Women's Role in the Influence of Pip in Great Expectations Throughout the novel “Great Expectations”, we meet several interesting characters, each with their own unique way of affecting the life of the character in which the story is circulated around. This very character, known as Pip, has the displeasure of having to deal with three of such characters from a very young and vulnerable age. The fact that these three characters are all female, and incredibly cruel individuals at that, certainly would not help a growing male child in having a very good image of women as he gets older. It is, in fact, a wonder why Pip does not grow up to despise every woman he meets. One of the three women that Pip is influenced by is that of Mrs Joe Gargery, a woman who makes her blacksmith husband seem tiny in comparison to her temper. She is a woman who has had a series of unfortunate events, the worst being taking her little brother under her own care after the death of their parents. This being the case, Mrs Joe seems convinced that Pip should worship her, because he is - after all - a burden – “Who brought you up……And why did I do it, I should like to know?” She often says that Pip should not be “Pompeyed”, meaning he should given no privileges. This gives the reader the impression that Mrs Joe does not allow her little brother to be a child, even though he is. However, the reader is in a way inclined to feel for her because she did not have to take Pip in, but did, albeit reluctantly. The thought of being brought up “by hand” - as Mrs Joe so often puts it - also makes Pip think that she bullied her husband into marrying her by hand. This suggests that Pip is slightly intimidated by her and seems to fear her to some extent. Pip is even further intimidated by “tickler” – the object used on Pip when he Mrs Joe feels she needs to
One must not question the wisdom of the omnipotent mother figure. The phrase 'She loves him.' is repeated. This act of loving is seen as protecting, insulating the child. In much the same way, our consumer culture cushions reality.... ... middle of paper ...
effort and that she's doing him a favour. She makes Pip feel he is a
When Pip is on the road to becoming a gentleman, many thoughts of negativity towards others are established in him. Pip feels he has more power over people who are in a lower social class than him. When Joe, Pip's brother-in-law, comes over to London to visit Pip, Pip thinks, "I could hardly have imagined dear old Joe looking so unlike himself or so like some extraordinary bird" (100). Joe's appearance and poor manners disgust Pip, which displays how Pip is being domineering over a person t...
Books with morals were a good way to criticise the social system and so bring abut a more just system. This was because there were no TV’s, no radios or internet to inform people so the majority read. During Pips early years he and Joe share a relationship based on love and trust, like father and son or two brothers. They are united in their suffering because of the cruel Mrs Joe. For example she gives them both horrible tar water to drink.
Pip gets in trouble at Christmas time. He gets hit with “The Tickler” which was a sarcastic name for a paddle.
Besides indirectly characterizing Joe, the quote illuminates the changes in Pip, and how dynamic he is as a character. The book starts out with Pip as a young boy of about six or seven years. And then he meets Estella and grows into a miserable, discontent, unthankful boy who desperately wants to get away from his fate of being a blacksmith and from being, “coarse and common” as Estella calls him during their first meeting. From that point onwards, he devotes his life to becoming a “gentleman,” because of his obsessive, blinding love towards her. “I am not at all happy as I am. I am disgusted with my calling and with my life...see how I am going on. Dissati...
Pip encounters all of the influential people in his life during his childhood. The first and most obvious are his family. Mrs. Joe and Joe Gargery, Pip’s sister and brother-in-law, are the only family that Pip has ever known. Mrs. Joe Gargery is Joe’s wife and Pip’s only living relative. She is a very domineering woman who is always punishing Pip for something. Joe is like a father to Pip, who goes to Joe with all of his problems and worries. They are always truthful with each other and protect each other from Mrs. Joe when she is on the rampage. Despite the fact that Joe is an adult, he is also Pip’s only real friend during his childhood. Joe is the most loyal person in Pip’s life.
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed.
Pip didn’t know his parents, thus there love and comfort, he never felt. In the absence of parents there are plenty of people who tell Pip what to do, to bully him, in a self-satisfied, self-enhancing way, but there is no one to shield him or guide him, or give him the special kind of love that he seeks. Dickens’ child characters were impeded emotionally in some way: Most of his child heroes and heroines are born sound in their physical form, but a loving home is what they most obviously lack and need. Pip had his wicked sister as a mother figure, thus the warmth and love a stereotypical modern-day mother would give was absent. However, Pip didn’t feel pain for having this hole in his life, because he had never felt the power of unconditional love before. Pip was an orphan. Orphans were one of Dickens' favourite subjects; what could be more crippling emotionally, than not experiencing the support of a mother and father? Pip’s sister, Mrs. Joe, didn’t make this loss much easier. Although they had both lost their parents, Mrs. Joe, never openly displayed any grief for losing her parents and five brothers. Consequently, she complained about having to bring Pip “by hand” and dealt with him physically (with the Tickler) and emotionally. Mrs. Joe talked about him openly as if he had no thoughts or feelings of his own. But, Pip still had some bright...
Joe Gargery is married to Pip's sister, Mrs. Joe. Although Mrs. Joe treats Pip with resentment and constantly reminds him that he is a burden, Joe is a loyal friend and ally to Pip. Joe loves and supports Pip even when Pip is ashamed and abandons him. In Pip's childhood, Joe is the only one who shows him love. Their relationship is based more in equality than of father/son which allows Pip to ask questions and experience some sort of communication with another person. Mrs. Joe treats Pip harshly and never shows him any love. Pip eventually becomes embarrassed of Joe and his home.
When he first learns about his new found wealth he starts wavering between being snobbish and feels guilty over being so. He lets the tailor grovel over him, but he tries to comfort Joe, though not whole-heartily as Biddy points out. Pip waivers like this throughout the second part of the novel. He is acting how he thinks he should, in accordance to the way Estella and Miss Havisham indirectly taught him, even though this is in contrast to his kind nature. When Joe comes to London for a visit is when this is most apparent. Pip hates Drummle and yet he thinks of how Drummle would look down on Joe, look down on Pip for being associated with him. But Pip also is embarrassed for Joe to see how lavishly he lives. He again is wavering between being what he thinks he should be, and his own conscious. The entirety of the novel is told from the perspective of an older Pip, who does not always look back on his actions kindly. When Joe comes to visit the narrator thinks back on his shame of Joe, now in hindsight only feeling shame for his actions towards Joe saying “God help
Joe's actions are those of a true gentleman. For example, Joe defends Mrs. Joe from Orlick even though he is scared of Orlick himself: "What could the wretched Joe do now...but stand up to his journeyman...so, without so much as pulling off their singed and burnt aprons, they went at one another, like two giants" (773). Joe is intimidated by Orlick and by Joe defending Mrs. Joe from Orlick shows that Joe has courageousness. Joe is a benevolent person by stepping up to Orlick to help Mrs. Joe. In addition, Joe pays off Pip's debts and Pip finds "a receipt for which they had been paid off" (899). Joe paying off Pip's debts shows he is a helpful and caring person. Joe is being considerate by helping Pip become debt-free. It is ironic that Joe helps Pip because Pip hasn't been a considerate person to Joe but he helps Pip regardless.
In the first stage of Great Expectations, Pip begins as a contented boy, happy with his own way of life, but soon becomes humiliated by the ones he loves, and starts to morph into someone who is very status-conscious. At the start, Pip looks up to Joe, and even says, “Joe and I (were) fellow-sufferers…” showing that Pip regarded Joe as an equal (Dickens 7). At this stage in Pip’s life, he has not yet realized what social class is, and so he is perfectly happy being with Joe. Joe and Pip are good friends at this point, and Pip really appreciates him as a person. This all changes after Pip’s first visit with Estella, especially when he says, “Her contempt for me was so strong that it became infectious, and I caught it,” showing that he is beginning to take into account other people’s thoughts about himself (62). Although Estella looks down upon Pip for being ‘common’, there is irony in his statement, because Estella comes from an even lower class than him. Throughout the whole novel, Pip tries to impress her, thinking that she is well above him, when she is actually the daughter of a convict. Finally, Pip shows betrayal to Joe when he says, “I was truly ...
In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Joe is the closet thing Pip has to a brother and father figure in his life. Because Pip’s parents passed when Pip was very young, Pip’s new parents are his strict, unmaternal mother and her husband, Joe, who was“brought up by hand” alongside Pip (8). Joe is described in the book as a “mild, good-natured, sweet tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow” with a “smooth face” and “eyes of such a very undecided blue” (8). Joe is seen more as a brother than a father to Pip because of his kind temperament and childlike attitude. Mrs. Joe is the least kind and forgiving person in the eyes of young Pip. Not only does Mrs. Joe beat and terrorize Pip, but she also beats her husband, Joe. This causes Mrs. Joe
First, Pip is ambitious to become a gentleman in order to be worthy of Estella 's love. Pip is a young boy and is being raised by his sister. When his sister, Mrs. Joe, forces him to go to a stranger’s house he does not ask questions. Pip 's first