One popular reason for an author to write a book is to express their viewpoint on a specific subject. Charles Dickens, considered to be one of the greatest novelists in the Victorian era, often inserted his viewpoints on various subjects such as social class and child abuse in his novels. Although a lot of his books focused on social issues in the Victorian era, the romance in his novels is quite notable too. Dickens’ viewpoint on love was heavily influenced by the women in his life, and the female characters in his novels show characteristics of the many women that he associated with.
Love. Love is a very fickle emotion that affects an individual drastically. It can cloud a person’s perception of someone and can cause one to act in a way that they would normally never do. Love is what caused Pip, a young character from the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, to drastically change from an innocent boy to a foolish man. As a child, Pip was always sweet yet dilapidated beyond repair, because he was neglected as a child. So, when he found someone that he “loved”, he latched on immediately and didn’t let go because he was afraid of abandonment. Pip’s first time meeting Estella, his first love, and his experience in the Satis House changed him in such a way that he can never revert back to the person he was. He grew such a strong feeling of love
“Around the world 59 million children of primary school age are being denied an education, and almost 65 million adolescents are without access to a secondary school,” (Doc 6). The education received throughout a childhood determines how the future will be for the new generation. Because so many people do not have an education, when they get older, it is damaging their life and the world as a whole. People are denied an education because of where they live, who they are, and how much money they have. In the Victorian Era, for most kids it was a money issue. Less than half the population could not read or write and many children died before they became adults. In the Great Expectations, Pip and many children he lived near had this problem. Although Pip became a gentleman he struggled for he did not receive the proper education for his future.
Ambition is what propels people forward. It is what prevents people from quitting. It is what gives a person the drive and the passion to go after whatever he or she desires. It is what helps an individual to become a superior version of themselves. However, in certain cases, dreams, and aspirations do not always end up beneficial to a person. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald sheds some light on the negative consequences of a person’s pursuit of ambition. The novel displays the havoc caused when an individual’s morals are left unchecked for the pursuit of their material desires.
Dickens was able to encase the reader in the story by touching the reader’s heart. The reader was exposed to poverty, cruelty, and death, as well as many other circumstances that occurred in the story. Dickens used this to help the reader to become involved with the action that occurred with this story. Honestly who would want to read a story that did not try to get a reaction out of the reader? Dickens tries to open the reader to all emotions such as hate than love even being fearful for the future of the characters.
It was very hard trying to decide on which entries to write about, until I got into Mr. William Jacobs conversation with his grandson. It’s the early 1940’s and he’s recovering from a battle injury, when his future Mother in Law dropped in to see him, and to also share some rather intimate detail about her daughter’s health. She told him that when her daughter was a little girl had an operation and the doctor at the time made a mistake, causing her never to be able to have children. Claire’s mother also inquired about his wiliness to adopt children or not. With this information he could have decided not to marry Mrs. Cooper’s daughter, but instead they should married and have children. After their children were grown, and the Jacobs in their golden years. Claire’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s couldn’t stop him from loving her. William took care of Claire till the very end, which I found to be the truly most loving act.
"If they would rather die,…they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
1940 in America brought us Bugs Bunny in “A Wild Hare,” president Franklin Delano Roosevelt for a third term, the discovery of Stone Age paintings, and And Then There Were None. Over the Atlantic in Victorian England circa 1902, Lord Salisbury retired from being Prime Minister, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria were coronated, the Olympic Games were held, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published The Hound of the Baskervilles. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are two top examples of mystery thrillers. They vary in their narrative perspective, style of foreshadowing, tone, and characters. These are all important elements of literature used to enhance the plot.
In the final chapters of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip reconciles with his benefactor Magwitch as well as his brother-in-law, Joe. Magwitch was sent to prison in which Pip makes daily visits. The novel stated, “...I saw him every day…” (Dickens, 438). Pip continued to
Great Expectations The novel Great Expectations is a story written in the 1800’s by an author named Charles Dickens. In this book we follow the main character, Pip through various stages of his life. Throughout his journey he rises to riches, deserts his friends, and realizes his arrogance. Dickens uses the
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens tells the story in the perspective of a young boy growing up in England during the Victorian Era. Philip “Pip” Pirrip is the protagonist, where we discover his life experiences and expectations through his narration. Pip’s sister, Mrs. Joe, and her husband, Mr. Joe, greatly influence his childhood. He meets many people later on who teaches him that not everyone will be happy and what it really means to have “great expectations”. Through Pip’s journey, Dickens suggests that happiness becomes achievable if one learns to accept and fix their flaws.
In the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip, an orphan raised by his cruel sister, Mrs. Joe, and her kindly husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith, becomes very ashamed of his background after a sudden chain of events which drives him to a different social class. Pip's motive to change begins when he meets a beautiful girl named Estella who is in the upper class. As the novel progresses, Pip attempts to achieve the greater things for himself. Overtime, Pip realizes the dangers of being driven by a desire of wealth and social status. The novel follows Pip's process from childhood innocence to experience. He undergoes a contrasting change of character, kind, ambitious and in some cases, immature.
Happiness and Wealth: two words that are both alike and distinct. One without wealth can be happy, one with substantial wealth may not be happy, but one rarely has both. In Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, the main character, Pip, suddenly grows wealthy and rises in class; a common Victorian rags to riches story. However, as his capital increases, his character decreases by acting recklessly and being shameful of his modest upbringing. Additionally, Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter, Estella - born wealthy - are spoiled and don’t contribute anything beneficial to society. Readers are introduced to these major characters early on in the story who personify the upper class by demonstrating how wealth has hindered their maturation. As evident by Dickens’ characters, those who live a lavish upper-class lifestyle are often corrupted by their wealth and growing discontent which causes a gradual deterioration of their character.
Jane Austen is one of the greatest novelists of English Literature. She was born in 1775 at Steventon in Hampshire, in the south of England. Her father was Reverend George Austen, who was a well-educated clergyman and who encouraged Austen both in her reading and her writing. She started writing when she was fourteen, and by her early twenties she was already working on the first versions of some of her novels. She did not write about great events, like the French Revolution or the Napoleonic Wars, both of which happened during her lifetime. Such forces were remote from the restricted world that she depicts. She wrote about what she knew best: the daily business of social visits, romantic affairs, and matchmaking. Her six major novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion) are now classics of English Literature.
In literature, many authors utilize minor characters to significantly add to the meaning of the work. In Great Expectations, three minor characters have important functions, such as serving as a foil to the main character, and adding on to the theme.