Great Expectations Book Review
Great Expectations (1861) is a classic example of Victorian literature of the nineteenth century. Published by Charles Dickens, an outstanding British writer and social critic of that period, it is a thought-provoking novel that explores the themes of social class and standing, personal development, crime, and punishment. Being identified as a novel of education (Schmid, Matthias) by many scholars, the novel follows living of Pip, an orphan of low social standing, from his childhood to maturity, and dwells on the problems of Victorian-era society and living of people owned by different social classes inside. The title of the novel by itself is quite telling, as it reflects the main character’s desire for self-development and the achievement of his expectations about life. After reading the book, I understand why Great Expectations is known as to be one of the most exceptional examples of English literature. Dickens’s command of the English language, along with the way that he masterfully describes the reality of Victorian England with its good and the bad, is extremely efficient and difficult to compare.
The book reads like an autobiography. Pip, the primary protagonist, recounts his life from youth to adulthood, describing just how he matures and develops as an individual and what factors like the class system and his views and ambitions donate to the changes in his thinking and his life. Adult Pip, writing the story of his life after a long time, gives evaluation to every thing his younger self-does: “As I never saw my dad or my mother, rather than saw any likeness of either of these (for their days were long before the times of photographs), my first fancies regarding what these were like were unreasonably produced from their tombstones” (Dickens, Charles). Such subtle commentary through the entire whole book gives the reader a chance to start to see the story from multiple perspectives and visit a clearer picture of the ideas Dickens intended to convey in his novel. At exactly the same time, Dickens, in his known manner, usually addresses the reader in his novel directly: “Pause you who read this, and think for an instant of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would do not have bound you, but for the forming of the first link on one memorable day”(Dickens, Charles). From my point of view, that is an excellent types of writing. The reader immediately feels linked to the story and can think about the way Dickens’ ideas and the conception of the planet can be put on the present time.
The novel, to a great extent, reflects Charles Dickens’ own life. As a child, as a result of his father’s imprisonment and general financial issues, that he was forced to work in a strong which produced boot blacking (Paroissien, David). It was a work young Dickens resented and desired to get away. That he strived for a good education and satisfy his ambitions gaining success in a big city. The season he spent at Warren’s Blacking had a significant affect him and, subsequently, the characters depicted in his books. Dickens drew awareness of the hard lives of poor and neglected young adults, who experimented with survive and reach success in the harsh society of the Victorian era (Paroissien, David). “In the small world by which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, and there's nothing so finely perceived and thus finely felt as injustice. ” (Dickens, Charles) Pip, the main character of Great Expectations, is just a vivid representation of such poor child. Coming from a simple background and growing up, as a young child, under the care of his oppressive sister and her husband, a village blacksmith, he longs to leave the mediocre life of a commoner in the country behind him, and start to become a gentleman of high social status in greater society.
Social class is just a central theme in the novels of Charles Dickens. He addresses a view of the society and the roles of individuals inside, characteristic of a Victorian-era England – the one which implies that people’s identities are based on their origins, particularly by the social class they have been born in to (Iversen, Anniken). In Great Expectations, that he proves it is not so. Through the whole novel, through different characters in numerous situations, the reader discovers that the Victorian beliefs of what society is meant to resemble are entirely unrealistic, and everything is truly upside down. The characters, who represent the high society, such as Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella, do not display the features pertaining to individuals of nobility. Miss Havisham is described as a lady in a marriage dress and only one shoe on her foot, “withered” with “sunken eyes” (Dickens, Charles). Pip, describing Miss Havisham, compares her to a wax-work and a skeleton, thus, making a controversial image of a noblewoman. Her aristocratic status, however , just isn't hereditary, but, rather, brought on by her wealth. In Dickens’ time of writing the novel, the Industrial Revolution made middle classes powerful and promoted massive reforms (Hayfaa, Ahmed). From the elitism of birth, the idea changed to that particular of elitism of individual worth, placing first the “deserving, ” and not the “well-born” (Morris, Pam). The major topic of dominant discourse currently was the concern with wealth and its prominent display (Morris, Pam). Ergo, many characters, central in Dickens’ novels, not having been born to the aristocracy, gain it by business and trade. In Great Expectations, Pip himself is groomed becoming a gentleman through the support of Magwitch, a convicted criminal, rough and uneducated.
Down the road, he assist his friend financially in setting up his business. Estella is a dude at first, raised by Miss Havisham to as unmasked with the story’s progression, turns out be of a humble back ground, even more so than Pip. Such characters oppose nobility in the novel as Magwitch, Biddy, Joe and Mrs. Joe. Biddy, who's a opposite to the elegant and aristocratic Estella, is a simple, kind girl. Joe, who Pip sees only being an uneducated blacksmith, similarly includes a kind heart. Dickens masterfully uses such instances of deep irony to depict the true society of the nineteenth century and teach his readers that the class system can be an illusion. As in his other novels, he encourages reforms by “reviving the conscience of the age” (Hayfaa, Ahmed). One can only conclude, from reading the novel, that social standing does not define the character and the identity of an individual, but, rather, oppresses the average person and undermines his likelihood of self-development.
Great Expectations touches upon the opposition of expectations and reality. Ambitions of an individual born in to poverty and lack of education are met with the harsh reality of the social order. Despite trials and tribulations, mistakes and humiliation, Pip’s aspirations and yearning for greatness do not allow him stop trying in his pursuit of the aristocracy. Upon learning to read, books become his means of escaping the dull reality of his country life. He views his power to read as a sign of his “moral superiority” (Bloom, Harold). That he chooses to forsake his origins, family, and friends, as believes that for him life can be a much more exciting and respectable. That he resents his relations with the people in the village. His sister, Joe, Biddy – in his young age, that he treats these individuals coldly for their simplicity and lack of literacy. He blames his unrefined brother-in-law for his own perceived inferiority: “I wished Joe had been more genteelly mentioned, and then I ought to have been so too. ” (Dickens, Charles) However , from the words of Pip who narrates the story, it's clear that later on, that he feels guilt for his treatment of Joe, who evidently maintained Pip: “Afterward at quiet times when I sat taking a look at Joe and thinking about him, I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe within my heart” (Dickens, Charles).
Last but not least, the novel focuses on the thought of redemption through trials and suffering. By the axioms of the novel of education, “only by reappraising his values can a hero enter upon his final stage of maturity” (Schmid, Matthias). In the novel, the characters in the course of time change their perception of the society they reside in. Time and life teach everyone a lesson. Miss Havisham deeply regrets her way of mentioning Estella and playing with her and Pip’s feelings. Subsequently, Estella admits that putting up with has been “stronger than all other teaching” (Dickens, Charles). Pip involves regret many decisions and choices that he made being an ambitious young boy, since his high hopes and great expectations went largely unmet. That he also must “atone for the evils of the society which has corrupted him, ” giving away his unearned wealth (Hagan, John).
In Great Expectations, Dickens brings to the forefront the issues brought on by the class system: the social roles imposed upon the people and the consequences that the societal preconceptions can lead to. Additionally, it shows the evolution of a person’s beliefs and way of thinking. It's a story of a lifetime spent trying to mold one’s identity according to the rules dictated by society. In my opinion that this book is an excellent supply of wisdom for individuals of different age, social standing or education. It dwells upon the truth of human relations and gives a thought-provoking perspective on the role of class distribution in a person’s life. “I have now been bent and broken, but – I really hope – in to better shape”(Dickens, Charles). This quote effortlessly reflects among the numerous lessons which, to my mind, must certanly be drawn using this exceptional novel. Life gift suggestions a person with a set of trials, and the expectations we create for ourselves don't always coincide with the particular reality. Dickens shows the reader that everything that happens changes anyone for the greater or, the worse, and that fundamentally, one has to strive for greater self-understanding through continuous learning and thought.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Washington Square Press, 1981.
Hagan, John H. “The Poor Labyrinth: The Theme Of Social Injustice In Dickens’s “Great Expectations. ”” Nineteenth-Century Fiction, vol 9, number 3, 1954, pp. 169-178. University Of California Press, doi: 10. 2307/3044305.
Hayfaa, Ahmed. “Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations As A Bildungsroman Novel. ” International Journal Of Research In Humanities And Social Studies, vol 4, number 5, 2017, Sryahwa Publications, doi: 10. 22259/ijrhss. 0405001.
Iversen, Anniken. “Change And Continuity: The Bildungsroman In English. ” ACADEMY OF TROMSØ, 2009.
Morris, Pam. Dickens’s Class Consciousness. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1991.
Paroissien, David. A Companion To Charles Dickens. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Schmid, Matthias. Great Expectations As A Bildungsroman. GRIN Verlag, 2007.
