would not do anything wrong, but the environment and the circumstances around Pip made him a stealer. The story begins in a marsh area where Pip was living with his sister and her husband, Joe. They were not poor, but not rich. Pip's house was a normal "wooden house, as many of the dwellings in our country were most of them, at that time" (Dickens, 8). Pip was only a seven-year-old boy, but one day, he met a convict who was hurt and starving. The convict first threatened Pip, and then ate the bread that Pip brought with him. After eating it, he demanded more food, so Pip promised to get food for him and went home. Pip tried hard to steal food for the convict. He did not even sleep at night because "[he] knew that at the first faint dawn of morning [he] must rob the pantry" (15). Right after he stole the food, he ran to the place where the convict was waiting for him. Most children would not give food to a convict; they would be more likely to tell their parents and ask for help. However, the environment around Pip did not allow him to get any help from adults....
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