The Effects Of Poverty In Great Expectations By Charles Dickens

Over 14.5% of Americans are in poverty and affected by what poverty causes. Throughout the novel, Great Expectations is about a boy named Pip coming of age and meeting people along his way of becoming a gentleman and learning life lessons. Charles Dickens looks at the effects of poverty negatively and during the novel it illustrates how many people of poverty struggled, but the rich got to live lavishly and didn't care for the poor. Furthermore, poverty is a big issue of our modern day society and numerous people in the United States are at risk to health issues or other problems due to poverty. Dickens would feel horrible for the people in poverty because there's still the same issues today as there were in the Victorian Era. In light of the
Magwitch is talking to Pip after Pip finds out Magwitch is his benefactor and the reason for his wealth and becoming a gentleman. Magwitch says, “It warn’t easy, Pip, for me to leave them parts, not yet it warn’t safe. But I held to it, and the harder it was, the stronger I held, for I was determined, and my mind firm made up” (Dickens 322-323). The convict explains how difficult the task was to get the money for Pip, and how determined he was to complete the deed and repay Pip for his generosity on the marshes. Dickens would think people of poverty have a hard time finding a job or trying to gain money and has sympathy for them. In the novel, Magwitch had trouble finding and earning money and in the article, it illustrates how people of poverty struggle to make a living and it affects interactions with children. Guo and Harris of the Department of Sociology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill proclaim, “ In particular, economic hardship diminishes parents’ ability to interact with and socialize children in ways that are beneficial to their well-being. For example, there is evidence that poverty, income loss, and unemployment reduce parents’ responsiveness…” (431). Having trouble finding a job, making money, or just economic struggles for a poor person can affect a parents’ connection with their child along with their relationship with them. Being poor, unemployed and lack an income can cause parent relationships with a child to break. Dickens would feel heartbroken for poor people not being able to make a living. Not having money and in Magwitch's case trying to get money is a struggle and pushes people away. Dickens would be critical on how poverty causes not finding a