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.