Great Expectations

“I was always treated as I had insisted on being born in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the dissuading of my best friend.” (page 20) In the beginning, Pip—an orphaned boy raised by his domineering sister and her kind husband—was his own best friend. He had no one there to support and comfort him, no one to give him encouragement, no one to love him and tell him his purpose in life. Pip is living in innocence, the stage of life where situations stumble upon you and you become flustered and afraid. The fact of the matter is in these situations you can’t expect anything and you have to know who to trust. Pip’s life and expectations make for the drama of this novel, Great Expectations, on his journey to rediscovering himself where mishaps happen from day one and secrets start to take place where Pip begins to ponder about his decision to keep his first secret to himself.

“ It felt very sorrowful and strange that this first night of my bright fortunes should be the loneliest I had ever known.” Have you ever thought what it might be like to be alone all the time with no direction in life, fighting for yourself just so you can make it to the next day, but for what? Just to do the same thing again tomorrow. Many of us wonder if life is even worth living. Every morning of my life when I wake up I have a list going through my head of things I have to get done. That is something to live for. Pip, on the other hand, is much like the person I described first, but this is because he is an innocent and deprived child. “I looked all around for the horrible young man, and could see no signs of him. But now I was frightened again, and ran home without stopping.” (page 5) Pip was encountered with something unexpected as he wandered though the marshes near the churchyard one morning. He approaches an unpleasant man—all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, broken shoes, and an old rag tied around his head. A man who limped, and shivered and glared, and growled. He demanded Pip to answer many unnecessary questions, and the young boy had no other option that to answer him. Threats were made towards him if Pip didn’t get what the convict wanted—a file. Shaking the poor boy vigorously up and down, Pip was terrified. What had he gotten himself into? He definitely was not prepared for an event like this. At this moment, Pip woke up from his mindset of there being no excitement, no purpose. Although he was scared, he now had an adventure ahead of him.

After Pip hurries home, the next day he has to awake bright and early fore he had a job to take care of. He searches to find the file in the kitchen and soon finds it and heads off into the misty mashes where he hopes to find the convict. This was Pip’s first step in unfolding his life before him. “…think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.” (page 24) This event was the first link of Pip’s chain. It built his character, changing him into a young man. He learned for his mistake of listening to the convict, trusting him, and hiding it from his family. As a child, or even an adult, we make mistakes that we regret, but the best thing to do is learn from them and become a stronger person on the inside and out. Life does have a purpose, life can be filled with excitement, but it doesn’t just appear in front of you. You can’t expect it to happen for you, pursue it and make it happen.

Pip has expectations that are far too great for him to comprehend, yet he still learns to understand what life is truly about. It only took one moment, in the churchyard with the unattractive man, to realize that he can only trust himself. By the end of his road he did find comfort, encouragement, and love. All it takes is one person and one opportunity to change your way of life. There may be moments when you are afraid or scared of what could happen because you are expecting a bad ending to a bad beginning, but it’s all up to you and how you look at things and you can expect something greater. In the novel, Great Expectations, Pip’s journey in rediscovering himself is a success due to his first decision with the convict.