Preview

Great Expectations Coming Of Age Quotes

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1320 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Great Expectations Coming Of Age Quotes
Coming of age essay: Pip’s realizations & growth in ‘Great Expectations’
“I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it." (Dickens 64) A child’s journey through adolescence can be affected easily by the words and views of others. At the beginning of the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, we are introduced to a Victorian London era, and more specifically Pip as a child, who eventually experiences a similar situation as he ages. For instance, as a child he has a low social status, is easily convinced, and is ignorant of the meaning of social status in that time period. Additionally, Pip has traits of being caring, humble, and
…show more content…
Thus, this allowed Pip to once again establish traits of guilt and care for others. For instance, Pip expresses joy for his new friends around him that all have successful lives despite his personal dilemma. Contrary to his past, Pip isn’t the sensitive and vulnerable child that he once was before, but he is now mature enough to take hold of these traits instead of letting them go so easily. Furthermore, a kindness is regained by Pip that has been visible since the introduction of the novel where he fed a weak convict. In a sense, Pip has regained control of his life in terms of individuality, and the certain traits that make him an individual are finally helping him determine what really matters in his life; his family and loved ones, not wealth or social class. Although Pip experiences mental growth, he is only faced with more challenges of trying to “fix” his life by reconnecting with loved ones including his childhood friends, his guardian Joe, and the old convict who gave him wealth in the first

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations Pip, the boy who gets rich and then lost it all in the end, everybody can relate too in some way. The first way is Pip like everyone else was a kid, at the beginning of the story Pip is a kid that is somewhere around 7-9 years old and gets older as the book continues. The second way is that Pip desires to better himself like everyone does. The final way is Pip desires to win the heart of someone he loves, but this someone hates…

    • 93 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pip is used by his elders in society. He is constantly manipulated by them and turned into a puppet that is tasked with preforming their bidding. The first example of this is in chapter one of Great Expectations, when The Convict used Pip to obtain goods for his own need. The Convict appeared in the graveyard and grabbed Pip, and said “you get me a file, and you get me some wittles”. He expects that Pip will get him what he wants because of his threatening demeanor, and the threats that he relayed upon him. Another example of this is how Mrs. Havisham uses Pip as a piece of her “sick fantasy”. Mrs. Havisham has Pip come to her house on many occasions to “play” with Estella. Mrs. Havisham claims they are “playing", even though her true intentions…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pip Dialectical Journal

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Shane Sukhlal Joanna Trim English 9 September 18, 2014 Journal on Great Expectations Chapters 1-3 1.Book started by introduction of the narrator,using the first person words such as “I” in the sentence “My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. ”(Dickens,1). 2.Pip reveals most of his family members,who he lives with, and his orphancy. Pip’s mother and father are dead,and he lives with his sister and her husband who’s profession is a blacksmith.…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Before the very beginning of the novel, the conflict of the novel is already set in motion. Pip is an orphan at the start of the novel as his parents were long gone and he lives with his sister, Mrs. Joe, and her husband, Joe, the blacksmith. As a result of the two siblings and the older sibling’s husband living together without any parents, the family was relatively poor. Thus, in addition to Mrs. Joe’s strict attitude and the fact that his status is in the lower class, Pip had a rough childhood. The fact that Pip had a childhood full of hardship and is poor sets up for his later decision to become a gentleman through a secret benefactor. When Pip do decides to leave for a new life in London, he upsets Biddy and especially Joe as he recently became an apprentice of his; their life-long friendship falls apart. This is one of the major decisions Pip has to make and it changed the entire course of the plot as the setting of the story shifts from Pip’s first known home in Kent to…

    • 1322 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Great Expectations Dickens introduces Pip as a weeping boy who is grieving over his dead family in the churchyard, immediately we can see that something is wrong and this is not normal behaviour for a child. Pip is all alone and terrified; the reader senses that something disturbing is about to happen. In the Victorian times many people believed in ghosts and the supernatural, therefore they would have expected disturbing events such as this. However, Pip is not met with ghosts nut instead faces a convict Magwitch.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coming Of Age Quotes

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “We've let the blade of our innocence dull over time, and it's only in innocence that you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage.”(Sean Penn) The character Jem in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is seen dulling his blade of innocence throughout the events in his life. He started out playing games with his sibling/friends then he started to notice the world more and everything that it seemed to be. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Jem is able to come of age through his experiences with many key symbolic events such as his interactions with Boo Radley, Tim Johnson, and Mrs. Dubose.…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, Pip is a young orphan who lives with his sister and brother in law. They lead an impoverished lifestyle off of bits of bread so when Pip is introduced to the lavish lifestyles of Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella, Pip is intrigued. Soon after, Pip falls in love with Estella and decided to abandon his old lifestyle in order to become educated in London. After many years old hard work and dedication,Pip not only leans how to read and write, but he has also gained respect and honor from his peers and fellow friends. Pip is no longer a pauper begging to scraps of food on the streets but an honorable and highly educated man who is now worthy of the beautiful Estella Havisham. Until Pip was able to endure years of hard work did he earn the respect that was withheld from him from the rest of the world.…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Expectations. Having expectations could change one’s life. One can induce change within themselves or it can be influenced by others. This concept is noticeable with Pip, the main character in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Pip is an orphan boy who lives in Kent, England with his abusive sister, Mrs. Joe, and his sympathetic uncle, Joe Gargery. He searches for value as a person in becoming a gentleman and in earning the love of Estella, an orphan adopted by Miss Havisham, a wealthy spinster. Throughout his journey, Pip matures from having innocence to losing innocence, marking his change in character and expectations. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip transforms when he encounters a convict, visits Satis House, and experiences London.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sample Essay Template

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    R - Self fulfilment can enrich one’s life and can cause a shift in social economic status, granting one with new opportunities for a sense of belonging especially/obviously for Pip. Dickens effectively portrays this aspect of belonging, which is true, not only would this character, but universally.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Pip grows up her realizes that life is full of pain and struggle. Pip learns that, “Miss Havisham’s intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only suffered in Satis House as a convenience, a string for the greedy relations, a model with a mechanical heart to practise on when no other practice was at hand...”…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pip of "Great Expectations" is orphaned and is raised by his sister, Mrs. Gargery, who is not especially fond of him, beating him repeatedly with "Tickler." Consequently, Pip spends time alone and visits the graves of his parents in the lonely spot on the marshes. Although his has been a more oppressed life than that of Pip, the convict has grown up without real parents and has been knocked from one spot to another…

    • 2325 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    belonging

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The novel ‘Great Expectations’ is entirely about a boy named Phillip Pirrip who is also known as Pip. It is based on the events that Pip undertakes to gain acceptance and fidelity from Estella.…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    paper

    • 421 Words
    • 1 Page

    wgtqegfawefHaving Great Expectations and actually reaching them are two very different things in regard to Pip. Great Expectations is all about Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. He is constantly expecting, or wishing things to happen, only to be let down over and over. Pip would just assume things, without getting affirmation from anybody, and because of that would then just be let down. Charles Dickens was trying to show what men and women want and work for, and what they get, often end up being extreme opposites. All of the great expectations in this book end up unfulfilled. The title Great Expectations is paradoxical to what events actually play out in Pip’s life, because everything he desires or dreams will be wonderful, only ends up disappointing him. As soon as Pip met Estella, at a young age of seven, he knew that he loved her, and thought she was so beautiful. . Estella however, was terribly “Now, I return to this young fellow. And the communication I have got to make is, that he has Great Expectations.”(153) Having Great Expectations and actually reaching them are two very different things in regard to Pip. During Pip’s lifetime, if you were not a gentleman or a lady, you would not amount to anything. Great Expectations is all about Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. He is constantly expecting, or wishing things to happen, only to be let down over and over. Pip was his own worst enemy. He would just assume things, without getting affirmation from anybody, and because of that would then just be let down. Charles Dickens was trying to show what men and women want and work for, and what they get, often end up being extreme opposites. All of the great expectations in this book end up unfulfilled. The title Great expectations is paradoxical to what events actually play out in Pip’s life, because everything he desires or dreams will be wonderful, only ends up disappointing him.…

    • 421 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    ‘Great expectations’ is a novel written during and set in the Victorian era, a time in which status, class and money were extremely important and where a discrepancy between the rich and poor was evident. The novel follows the ill-fated life of the protagonist in the novel, ‘Pip’. Dickens writes in such a way that each character is a subject of either sympathy or scorn. Dickens implies that Pip is a subject of sympathy through his use of guilt and suffering. Dickens also uses powerful vocabulary to create a poignant image of Pip and his surroundings. The story itself is narrated by middle aged Pip and Dickens intentionally uses him so that we see the story through the perspective of Pip as a child and an adult. Dickens even uses Pip’s name as an indication of his stature and future actions, ‘Pip’ could be seen as a small apple seed that grows into a large tree. As well as ‘pirrip’, a palindrome, being conceived as the word ‘rip’ placed symmetrically symbolising his character ripping into different personalities as he grows.…

    • 1211 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dickens’ Great Expectations portrays the lives of different people throughout various levels of society and how they all react to their own condition. The past is always haunting the characters’ lives and, in most cases, it even determines the course of their future existence. It is inevitable to see in the story how some characters, playing the role of parents, define the lives of others, especially children, causing indelible consequences. Thus parents must not mold children after their own purposes and expect them to be someone different from whom they truly desire to be. This is one of the major mistakes we see in the novel made by characters such as Miss Havisham and Magwitch, who pretend to outline the lives of others.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays