Forgiveness In Dickens' Great Expectations

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Forgiveness In Dickens' Great Expectations

Miriam A felt completely choleric. She just could not forgive her husband's apologies anymore. Almon B was a drunkard. When he came home intoxicated, he was always extremely apologetic and told her that he'd never get drunk again. Miriam now knew that Almon was not really repentant. She could forgive him until she was blue, but unless Almon truly repented, their marriage would not work. Forgiveness is an important aspect in the family as well as in society, which is built on the family. In Charles Dickens' peerless novel called Great Expectations, many characters find it easy to pardon others, but some have to learn to forgive. Dickens uses the characters in his novel to illustrate how in society forgiveness is a desideratum to bring about peace and harmony.

One character in the novel who lives a very serene life because of his great ability to forgive is Joe Gargery. Ever since he was a child, Joe demonstrated his amazing quality of forgiveness. He grew up having a father who was an alcoholic. When Joe's dad came home, he would beat Joe and his mother and they would run away. When they were away from Joe's dad, Joe would start school but his dad would always find his stray family, pull Joe out of school, and bring them home. For this reason, Joe lived most of his life an illiterate man. He could have been very angry and resentful about this, but Joe justified his father's actions which caused his illiteracy by saying that he pulled him out of school because he loved him. Joe shows "his natural virtue in the sincere quality of forgiveness in the epitaph he wrote for his dad."1 It said, "Whatsume'er the failings on his part, remember reader he were that good in ...

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1O. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc., 1980) 208.

11. Great Expectations, 347.

12. Jenkin, 69.

13. Great Expectations, 348.

14. The NIV Study Bible, ed. Kenneth Barker, et al, (Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1985) II Corinthians 2:7.

15. Jenkin, 70.

16. Great Expectations, 35.

17. Great Expectations, 35.

18. Great Expectations, 35.

19. Jenkin, 70.

2O. Colossians 3:13.

21. Jenkin, 87.

22. Miller, 257.

23. Miller, 257.

24. Miller, 258.

25. Miller, 257.

26. Charles Dickens, The Letters of Charles Dickens, ed. Laurence Hutton (New York: Bigelow, Brown, and Co., 1893) 279.

27. Dickens wrote many moving letters to friends and family besides the one quoted in the text. Check out The Letters of Charles Dickens (n. 26) for further reading.

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