Great Expectations is...Realistic?

     Even if you are only one hundred pages into the more than 600 page novel, Great Expectations, anyone can tell that the book is completely and totally strange.  Let's be honest, we met a character who has had her wedding dress on for years and years after her wedding that she was forced to cancel.  We meet a character who falls in love at the age of only about eight, and is still head over heels in love with the same girl as an adult(not to mention the times and times she has tried to tell him that she was not in love with him).  We meet a character who spends her time using her very own daughter as a weapon of male misery.  But, even with all of the crazy scenarios that Charles Dickens creates for the novel, it is surprisingly realistic when you take a minute to look at the big picture.

    

     An incredibly realistic aspect is the influence of parents in the novel, particularly, Estella and her mother by adoption, Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham has gone through awful experiences with cruel men, and as a result she absolutely hates all men and trains Estella to break the hearts of as many as possible.  Miss Havisham's influence clearly rubbed off on Estella when she tells Pip that she actually lacks a heart; she is simply incapable of love. While parental influence isn't always present in children it definitely usually is.  For example, children with a extreme political views, tend to have the same views as the parents.  

     In addition, probably the most important message in the story, the harm of extremely high and unattainable expectations helps to make the novel very realistic.  After Pip's fantasies of being raised up to a gentleman by Miss Havishman and going off with Estella to live happily ever after, were crushed before his eyes, he was nothing but distraught.   The only part of his expectations that he actually got was money; the benefactor was not Miss Havisham. He was not to marry Estella.  Likewise, people always build up expectations to way to high and and are let down when they do not happen.  This may sound silly, but one of my mom's favorite stories to tell about me was when I was about five or so, and I asked Santa for a Barbie doll house.  Instead, what I got was a much better quality wooden doll house.   But, that was not what I expected, and it wasn't good enough.  Maybe we should all try to do what they all say: expect the worst.

     Sometimes it's just aggravating to read Charles Dickens because of his confusing plots and overly sophisticated language but we must appreciate just how much of a genius he is for creating such a crazy story that somehow is, at the same time, very realistic.  He is able to teach lessons through his writing that can benefit many, many people.  

Material Vs. Priceless: Chapters 9-19

      It's funny how we want so many material goods, without realizing that we are already surrounded by so many priceless things.  We all want a new iPhone, ultra-fast computer, unnecessarily expensive clothes, luxury cars, ect., but yet we take so many important things for granted.  This trait of so many of ours is incredibly apparent in many instances, for example, when we hear about people loosing their homes to natural disasters.  With their homes, goes almost everything in it.  Surprisingly enough, people who lose their homes talk not about the laptop that the lost, or the shoes that the lost, or the purse that they lost, but they almost always talk about the memories that they lost.  It's not until people encounter these types of events, that they typically realize just how much that they took every priceless thing for granted, and realize that the material stuff just simply isn't so crucial.

     Along with many other life examples, this trait is clearly apparent in Pip's mind from Great Expectations.  Pip was once a little boy with a tough life, but he was obviously grateful for his best companion, Joe.  But, as soon as he was introduced to the high life of Miss Havisham and Estella, he automatically decided that his life was no where near good enough.  He lacked the realization that, although Estella had a big house and never had to work, the house that she lived in was plain creepy, along with her motherly figure, Miss Havisham.  He began to forget about the priceless friend he had, Joe; in this sense, he was lucky compared to Estella.  All he wanted was riches.

     After years of never ending want, Pip was told that he wishes would finally be fulfilled.  He would soon become a gentlemen, well-respected and highly educated.  He began to feel superior to Joe and he couldn't wait to start his new life, as an uncommon man.  But, as he started his journey out to London, away from home, he began to overwhelmingly miss Joe.  Every stop he made, made him think of turning back toward him, even though the new life that he was only hours from starting was all he ever wanted.  He wanted material goods, but only now did he find that he took the priceless things(and people) for granted, just as the best of us would.

     It's easy to stop liking Pip, at this point in the story, because of how ungrateful that we found that he is, but before jumping to the conclusion that he has a rotten mind, we must remember that his ungratefulness is really just an exaggeration of what so many of us are like.  This novel has already taught me a lesson to not be this person, but to appreciate what my, already great life, has to offer, and not to drool over what others have that I may not.

Severe Loneliness: Chapters 1-8

      When the infamous Charles Dickens sat down to write Great Expectations, it is clear that his intentions of the novel included nothing of a light and happy mood.  It fact, it is quite obvious that his intentions were the opposite; the opening setting of the novel was in a church graveyard.  That alone paints a dark, morbid mood, but this mood is established even further when the reader learns that he is visting his deceased parents' graves.  His mother and father, along with the majority of the rest of his family has unfortunately already died at some point.  Because of this, Pip has the "pleasure" of living with his abusive sister, who he calls Mrs. Joe.

     

     Although the name in which he calls her "motherly" figure seems like a minute detail, it hints into the relationship that the two must have.  In Mrs. Joe's mind, she deserves a abundant amount of respect from the child, who she likes to remind Pip on a regular basis, that she has "brought up by hand."  After seeing several examples of Pip's sister's mistreatment toward him, there is no doubt that Mrs. Joe does not deserve the respect that she seeks.  On more than one occasion, she has deliberately made Pip feel bad for "crime" of  living; she makes sure that Pip knows how much she has given up for him, and how much better her life could have been if it weren't for his existence.  

     To make matters worse, at Christmas dinner, the family that he is surrounded by is clearly not a loving one.  Constantly, his Uncle Pumblechook(who Pip must refer to as Mr. Pumblechook) makes awfully rude remarks toward Pip, even though he is right in front of him.  Joe, Pip's sister's husband, who is the only person Pip can trust, tried to make an effort to comfort him, but not once did he actually stand up for the child. Pip is alone in the world. 

  Everyone has felt alone.  Whether they have been left out of a group of friends, not received the amount of attention from a parent as their siblings receive, or simply not have anyone to hang out with on a Saturday night, everyone can relate to loneliness.  That, along with other factors, is the reason why I believe that the audience cannot help but be sympathetic toward Pip.  So, I must give props to Charles Dickens for ingeniously producing a character in which the audience feels such an overwhelming sympathy toward.  

My Family Members' Expectations of Me: A Connection to the Novel

    Although I am merely two chapters into Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, it would be no surprise to me if the novel had something to do with the lofty expectations of close family members, simple acquaintances, and/ or of course, the incredibly harsh society.   Since I have barely even started the book, my first blog entry will not be directly related to the reading; instead it will be a connection to the expected theme of the novel: expectations.  By interviewing my three closest family members, my mom, dad, and brother, I have gathered more of an understanding of the expectations that they have of me.  

    First off, I asked my mom what expectations she has of me as a high school student.  She replied by saying, "As a high school student, I expect you to continue to excel and do your best, while also continuing to be a very thoughtful person toward your friends and family."  Her answer did not surprise me whatsoever.  I've always been a hard working student, and let's be honest, clearly paranoid about my grades.  Although I will never claim to be perfectly nice and thoughtful to everyone around me, I do try my best.   

   To change things up a little bit, I asked my dad what his expectations of me are, past high school.  He said that he expects me "To be [a] successful, professional woman in a field of your choice." His answer also ceased to surprise me; it's abundantly obvious that those are my goals for myself, which helps to explain my paranoia about grades. 

    Later, I asked my brother how he expects me to act in general.  Although it took him quite a while to think of a response, he finally said "I expect you to be a little sister who never stops bugging me about everything."  I thought about not including his incredibly blunt answer in this entry, due to its lack of seriousness, but then I realized what he said was just about as accurate as it was going to get.  I suppose that he has credible reasoning for his response; I guess I've always been the stereotypical annoying little sister.  

   After interviewing my family members, I thought that it would be interesting to google "What is typical teenage behavior?" Response after response mentioned something about getting into trouble.  Whether the response was centered around drinking, drugs, or just irresponsibility, it was apparent that the expectations of a typical teenager were not positive.  That made me think.  As a teenager, do people who don't know me at all, expect me to be like this?  My parents, who have lived with me for more than fourteen years surely don't expect me to.

    Through Great Expectations, I hope to learn about how expectations come about.  My family obviously based their expectations of me on how I have acted basically all of my life.  But, what is the expectation of a typical teenager based on?