To what extent is Joe’s influence a help or a hindrance to Pip’s

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To what extent is Joe’s influence a help or a hindrance to Pip’s

development?

In Great Expectations, the character of Joe is portrayed upon the

reader as the comical but also sensitive grown-up figure towards Pip.

Much of Joe’s upbringing was simple. As a result he lacks the

intelligence to question the moral values that he was taught as a

child. “There’s one thing you may be sure of Pip, said Joe, after some

rumination, namely that lies is lies. How sever they come, they didn’t

ought to come, and they come from the father of lies, and work round

to the same. Don’t you tell no more of ‘em Pip” Due to this he does

not have the same moral dilemmas that most people have. Joe’s

innocence is then passed onto Pip who is the closet thing to a son

that he will ever have. This innocence that Joe aspires can be

considered a good thing, which aids Pip’s moral development, but it

can also be considered a hindrance to Pip’s personal growth and his

self-esteem.

In a way, much of the story comes across with Joe acting more like a

child with Pip than a father. “I always treated him as a larger

species of child, and as no more than my equal.” Because of Pip’s lack

of proper parents when he was young and Joe’s lack of love from Mrs

Joe Gargery, the two of them form a strong bond with each other as

both of them share the same treatment by Mrs Joe Gargery. “Joe and I

being fellow sufferers and having confidences as such, Joe imparted a

confidence to me…” As a result of this bond Joe’s personality is then

somehow absorbed by Pip as Pip portrays a typical childlike quality in

which he is easily influenced by those around him.

Joe’s influence to Pip can come across as a positive outlook on Pip as

Pip learns to respect others and their wishes as well as himself, but

also not to retaliate and lower himself to someone else’s level if

they provoke him. “She says many hard things of you, yet you say

nothing of her. What do you think of her? I don’t like to say, I

stammered.” In this quote, Pip refuses to tell Miss Havisham what he

thought of Estella, because he did not want to create any more tension

than there already was. This then backs up my point as its

illustrating Pip’s control over his emotions due to Joe’s influence

over Pip’s social behaviour.

On the other hand, Joe’s influence can also be established as a form

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