Theme Of Joe Gargery In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, a young orphaned boy, Pip, is raised by his working class sister and husband in Kent, England. During his upbringing, due to a series of unexpected events, he is given a chance at a better life, creating great expectations for his future. Throughout the novel, Dickens covers the themes of social class, self improvement, and innocence by creating complex relationships between characters and use of irony in situations the characters encounter. One of the more complex relationships in the novel is between Pip, the main character, and Joe Gargery, the husband of Pip’s Sister, Mrs. Joe. Joe and Pip’s relationship is analogous to a mother’s bond with her child, whereas Pip and Mrs. Joe’s relationship is like a father’s bond with his child.

Mrs. Joe and Joe are a working class couple who have taken care of Pip since his parents and other siblings passed. Mrs. Joe claims to have brought Pip up “by hand” (Dickens 6). Mrs. Joe is a very stern women who dickens reveals uses corporal punishment quite often on both Pip and Joe. Her role as the disciplinarian shows that unlike most family archetypes she plays the more fatherly role. Joe, on the other hand, is often more gentle and treats Pip in motherly fashion. When Mrs. Joe comes home enraged because Pip has been gone from home, due to his run-in with the convict, Joe tells Pip that she is mad and has her cane, The Tickler, in an attempt to protect him from Mrs. Joe. Dickens states Pip’s view on Joe, “I always treated him as a larger species of child, and as no more than my equal” (7). Pip and Joe have a mother equal and caring relationship, like a mother and a child. The complexity of their relation is further revealed later in the book after Pips se...

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...ng such must come, and must be met as they come.”

(pg 223).

Joe acts as a mother would when a child has done something wrong. He does not place the blame on Pip but instead places on the temporary division in social class between him and Pip. Even though Pip has done Joe wrong, Joe demonstrates unconditional love for Pip.

Throughout Dickens’ Great Expectations, Joe and Pips relationship changes but never end, because of Joe’s maternal role in Pips life. In normal family set ups in novels, Mrs. Joe would have acted more like Joe. Instead of her more paternal role as the disciplinarian and lock of affection she shows toward Pip. It can be seen throughout the novel that Pip and Joe have a much closer and more intimate relationship with each other than they have with the other characters. This bond could not be broken no matter what adversity each character faced.