Great Expectations
...Charles Dickens uses an
ongoing theme over the course of this novel. Dickens creates
Pip to be a possible prototype of his own and his father's
life. Pip's qualities are kept under wraps because the
changes in him are more important than his general
personality. Dickens created Pip to be a normal everyday
person that goes through many changes, which allows a
normal reader to relate and feel sympathetic towards Pip.
Dickens reveals character traits in Pip similar to both himself
and his father. John Dickens, Charles' father, worked as a
clerk and was careless with money. John was said to be a
good hearted man, however he had a prison record,
arrested for debt. All of these characteristics were also
shared by Pip in the novel "Great Expectations" (Priestley,
96). A bit of Charles can be seen after Wheatley-2 Pip and
Estella met. When Charles met Ellen Tarnan, "He Behaved
more like an infatuated youth than a mature man" (Prestley,
97). This is also the same way Pip acted toward Estella
which may be an intentional characteristic of himself since
this novel was written after Charles met Ellen. Dickens often
wrote about his personal life in his novels as with the sense
of abandonment he wrote about in "David Copperfield"
(par. 12). His sister and blacksmith husband, Joe Gargery,
brought up pip as an orphan. Pip and Joe had a close
personal relationship, possibly because they were said to be
both "Brought up by hand" (Dickens, 6). Pip's guardians
brought him up to know the difference between right and
wrong. After doing wrong Pip often feels guilty and shameful
which is a trait of Pip's throughout the novel. Pip first felt
shameful after stealing food for Wheatley-3 The escaped
convict. While going downstairs Pip's guilty conscience
began to get the best of him. Pip began to imagine that every
board was yelling "Stop thief" and "Get up...
View Full Essay
