Dickens’
Whether we revere, denounce, or fear them, everyone wants to know what the elite, the upper class, the do to fit in. Though it seems like a question posed just for today’s teenagers, Charles Dickens was asking the same question during the Industrial Revolution, a time when elite status was, with a little bit of luck, just within the grasp of a commoner. In Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, we see Pip attempt to seem deserving of his newfound status through flimsy, sublunary means and unconsciously cultivating a character dependent on material items to seem valuable. At the same time, humble Joe leads a happy and healthy life, presumably because of the differences between their values, attitudes towards power, and contentment with their stations in life. Pip’s ambitions …show more content…
In fact, Joe is almost averse to possessing power. He acknowledges that he let Mrs. Joe make the decisions, though sometimes he notes that his “power were not always equal to [his] inclinations” (499). Overall though, Joe only does what Mrs. Joe demands him to, and he seems to be okay with it because he knows how to derive happiness from other places. Pip, however, does not. By the time he is settled in London, his sole focus is on becoming desirable to Estella, his version of portable property. He attempts to gain respect by fraternizing with high society, where he is miserable: “I never had one hour’s happiness in her society, and yet my mind...was harping on the happiness of having her with me unto death” (320). Pip does not really see Estella as a person who he can be in love with, but rather a trophy that he can dote on, not loving but prizing, to show off to others. This lack of love and the limits of his romantic gaze cause Pip to see her as a source of power, one that he makes fruitless sacrifices for and ultimately becomes miserable
Whether we revere, denounce, or fear them, everyone wants to know what the elite, the upper class, the do to fit in. Though it seems like a question posed just for today’s teenagers, Charles Dickens was asking the same question during the Industrial Revolution, a time when elite status was, with a little bit of luck, just within the grasp of a commoner. In Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, we see Pip attempt to seem deserving of his newfound status through flimsy, sublunary means and unconsciously cultivating a character dependent on material items to seem valuable. At the same time, humble Joe leads a happy and healthy life, presumably because of the differences between their values, attitudes towards power, and contentment with their stations in life. Pip’s ambitions …show more content…
In fact, Joe is almost averse to possessing power. He acknowledges that he let Mrs. Joe make the decisions, though sometimes he notes that his “power were not always equal to [his] inclinations” (499). Overall though, Joe only does what Mrs. Joe demands him to, and he seems to be okay with it because he knows how to derive happiness from other places. Pip, however, does not. By the time he is settled in London, his sole focus is on becoming desirable to Estella, his version of portable property. He attempts to gain respect by fraternizing with high society, where he is miserable: “I never had one hour’s happiness in her society, and yet my mind...was harping on the happiness of having her with me unto death” (320). Pip does not really see Estella as a person who he can be in love with, but rather a trophy that he can dote on, not loving but prizing, to show off to others. This lack of love and the limits of his romantic gaze cause Pip to see her as a source of power, one that he makes fruitless sacrifices for and ultimately becomes miserable