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 :(
I totally agree on where you can see the similarities. I never thought about related it to this book actually until I read your post. I see the similarities between Pip's and Scout's lives and how they both mature.
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