The Growth Of Pip
...course of the novel, Pip learns lifelong lessons that result from pain, guilt, and shame. Pip grows from a young boy filled with shame and guilt to a selfish young man, and finally into a man who has true concern for others. Pip goes through three stages in the novel; shame and guilt, self-interest, and his stage of redemption
The first stage of Pip's maturity is his shame and guilt. Shame is a feeling brought on by circumstances beyond the control of the person. For instance, Pip feels ashamed over how common he and Joe are. Pip begins the novel with feelings of guilt, but when Pip encounters Estella and Miss Havisham he starts to feel shame along with the guilt. Pip feels ashamed about how he is so common. He is ashamed that Joe is a measly blacksmith and has no education. Estella brings on the shame that Pip feels. Estella points out all of Pip's common mannerisms and treats Pip as an inferior, even though they are about the same age. She taunts Pip for calling knaves "Jacks" when they play cards, for wearing thick boots, and for having coarse hands. Estella demolishes his self-esteem. Pip thinks to himself, "I took the opportunity of being alone in the court yard, to look at my coarse hands and my common boots. My opinion of those accessories was not favourable. They had never troubled me before, but they troubled me now, as vulgar appendages"(62). From then on, Pip is ashamed of who he is and where he comes from. He doesn't see himself in the same light as he used to.
Guilt, conversely, is a feeling brought on by one's actions. Pip's feelings of guilt are shown after the fight with the young pale gentlemen and the attack of Mrs. Joe. After fighting the boy at Ms. Havisham's, Pip says, "I felt but gloomy satisfaction in my victory. Indeed, I go so far as to hope that I regarded myself while dressing, as a species of savage young wolf, or...
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