Power In Great Expectations By Charles Dickens

Power; “The ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as faculty or quality.” and “The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.” Power is a concept that appears in daily life. Since power allows oneself to control something, it is very hard to let go of that entitlement, leading others to feel victimization. People rarely relinquish power.

If one possesses power, that person or group does what it takes to secure that the power is theirs. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens this concept is shown throughout the book. Pip, the main character and a young gentleman is back in his home town and staying at an inn where he hopes nobody will recognize him. The innkeeper entertains

Pip was contacted by a mysterious benefactor and was given the opportunity to become a gentleman, which is a higher social class compared to what Pip was before. Almost instantly, Pip takes the offer and moves to London to have a better life. In this process, Pip drops his only father figure, Joe. Joe brought Pip up even though Joe is Pip’s older sister's husband, and was not required to do it. Not only was Joe Pip’s father figure, Joe was Pip’s best friend. Pip left him in an instant, no real goodbye, and has not visited or kept in touch since his new life. He even thinks of Joe as lower than himself now that he is a gentleman. Although Pip recently acknowledges that what he did to Joe was wrong, he will not give up his life of being a gentleman, which is the wedge between Pip and Joe, to try and repair the horrible broken relationship, no matter how much Joe did for Pip. When offered an opportunity to become a higher social class or get more money, it is easy to get tunnel vision. All one sees if the end; more money/fame/overall better. This tunnel vision can make a person toss aside their old life, forgetting about the things that matter to them now, and not looking at the consequences later. It is easy to get greedy and blindsided, and it is even harder to step down from this place of power/higher, more luxurious