Great Expectations tells the story of Pip and his expectations about life love and himself being
Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, and his expectations about life, love, and himself: being very young and after his parents death, he ended up living with his sister, an ill-tempered woman who raised him “by hand”. While visiting his parent’s tombstones, Pip is surprised by Magwitch, a convict escaped from a prison hulk, who threatens Pip for food and a file. ... Later, circumstances led Pip to be invited to play at the mansion of a very rich Lady, Miss Havisham. There he meets the Lady’s adoptive daughter, Estella, a beautiful, proud, and cold-hearted girl about his age, to which he falls in love immediately. That encounter ignites his desire to become a gentleman that would be worthy of her, and is the start of his great expectations. Pip’s fortune changes when he is informed that an anonymous benefactor had made available a considerable amount of money for him, that he is to be relocated to London, and be educated to become a gentleman. Years pass and Pip learns that his secret benefactor is Magwitch, who made a fortune in exile, and not Miss Havisham, as he always suspected. ... Eventually, Pip loses his fortune and becomes a hard-working merchant. ... Great Expectations is a novel about broken hearts, broken illusions, and friendship. Pip’s life is used to describe and criticize several aspects about the live in 19th Century England such as child abuse, social classes, and the judicial system. Dickens uses Pip to narrate the story in the first person as an effective way to convince the reader about the feelings, thoughts and sufferings the character endures through the novel. Anyone who has ever experienced what Pip relates, will find himself or herself identified in those pages, and will be compelled to keep reading. The vocabulary used by Dickens is rich and clear, and grows in sophistication as the novel progresses, reflecting Pip’s growth through the years.