Early on in the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, we can see that the protagonist, Pip, can be very impressionable. Pip has lived all of his life being told that he asks too many questions and isn't grateful for his sister raising him "by hand" and is told that he is a very bad child for doing so. Here, we find Pip running home to steal various items for the convict he just met and he can't stop worrying about getting caught. “…I felt fearfully sensible of the great convenience that the Hulks were handy for me. I was clearly on my way there. I had begun by asking questions, and I was going to rob Mrs. Joe.” At a young age, many children can be easily convinced to believe something simply by being in a certain environment and adjusting to it as the "norm". Because Pip has been told all his life that he is a terrible child, he believes that he asks too many questions in life there is almost no other option for him in life than to end up in jail. He even sees as having to go to the Hulks as a convenience that he already knows what will become of him. Had Pip not been verbally abused by his family all his life, he would more than likely have a brighter outlook on his future. He wouldn't be viewing his life as negatively as he is now. We also see how impressionable Pip is by his first encounter with Estella. Estella looks down upon Pip, saying that he is very common, has coarse hands, boots that are too thick, and he uses incorrect terms in card games. Pip never before thought poorly of his class status, but after leaving Estella's company, he can not stop thinking about how he needs to change himself and be something greater than what he is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
hey boy wuz crackin'?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your claim. I also think that Pip's self confidence problem is causing him to accept the fact that all these people are mean to him- Mrs. Joe, Pumblechuck, Estella, and Ms. Havisham- and that what they tell him is true. When Estella tells him that he is just a common boy, and has dirty hands, and worn down boots, instead of getting angry with her for being mean to him, Pip cries about it a little, but blames himself. This is because ever since he was a baby, Pip was being told that he was good for nothing and wouldn't amount to anything. Despite how many times the good influences in his early life (Joe, Biddy) told him he was good enough, and he would amount to something, Pip never believed them, that was until he got money. Because he thought this money was from Ms. Havisham, he immediately felt like he was good enough, and as we can see when Joe visits him, like he is better than others. This is a dramatic change that occurs because Pip gains confidence. Although he was abused both verbally and physically, Pip was a nicer person in his early life. His confidence worked against him, and he ended up becoming the bully.
ReplyDelete