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.