Carreno 1 Sabrina Carreno Mrs.

Gardner English 10 Honors 0 Period 9 March 2013

A Journey to Become Evolved Charles Dickenss renowned novels are spoken of as classics in todays society, many applaud his well developed characters and plot. In his novel Great Expectations by Dickens, Victorian thought on social class is seen through Pips journey into becoming a gentleman, yet there is a significant weaving of crime in the novel that is tied to social class. Pip speaks of the recurrence of crime while contemplating, I consumed the whole time in thinking how strange it was that I should be encompassed by all this taint of prison and crime (207). He is enveloped in crime through the convict, Mr. Jaggers, Wemmick, Miss Havisham, and Estella. Throughout the novel, the recurring theme of crime tied to social class mirrors Pips inner emotions, showing the labor in which it takes to become an evolved gentleman. At the beginning of the novel, Pip encounters his first exposure to crime, and sees the lower spectrum of social class leading him to begin to question his way of thinking. The day of Christmas Eve Pip decides to walk in the marshes near his house by the cemetery to visit the site of his parents, a common activity for him, and encounters a convict who has escaped. Pip automatically takes note to his appearance, and sees a man with no hat, broken shoes, and old rag tied round his head (2). This is Pips first encounter with someone of a lower class than him, and he can now see someone below him and why they are considered of lower social class, igniting a fire in him to not become this man. The convicts great iron on his leg (2) foreshadows the ties that the convict will have with Pip, implicating the reappearance of crime throughout Pips life. After giving the convict what he asks for the next day, he speaks of the guilty knowledge and how this creates a burden or great punishment (11). This shows Pips

Carreno 2 morals as both a human being and a member of society; he both feels the need to help but also feels the weight of societys social scale. His first encounter with crime turns into the first stage into his journey of going from a laboring boy to a gentleman. As the novel continues, Pip is exposed to crime in a different form: Mr. Jaggers, Pips guardian is a prominent lawyer who convicts various criminals. His break in becoming a gentleman is when Mr. Jaggers meets Pip in Kent -- Pips hometown -- to let him know he will move to London, will have him as a guardian, will have Mr. Pocket as a teacher, and has a secret benefactor. In the novel, Jaggers is spoken of as having a sink in his office Little Britain and washing his hands profusely after any run in with a client. This action for Mr. Jaggers is a way to compensate with all he undergoes with clientele; it is his coping mechanism to rid all emotions connected to them. When Pip first sees Mr. Jaggerss habit, he questions it, but after he realizes why Mr. Jaggers does this he comes to accept the washing. Through watching the labor Mr. Jaggers puts into his job, Pips view on the lower and upper class are enhanced. He views the higher class as well rounded and better off while he views lower class as the people who are stuck in such situations that Mr. Jaggers deals with. Mr. Wemmick- Mr. Jaggerss assistant- is also presented as being distant at the office while being his true self only when near Walworth. My Walworth sentiments must be taken at Walworth; none but my official sentiments can be taken in this office, (314) states Wemmick blankly, revealing how he creates a faade at the office. Wemmicks actions expresses another coping mechanism; Wemmick creates a blank face in order to be official. He even classifies the clientele of Mr. Jaggers as the same people that would get someone cheated, robbed, and murdered (180), enforcing the social class boundaries for Pip, and his morals begin to change. He now sees that when one has full control of their emotions such as Mr. Jaggers and Wemmick, even when working with a subject such as crime, they are viewed as higher class, in contrast to his sister- Mrs. Joe- who goes on her rampages. When Pip returns to the Statis house, he confronts Miss Havisham about the fuel inside

Carreno 3 him and refers back to crime to express such emotions within. Pip goes to see Miss Havisham with news of Estellas matrimony to Bentley Drummle. While there they speak of what Mrs. Havisham has evoked in Pip by creating Estella as she is. When Pip leaves the room he returns to find Miss Havisham in in flames due to the fire place. This creates a mirroring effect, while Miss Havisham is burning on the outside, Pip finds himself burning on the inside due to the built up emotions Estella has caused him. In order to try to save Miss Havisham Pip held her forcibly down with all [my] strength, like a prisoner who might escape (427). Like a prisoner who might escape, relates back to Pips convict, and how crime has tainted Pips life. Even when undergoing a tragedy, he speaks of crime. A tremendous part of Pips journey in transforming from a laboring boy to a gentleman is Estella, his love links back to the theme of crime and shows that even Pips beautiful emotions of passion are linked back to unclean crime. Estella is referred to as Pips guiding star into becoming a gentleman, although she causes emotional turmoil within Pip. She is one of the reasons he begins to question social class due to her remark of him being a common laboring boy. While Pip was searching for comfort while in the jail house, he compares the beautiful young Estella, proud and refined. absolute abhorrence of the contrast between the jail and her (207), showing that even when in jail a place of pain and despair, he thinks of Estella and her beauty. Pip, even when thinking of a loved one, compares them to crime because he can only speak beautifully when contrasting an ugliness he has known for so long. As Pip strives to be a gentleman, there is a change: he begins to leave the ones he loves and wrong them-committing rhetorically a crime- through actions or thoughts. Both Joe and Biddy were Pips survival in Kent, but once he becomes a gentleman, he rarely speaks to them. I wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common, that he might be worthier of my society (84), states Pip just as Estella had once. Although Pip used to strive to be just like Joe, with the slightest climb in social class he begins to feel abhorrence towards Joe. Biddy was once Pips trusted friend, who when in a time of need was contacted-- or when Pip wanted to

Carreno 4 learn. But when he returns to Kent when Mrs. Joe dies, he makes absurd remarks to Biddy and begins doubting her. Pips actions illuminate exactly what Pips first impression of everyone is: their social class. Nearing the end of the novel, Pip finally comes to know the convicts real name, intensifying both crime and social class throughout Pips life. Pip learns that the convict is his benefactor and that his name is Magwitch. That, in my childhood. I should have first encountered it, (207) states Pip realizing that from his childhood he has been flanked by crime. Due to the fact that Pip never knew the convicts name, the connotation carried with Magwitch has always been negative due to the social class and crime that follows the word convict. Pip realizes that everything that has helped him climb social stature has been associated with crime. Any significant event in Pips life is enchained by crime, leading to the importance of social class and withholding emotions on his journey. He no longer speaks of Estella as simply beautiful but compares her to a jail; in this way, he displays emotions but through the coldness of crime. As his goals are achieved and he is on his way to being an evolved gentleman, crime finds his way into Pips life through his loved ones or his reason for his journey. The constant climb of social stature is flanked by Pips emotions in comparison to crime, suggesting that although one can achieve a higher social class, the emotions are always carried and locked up inside.