Pip's Quote (Repost)

 *The first time I posted this, it didn't show up on my blog, so here's the retyped, reposted version :)

"Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

With this quote, Pip is saying that one decision can alter a life completely. One good or bad choice will lead to an entire string of events that only happen because of the influence of that first decision. For the first nine chapters, Pip is content with his life (if you ignore his sister's screaming, being force-fed tar water, and being attacked with "Tickler"). All he wants is to grow up and live an honest life as a blacksmith like his father-figure and friend, Joe. He's proud to be taken care of by Joe, who he sees as being incredibly wise and trust worthy and a good person to look up to. That is, until his entire perspective on his situation is warped. After meeting Estella and Miss Havisham, Pip becomes humiliated because of his home life. All because one little girl ridicules him to the point where he feels an immense sense of shame toward everyone he once cared for; for a future he was proud to have in store for him. Although Pip is maturing and beginning to see that the world is harsh and not everything turns out the way you picture it as a child, he also loses his endearing qualities. He becomes shallow and values people for their social class, not their characteristics. Slowly, the sweet, easy to relate to boy morphs into a superficial adolescent with no ambition that doesn't involve being a rich and sophisticated.

A day that stands out to me as altering my life happened semi recently. At the end of seventh grade to half way through this past summer, I was completely dominated by what other people were doing. I was constantly concerned with having people I barely knew like me, and I followed around some of my new... friends like an adoring puppy to ensure that people liked me. This lead to me distancing myself from my close, genuine friends. It wasn't until two of my best friends (and by best friends I mean people that I'd only know for 9 or 10 months) abandoned me for no obvious reason and my old friends stepped in immediately to pick up the pieces that I realized I needed to stop. I had to stop being obsessed with having a clique of people (I hardly knew that weren't even all the nice) accept me into their inner circle. Sure, at the time everything seemed like rainbows and unicorns, but in retrospect that bad outweighed the good. When it was good, it was great but when it was bad, it was so bad that I would dwell for months on what happened. The lows of the up and down roller coaster that my life turned into were miserable, which hardly made up for the good times. I realized this while I was in tears because of everything that was going on (I'll spare the details). One of my friends who I hadn't spoken to in weeks because of what happened put aside my behavior and comforted me. Knowing that I had people who cared that much about me, whether or not I did something to aggravate them, made me hate what I was turning into. So I started trying to get close to people who I legitimately related to and whose company I enjoyed. I especially made sure that these were people who were kind to me all the time, not just when other people weren't around. And I realized that I was happier this way. And after a year of being constantly surrounded by petty, dramatic problems that got completely blown out of proportion, staying true to myself (pardon my blatant cliche) has made me a lot happier.

Making Connections

The books Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee held some surprising similarities once the thought of them being related crossed my mind. Although Great Expectations has a much longer time span than To Kill a Mockingbird, both books have a similar theme of growing up and losing childhood innocence.

When Pip is a young child, despite living with a mildly abusive older sister, is a generally happy child who can't wait to grow older and work with his guardian and best friend Joe as a blacksmith. Scout also begins the novel as a carefree little tomboy who just wants to play games and whose biggest concern is her neighbor, Boo Radley. But throughout the novels, both Pip and Scout mature and go through experiences that change their attitudes toward life.

Upon meeting the harsh, but entrancingly beautiful Estella and the withered, bitter Miss Havisham, Pip forgets his dream of becoming a common blacksmith and instead becomes quite interested in the life of a gentleman. As he slowly gets older, he altogether abandons his home and loved ones to move to the dirty and disappointingly dark city of London. Scout witnesses the case, trial, and conviction of a local man, Tom Robinson, and her happy-go-lucky view on life gets increasingly darker as she sees how harsh the world can be. She even goes through a feeling of severe disappointment like Pip does when she sees Tom Robinson being convicted when he's obviously innocent.

So both of the novels protagonists go through a similar experience... seeing a once cheerful and promising world for what it is: a place that can be very cruel, dark, and disappointing.

*My computer won't allow me to post images along with my blogs :(

Second Stage, Becoming a Gentleman

In the second stage of Great Expectations, Pip's life takes a new course when he arrives in London to pursue his new found dream of rising from his place as a blacksmith's apprentice and becoming a gentleman. Although, sadly, his hopes of entering into a high class city of aristocrats who will help mold him into what he hopes to become, he finds a dark, dirty, and mildly depressing city that I doubt is what he was hoping to see. Upon his arrival, he narrates, "While I was scared by the immensity of London, I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty." (161). Apparently, Dickens' opinion on that particular city and it's aristocratic reputation was less than high. The reader can infer that he felt living as one of  the "upper class" wasn't all it was cracked up to be... that it was instead rather gloomy.

Pip has high hopes for his new life in London, thanks to a mysterious benefactor who is willing to sponsor his ambition. After being around people such as Miss Havisham and Estella, how could one be happy living the life of a rough blacksmith? Becoming a gentleman is a common theme throughout this novel.But now that the opportunity is being presented to him, it seems like his dreams of living a pampered, proper life are becoming less and less of a reality. His new surroundings (such as the dank, filthy Bernard's Inn he's living in) and the new people that are surrounding him (i.e. the menacing, impolite, cruel Mr. Jaggers) give the reader a clear idea of what becoming a gentleman (at least in Dicken's mind) really entailed: a joyless, cruel, and unfulfilling life of living in a twisted, ominous city.