The Little Big Man in Great Expectations :: Free Great Expectations Essays

The Little Big Man in Great Expectations Many people grow small trying to grow big. This idea appears prominently throughout the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This critical lens means that as a person tries to better them self, that have to be careful to be true to their values or they will become what they despise. This is a story about a boy who falls in love with a girl from a higher class. It seems as if these two could never really be together. Yet by some turn of events he gets a chance to rise to her status but there are many complications. In the beginning Pip, the main character, is happy and very content with his life. He is kind, caring, polite, generous, and companionate. Then everything changes when he meets Estella. She makes Pip miserable. She taunts and belittles him by making fun of his appearance and calling him "common." All the while, she is leading him on to make him suffer even more. Despite all this Pip, obsesses over Estella. It disturbs him the most to think that he and Estella could never be together as partners. For the first time he is dissatisfied with his life. After a year, Pip leaves to become a blacksmith, at the forge. To make matters worse, Estella leaves town for London so that she can learn to be a lady. With this separation always on his mind, Pip tries to go back to living his normal life; but he can't get the idea out of his head that he is a simpleton and that he is going to lead an insignificant life. Years later through some strange twist of fate, Pip becomes endowed with "great expectations" and is given an opportunity to go to London. Since Pip wanted to win Estella, he decides to make himself a gentleman. He thinks that this choice will make him important or big but that is far from the truth. Pip leaves his home and family where he once was taught about hard work, trust, truth, and love. He realizes later that the things he had learned discredit his idea that being a gentleman makes him more significant.