An Outcast In Charles Dickens 'Great Expectations'

The Expectations of An Outcast

Not many people can say that they have experienced the same economic and social trials as Charles Dickens has. In the Victorian novel, Great Expectations, Dickens tells the transformational story of a young boy named Pip who starts as an outcast but eventually gets brainwashed by society’s ideals and expectations for a gentleman. As an adolescent, Pip is a common child who lives with his abusive sister and her affable husband. Eventually, as he grows, Pip is deluded by the thought that fortune can make a person better and elevates a person’s worth. In Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, Pip is held by the restraint of Victorian society when certain events in his life make him desire a luxurious lifestyle

For example, When Pip acquires great affluence from his benefactor, Pip 's relationship with joe transforms instantaneously. Pip now has his "great expectations" and his bitterness makes him ashamed to be connected to someone who is a common laborer. Jaggers advises Pip to change his appearance: “Whatever I acquired, I tried to impart on Joe. I want to make Joe less ignorant and common, then he but much more worthy in my society” (Dickens 102). The impression that Pip does not want people to perceive him as common just like Joe, further contributes to the distaste that a reader may have for his character. . Joe and Pip’s relationship is put at risk by the primary factor of his transformation into a benefactor. “Fine I should have some new clothes come in and they should not be working clothes. Say this day week. You’ll want some money” (Dickens 131). Jagger’s demanding tone show how he is onerous and getting to the objective which is that he wants Pip to stand out throughout his life in essence. Pip parting from the people who made him show how he is not the person he used to be and makes him want to live an utterly different