Pip's Perceptions

Pip’s Perceptions
Pip’s changing perceptions of himself, the world, and the people he interacts with are affected by various characters throughout Stage One of the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. In this section of the story, Pip’s life is centered upon the Forge and the Satis House. The characters in these settings alter and shape his developing character and paradigms of the world by either nurturing and caring for him, treating him without regard to his feelings, or by exposing him to how different people perceive contentment. The characters that most directly affect his perceptions are Joe and Biddy, Mrs. Joe and his Uncle Pumblechook, and Miss Havisham and Estella.
Joe and Biddy shape Pip’s perceptions by nurturing him in an
Joe and Uncle Pumblechook’s characters influence the way Pip feels about himself by treating him without respect or regard to his thoughts. The way Mrs. Joe establishes her dominance within the family, by constantly beating and dragging down both Joe and Pip, makes Pip lose confidence in his ability to speak and stick up for himself: “... nor because I was not allowed to speak (I didn’t want to speak)... No; I should not have minded that if they would only have left me alone” (19). Pip ponders these things during the Christmas dinner while he is constantly bombarded with a barrage of mean, ruthless, and unfounded accusations throughout the night, but is too intimidated by Mrs. Joe and the other elders to oppose and expose the faults in their comments about him. The perception of worthlessness is engraved into his personality, through this constant downsizing and unfounded scolding, so deeply that he himself doesn’t believe in his words and thinks they would mean nothing if he spoke up. Uncle Pumblechook does much of the same as Mrs. Joe and uses questions along with these comments to make Pip see himself as inferior and comparatively worthless. During a visit with Uncle Pumblechook, he asks Pip some arithmetic questions: “On my politely bidding him Good morning, he said, pompously, ‘Seven times nine, boy?’ And how should I be able to answer, dodged in that way, in a strange place, on an empty stomach!” (41). Uncle Pumblechook asks Pip right away because he knew Pip wouldn’t be able to solve it. Pumblechook humiliates Pip and puts himself at a higher level by utilizing the knowledge he has over Pip and performs his sick, sly methods of putting people down, always acting as the catalyst for Mrs. Joe to scold Pip. This creates the perception inside of Pip that he is worthless and stupid, further decreasing his confidence in himself. Both of these characters actions toward Pip create the perceptions of inferiority and worthlessness, as if nothing he says