Wrapping Up Great Expectations

After reading Great Expectations, there are many themes that could be taken out of it. Which theme is the most important is completely a matter of opinion. Personally, I think the most important theme is this: appreciate what you have because you won't realize how great it is until it's gone. This is an idea I think that virtually anyone can relate to. Almost everyone has had an experience where they had something great, but they didn't know how special it was because they were too busy longing for something else. And by the time they'd noticed how amazing it was, it was too late and it was gone (like Pip, wishing so desperately to be a gentleman that he didn't see just how great his life with Joe was until all his ties to home were broken). I think that I identified with this theme very strongly because this is a lovely little life lesson that I seem to keep having to revisit. While I was reading, I can't say that it really jumped out at me immediately. But once I began to think about it, and tired to find something meaningful in this story that I could relate to. This by far overpowered themes like keeping those you love close to you, or monetary wealth is no substitute for happiness because those seem like obvious, regular life no brainers. But appreciating what you've got while you've got it is something people genuinely struggle with, and can be a very hard learned lesson. So I think readers, if they are going to take anything away from Dickens' novel, should take Pip's struggle with this idea to heart and learn to love what they have and not spend time pining over what they can't and/or don't have.

Thoughts on Reading

To be honest, I did not enjoy Great Expectations. I wasn't particularly compelled to read to book to solve the mysteries. I didn't care all that much. Dickens' style of writing was much too drawn out and wordy for my taste. And part of why I didn't like it all that much is that I felt no sympathy or connection with Pip, and I think it's important to have that with the main character of a novel. I thought that he was just shallow and overly obsessed with silly things (like Estella; she was terrible to him and he let her basically control his life after meeting her once). Little of the reading actually stuck because it was just so dull. After I did my reading, I had to check Sparknotes almost immediately after just to remember what happened. That website was a life saver; without it, I probably would have had to reread all of the chapters at least twice.

Because I was so tired of Dickens' novel, reading and annotating was difficult. I tried to read every night, but that usually consisted of me glossing over the chapters after reading the first few paragraphs. I had to do a lot of catch-up reading on weekends, too.During the week, I'd be so busy with other homework, I would completely forget about reading the next few chapters. I woke up around 5:00 on a few occasions to finish the reading (which was not fun at all, especially considering my lack of coffee). I can't say that Great Expectations had compelled me to read any more Dickens stories. My family had warned me that it was slow and dull, but I had no idea it would be this bad. Maybe this is only my opinion because I'm too young to appreciate sophisticated writing... but I can't see myself voluntarily rereading this book or any of his others in my lifetime.

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.

Great Expectations Question

When Pip comes home in chapter two, and Mrs. Joe is about to come in, Joe says, "She's a-coming! Get behind the door, old chap, and have the jack-towel betwixt you."
I have two questions: one, what is a jack-towel? And what does 'betwixt' mean (because it is used a few more times over the course of the novel so far)?

The Importance of Being Earnest Essay Collaberation

Body Paragraph:

Lady Bracknell cares for nothing more than her image as an aristocrat. While interrogating Jack to decide if he is good enough for her only daughter, she asked where he lives. In response to his answer, she says, “The unfashionable side. I thought there was something,” (Act I). She had seemed perfectly pleased with all of his answers until something that could affect his social status is mentioned. She is so concerned with keeping her family’s image intact, she is willing to risk her own daughter’s happiness. Not only does she look down on Jack for being on the “unfashionable side,” but also because his family origins are a mystery to him. After meeting Cecily, she asks Jack, “…is Miss Cardew connected with any of the larger railway stations in London? I merely desire information. Until yesterday I had no idea that there were any families or persons whose origin was a Terminus,” (Act III). Lady Bracknell feels the need to mock his less-than-certainty about his family’s history to makes a point about their difference in class because she is positive that her family has a high class history. In her mind, because Jack could have come from a very poor family as easily as a wealthy one, he is not worth her daughter’s time. Lady Bracknell yet again displays her prominent lack of respect for anyone who isn’t rich when she is speaking to Jack about Cecily. She is unsure whether or not she is good enough for her nephew, Algernon, until Jack tells her that Cecily has 130,000 pounds in funds to which she says, “A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in funds! Miss Cardew seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her,” (Act III). Cecily’s fortune makes her nearly a millionaire by today’s standards, which forces Lady Bracknell to bite her tongue and keep back her insults. She wouldn’t dare risk keeping Algernon from marrying into that amount of money. It shows just how much money means to her… and apparently it means everything. In her mind, who needs family, love, and happiness when you can have secure funds and power?

I didn't make many changes to my body paragraph, but I think I repeat a lot of words. Could you tell me if anything is too repetitive?