Great Expectations: Pip’s Views of Expectations Essay -- Great Expectat

Great Expectations – Discuss Pip’s views of expectations and how they affect him. The novel Great Expectations is focused around the theme of a young male’s expectations and how they rule his life. It tells us the effects they have on people and the negative impact they have on Pip’s life. The Title to the novel â€Å"Great Expectations† totally contradicts the main theme in the book, as the expectations turn out to be not so great after all. The book is split up into 3 sections of Pip’s â€Å"Great Expectations†, all of these sections show us how Pip’s life has been affected by these expectations. Throughout the novel we see how expectations have left their mark on Pip’s life. Chapter one is were we are introduced to the main character Pip. Our first impression of Pip is that he is naà ¯ve, innocent and lonely young boy, the fact that Pip refers to his mother as â€Å"Georgina, wife of the above† tells us that he has received no guidance or teaching in his life and is unaware of his surroundings. Pip is then dramatically changed by his expectations when Pip first meets Mrs Havisham. He is introduced to a whole new view of life, and realises he is not as happy as he thinks he is. Pip in a way blames his upbringing as he says, â€Å"My sisters bringing up made me sensitive.† When introduced to Estella Pip is infatuated by her and when she says how â€Å"coarse† and â€Å"common† he is, he feels embarrassed and humiliated. This is the turning point of Pip’s life, his blinding obsession with Estella makes him determined to become the gentleman that she wants, guided by his expectations. Pip’s expectations are acted upon many different characters throughout the novel, and nearly most of the time they have a negative effect on othe... ...y aren’t all they what seem to be. Overall throughout this book expectations play a big role, we see how they rule Pip’s life and how they can affect others in many different ways. We see how Pip’s life ends up in a good way and that how expectations can blind others from reality. Money can change anybody and Pip was no exception. When Pip is poor he truly wants to be a gentlemen, he has great expectations for himself. Pip feels embarrassed that his family has no money. Pips pride corrupts him and blinds him from how he is treating Joe. Expectations are extremely significant throughout this novel and they show us what they can do if you are obsessed with them. In Victorian society it was an extremely sought after dream to be wealthy and well respected, Pip was a victim of this view and eventually realised that a gentleman is something more than riches.